SIX
TANKA POEMS
- Ram Krishna Singh (India)
Sex-torn women
half-live with murdered desires
weaving dreams of flesh
in Deothang their fingers lean
on looms with newer tales
near the railway track
she squats with hands on the knees
and hides her parts
in half-dark the naked truth
transforms nature into nude
the wine of love swells
in my vessel dark shadows
recede human dirt
between sound and silence greets
the joy and bliss of spirit
health horoscope
planetary conspiracy:
rectal bleeding
not healing for months recur
backache with dying libido
island of rubbish
home to cows, mosquitoes
and homeless mothers
speak wordlessly passersby
unzip to ease and move
smallness of the small
no sharing half-chewed betel—
mischievous whisper
in bed fuzzy sensation
of ruddy lips that’s no love