English - language Haiku — Compiled by Lakshmi Iyer and Kala Ramesh
English-language haiku has to be included too, for it’s our link language and we have many poets writing in English, who are known and respected outside India. A majority of the haiku submitted were published in reputed haiku journals.
Thanks to Lakshmi Iyer for collating the present English-language Haiku poets, in addition to our original list of 43 – we now have 114 haijin in India in total and our family is growing rapidly!
relocation—
a tulasi plant
on the gypsy’s head
—A. Thiagarajan, Mumbai
The Heron’s Nest, March 2013
still water ...
a zebra runs away
from itself
—Aditya Ashribad, Orissa
Cattails 1 Youth Corner, January 2014
subjunctive occasions Gita’s thickness
—Aditya Behl, Delhi
Bones 3, December 2013
hide and seek
someone’s warm palms
on my closed eyes
—Ajaya Mahala, Pune Mainichi Daily News, January 03, 2014
stranded bike
a sparrow looks at its face
in the mirror
—Aju Mukhopadhyay, Pondicherry
class test …
filling in the blanks
in a star’s life cycle
—Akila G., Hyderabad Sonic Boom
business district
I keep a lookout
for wildflowers
— Alaka Yeravadekar, Pune
Hedgerow #132
little ballerina
on her dress —
stars
—Aanchal Broca, Gurgaon Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Journal #39
a bindi
on my mom's forehead ...
morning sun
—Aashna Goyal, Punjab
scars …
the tide marks
its boundary
—Ashish Narain, Delhi Modern Haiku 49:3
planetarium ...
one by one
his teeth shine
—Aparna Pathak, Gurugram
Honourable Mention: Sharpening the Green Pencil Contest
after harvest
the farm's set in fire ...
smell of charred sugarcane
— Arunachalashiva, Chennai
rumors of war
up into a darkening sky
—a child’s newsprint kite
—Angelee Deodhar, Chandigarh Third Prize, The Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award for 2003
ancient banyan ...
an owl shakes the night
off its feathers
—Anitha Varma, Kerala
drifting stars ...
a wish list flutters
in the breeze
—Arvinder Kaur, Chandigarh Mainichi Daily News, Sept 2013
sidewalk café
I smell the city
in my coffee
—Bhavani Ramesh, Mumbai Chrysanthemums, April 2008
brisk morning walk -
the roadside banyan
ageing gracefully
—Bidyutprabha Gantayat, Bhubaneswar
no place to go
the urban dreams
of banyan roots
—Dr Brijesh Raj, Mumbai World Haiku Review, Jan 2017
wildfire -
the lives within
without
—Deboshruti, Varanasi
evening rain ...
shadows huddle
in corners
—Firdaus Parvez, Aligarh
the rustle
of fallen leaves -
forest music
—Gauri Dixit, Pune
Under the Basho, June 2020
mountain lake
each splash from the oar
shakes the moon
—Geethanjali Rajan, Chennai World Haiku Review, August 2010
spring predawn—
the janitor sweeps
the night away
—Gowtham Ganni, Hyderabad
The Herons Nest Volume XX, Number 2: June 2018
incessant rains
small talk
dries up
—Hemapriya Chellappan, Pune The Heron's Nest, Vol. XXI, No.4: December 2019
rainy morning ...
the wife showering abuses
on her husband
—Hema Ravi, Chennai Frogpond, # 36.3
Women’s Day
she applies makeup
to her bruise
—Indra Neil Mekala, Hyderabad Second Prize: 8th Polish International Haiku Competition, 2018
family album ...
pressed beneath my fingers
someone’s smile
—Ishaan Singh Sarna, New Delhi Chrysanthemum #28, Fall Issue
hospice care -
the fading rhythm
of rain outside
—Iqra Raza, New Delhi
long days of rain -
the gurgle of frogs ripens
the little rice field
—Janak Sapkota, Switzerland Winner, Smurfit Samhain International Haiku Prize, Ireland, 2006
overnight rain ...
all the leaves carry
an impression
—Jayashree Maniyil, Australia Creatrix Journal, Dec 2013
monsoon sky
the white cow
chews a milk carton
—Johannes Manjrekar, Vadodara Haijinx Vol. II Issue 1, 2002
winter moonlight
everything the same colour
since you left
—Jesal Mallia Kanani, Mumbai
liquid twilight the tilt of a water pot on her hip
— Kala Ramesh, Pune
Frogpond 31:3 Autumn 2008
deafening rain—
to think it has no sound
of its own
—Kashinath Karmakar, Durgapur 3rd place:18th Kusamakura International Haiku Contest 2013
white lotus
floating in a vessel -
empty mind
—Kashiana Singh, USA Narrow Road Journal - Aug 2020
end of summer
colours fade away
with the butterflies
—Kavya Kavuri, Pune A Hundred Gourds 2.4, September 2013
autumn morning —
my shadow now has
a slight hunch
—Kumarendra Mallick, Hyderabad Honourable Mention, World Haiku Review September 2009
can't show
my golden teeth ...
surgical mask
— Kamrun Nahar, Bangladesh
Under the Basho, 2020
cold day ...
sound of clipping nails
from next room
—Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur
isolation ward –
I count
the remaining leaves
—Kakul Gupta, New Delhi
jamun tree—
a splash of purple
on my new white kurti
—Kalyanee Rajan, New Delhi Under the Basho, 2017
colourful floaters
bob in the blue waters
… every time I blink
—Karkuzhali Sreedhar, Chennai
coffee break—
stirring a whirlpool
of thoughts
— Kausik KSK, Hyderabad Under the Basho, 2019
starry night ...
the empty rocking chair
casts a shadow
—Kavitha Sreeraj, Hyderabad
postal stamps –
the zig-zag edges
of our marriage
—Kinshuk Gupta, New Delhi Modern Haiku
silent sun
girl child collects her ruined
books after the flood
—Lakshay Gandotra, Jammu Third Prize: 23rd Kusamakura International Haiku Competition.
first winter
a flame Robin
sings in its territory
—Lakshmi Iyer, Trivandrum High Commendation—Winter Haiku, Australian Haiku Society
pebble beach
i count the countless
unsaid words
—Mallika Chari, Wardha Frogpond, Spring/Summer Issue 2020
autobiography
an ink blot where i paused
before writing the truth
— Manoj Nair, Bangalore
The Heron's Nest: Vol XX1,No2, June 2019
first flower ...
the lawnmower makes
a u-turn
— Milan Rajkumar, Imphal
Haiku Dialogue: August 5, 2020
brave mirror
doesn’t distort truth
looks me in the eye
—Minal Sarosh, Ahmedabad
World Haiku Review, August 2011
temple bell -
the mellowed song
of the cicada
—Monalisha Gogoi ,Assam
ESUJ-H English Haiku September 2019
temple visit
ants on the wall
returning with prasad
—Muskaan Ahuja, Chandigarh
Wales Haiku Journal, Spring Issue 2020
monsoon showers
all night long
the bitterness of neem
— Nandita Jain Mahajan, Gurgaon
The Heron’s Nest: Volume XXI, Number 4: December 2019
my baby’s heartbeat
next to mine
the rhythm for our lullaby
—Nandini Nair, Pune, India, First place, Indian Kukai #01, September 2013
on a long way
with me in the dark night
these fireflies
—Neelam Dadhwal, Chandigarh cattails: January 2014
go slow signal
a yellow leaf lands
on my palm
—Niranjan Navalgund, Belagavi Cattails, 2015
crawling through the weight baby snail
—Neena Singh, Chandigarh Under the Basho, 2020
gentle rain
even on the graves
with no flowers
—Neha R. Krishna, Mumbai Winner, Weighing Raindrops, 2020
morning rush -
my pressure cooker whistles
the suprabhatam*
—Padma Srinivasan, Scotland
*suprabhatam: verses sung in South Indian temples to wake up the Gods every morning.
the width of this night milky way
— Pragya Vishnoi, Kanpur Honourable Mention, UHTS 'AHA' Haiku Contest 2019
gleaming knife ...
edge sharper than
moon scars
— Prathama Rajeevalochan, Bangalore Modern Haiku Section, Under the Basho
incessant rain ...
the smell of coriander
getting drenched
—Paresh Tiwari, Hyderabad Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review, Summer 2013
cold winter morning
the pigeons coo
for more closeness
—Poornima Laxmeshwar, Bangalore World Haiku Review, Jan 2014
winter morning
two butterflies
warm the garden
—Pravat Kumar Padhy, Odisha The Heron’s Nest, Vol XIII, No. 2, June 2011
custard apple …
the squirrel crafts
a bowl
—Priti Aisola, Hyderabad Under the Basho, 17 June 2020
cloudburst
meeting mother
after a hostel year
—Priya Narayanan, Ahmedabad
creating
rainbows on petal
dewdrops
—R. Purushotham Rao, USA
autumn sky
patches of twilight
in the falling leaf
—Ramesh Anand, Bangalore A Hundred Gourds 1.2 March 2012
sunset ...
someone’s tent peg
on the cliff
—K. Ramesh, Chennai Presence #41
winter rain—
water droplets cascade
over the leaves
—Ritaj Kalaskar, Pondicherry Cattails 1, January 2014
seat belt
for the teddy bear too
the child’s first flight
—R. K. Sameer, Karnataka Kernelonline, summer 2013
plucking
the last red apple
now I feel the cold
—Rohini Gupta, Mumba Mainichi Daily News, 20 Feb 2013
mother tongue
I look back
to see the face
—Rajeshwari Srinivasan, Mumbai Under the Basho, September 2020
Just now
heart transplantation
his last breath
—Radhamani Sharma, Chennai Failed Haiku, 2019
camellia in snow
taking back my words
silently
—Richa Sharma, Uttar Pradesh Poetry Pea Podcast, September 2019
a crack
in the concrete box
prisoner’s sky
—Rashmi VeSa, Bengaluru tinywords: issue 20.1
spring solitude ...
an alien girl feeds
the sparrows
—Sandip Chauhan, USA, Mainichi Daily News, May 2013
scars
that have begun to heal ...
purple asters
—Sanjuktaa Asopa, Belgaum
Daily Haiku Cycle 16, December 2013
child a rupee short ...
the ice cream vendor
turns the corner
—Seshu Chamarty, Hyderabad Boloji, January 2014
on wet earth
a snail draws a fine line
– a travelogue
—Shernaz Wadia, Pune Muse India, May-June 2011
cracked pot —
water seeps back
into the earth
—Shobhana Kumar, Coimbatore
fallen leaves —
the wind sweeps
our courtyard
—Shloka Shankar, Karnataka
temple bell:
thinking of God
in the midst of yoga
—S. B. Vadivelu Rajan, Chennai
Mainichi Shimbun, January, 2010
dusting of dew –
a road-sweeper scrapes
the night away
—Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, UK Blithe Spirit, Issue 24.3, August 2014
crossroads
I wait for the cool wind
to go first
—Suhit Kelkar, Mumbai
A Hundred Gourds 2.4 September 2013
lonely road
she walks with me
wagging her tail
—Surbhi Grover, India Cattails 1, January 2014
bustling street ...
from a graveyard
the smell of roses
—Swaran Singh Nijhar, India Cattails 1, January 2014
the sharp ends
of her eye liner
midnight row
—Saf Toral, UK
split sky -
the world painted
in two shades
—Shalini Pattabiraman, Scotland
The Haiku Foundation Sep 2. 2020
silent world...
he asks what he
sounds like
—Shreya Narang, Abohar cattails Youth Corner 2018
raag malhar—
on torrential drum beats
window plays the flute
— Smeetha Bhoumik, Mumbai
empty space ...
my ring finger again
shines with a diamond
—Sonal Srinivasan, Mumbai
Under the Basho, 2017
voice of the cave
sea conched
in silence
—Sindhoor Varkoor, Hyderabad
the touch before we part mimosa leaf
—Sreelatha Nair, Chennai. tinywords: 16.2
suicide point—
the valley lies in
the fog below
—Srinivas.S, Rishi Valley Presence, Issue 65
gibbous moon
the pond's captive -
swims with fishes
—Subir Ningthouja, Manipur
sunny afternoon
a shadow
on the mammogram
—Suraja Menon Roychowdury, USA
Grand Prize Winner 2016 Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award
daybreak –
I still see the moon
in her eyes
—Surashree Joshi, Pune
The Haiku Foundation, Haiku Dialogue
mom's broken bangles
make a full circle
kaleidoscope
—Suresh Babu, Chikkamagalur
Under the Basho 2019
a pause
before the downpour -
the fries sizzle
—Sushama Kapur, Pune
The Haiku Foundation: Haiku Dialogue, September 2020
slicing a pumpkin
mother talks of my sister
elsewhere
—Srinivasa Rao Sambangi, Hyderabad Wales Haiku Journal, Autumn 2019
beggars
outside the temple
inside the temple
—Tapan Mozumdar, Bengaluru
you and me
together yet apart
beads of a rosary
—Teji Sethi, Bangalore Under The Basho, July 2020
midnight showers ...
I greet a jewelled world
at dawn
—Ustat Sethi, Bangalore ‘Tejas Award’ Cattails 2019, April Edition
dead worm
moving towards an ant-hill
— recycling
— Umesh Nair, Delhi
freedom at last …
colour of the butterfly
on my fingers
—Vadivelrajan Balakrishnan, Chennai
claps of thunder -
the twins kick
in my womb
—Vani Sathyanarayan, Bangalore 3rd place, 11th Indian Kukai, May 2015
strong winds
not every leaf waits
for the fall to fall
—Vandana Parashar, Panchkula
a caravan arrives
at my threshold
my own footfalls
—Vidur Jyoti, Delhi
ink puddle —
the words that
never were
—Vinay Leo R, Bangalore Shiki Kukai, 1st prize, November 2013
twilight skies —
nightfall on the edge
of a bat's wing
— Vidya S Venkatramani, Chennai Under the Basho, 2020
gradually
i resemble the corpse
i will be
—Vijay Prasad, Patna Failed Haiku, Issue-4
twilight
helping mother take
baby steps
—Yesha Shah, Surat Polish International Haiku Contest 2013 - Commendation
a cobweb
in the misty branches ...
fairy hammock
— Yugaputhiran, Chennai