GELID MORNING

 My poem appears on Spillwords,  February 17, 2025: https://spillwords.com/gelid-morning/

My poem on MINUTO DE POESIA with Spanish translation

 

Review of 'Knocking Vistas And Other Poems' published in Ars Artium, Vpl. 13, January 2025

 

 

Book Review                                                                                                                          189                                                                                                                          _______________________________________________________________________________

Ram Krishna Singh. Knocking Vistas and Other Poems. New Delhi:
Authorspress, 2024, pp. 91, Price: 295, PB, ISBN: 978-93-6095-
669-1.

                                                                 Reviewed by

                                                                Hariom Singh and Pramod Kumar Gond*

 

 

Can a short poem or even a collection of short poems in its scope be as vast
and diverse as a novel? A short poem, or even a poetry collection of moderate length, can definitely not rival a novel in terms of length but surely can accommodate as much complexity
and diversity as fiction can represent or human life is believed to be full of.

R. K. Singh, an internationally translated and recognised poet, through his latest offering, Knocking Vistas and Other Poems, makes an attempt, akin to a novel in its stupendousness,          to understand and reimagine the essence of human existence, separating it from the methodised,
scientific, and compartmentalised conceptions of reason and the near universal constructs of class and religion.

Consisting of 38 poetic pieces and an “Afterword,” R. K. Singh’s collection is a
part of his ongoing attempt to impart new vigour to his lived experiences and
observations on life by moulding them into poetry. The collection doesn’t apparently
manifest any intentional design in the arrangement of poems, but, upon thoughtfully
traversing through the pages of the book, one can discern with a little effort that
some early poems, like “One More Poem,” “Love by Default,” etc., among the
initial thirty-four poems of the collection, attempt to directly capture the thoughtful
vibrations emanating from the microcosm of the poet’s own self. Gradually, the
artistic vision of the poet ripens to concern itself with the forces and changes that
are at work in the macrocosm, i.e. the outer world, beyond the personal, involving
issues, ranging from national to international politics (“Consecration” and “War in 

 

 

190                                                                                  Ars Artium, Vol. 13, January 2025 ________________________________________________________________________________

Gaza”), violence and its after effects, and the preposterousness of politicians to
perpetuate their vested interests, etc., that are plaguing the human society (“Politics
of Deception”, “Let them Live”, and “Noises”), only to return to the poet’s atomic
world again to reflect on the anxieties of one’s mundane existence with a diminished
spirituality (“Feel Whole”) and a mind that constantly struggles with itself as well as
the external world eluding peace:

and few mute faces on the road
won’t help me survive the race
to give life a meaning in
diversions of now and then. (“Glimpses of Truth”, lines 3-6)

A set of poems in the collection deal with the existential anxiety of the poet
suffering in old age. These poems mostly stem from the poet’s reflection on the
years gone by and/or, perhaps, from the inability to create something lasting. The
poet writes:

in limited space
fear dominates deepening
my own mind that moves
through broken strains of
elegy and serenade. (“Shadow II”, 7-11)

The last four poems, greater in their sweep and thematically connected with the
rest, appear unique in their technique and implications.

Certain themes and issues – for instance, the travails of creativity, a dulled
imagination due to over-introspection, the eviscerated yet puzzling nature of love-
making, and more – can be identified that are invariably present in every other poem
in the collection. There are poems dealing with global events of violence and their
repercussions: “War in Gaza,” “Politics of Deception,” “Dubious Gospels,” and so
on. The poems like “Let them Live” combine the contemporaneity of violence with
a scientific understanding of sex which has made it, in our times, merely an act of
pleasure. These poems bring out the politically conscious nature of the poet, who
can carefully map the bearings of the greater incidents on his private world. “New
Slavery” is a pungent take on the class conflict and political oppressiveness of
various ideological dispensations. Some others are overtly political satires and adopt
a no-holds barred approach in criticising the communal agenda of the establishment
with overt references to some cataclysmic events from Indian history. The mysterious
and unperishable nature of evil, the poet finds overwhelming, and the hope for the

Book Review                                                                   191                                                                                                                           _________________________________________________________________________________

survival of humanity appears only faint to him. Likewise, the sterile rhythm of humanity
seems to cloud the poet’s ability to feel inspired to write enduring poems in “One
More Poem”. The process of composition is painful and the poet suffers, but
eventually it all results into a good poem. The poet feels that he is blessed with
sanguine friends who keep him full of hope. Again in “Mystery,” life’s “unbloomed
spring”, youth wasted in the pursuit of superficial pleasures, cannot produce a stir in
the imagination of the poet (“Mystery” 6). Just as the season of autumn produces a
stillness in the body, just so the creative juices of the poet too have run dry. Even a
loss of love now doesn’t affect the emotions of the lovers.

Love and erotic longings are a central concern in the collection, especially
characterising the opening poems. “Love by Default” takes a modern approach to
understand a woman’s love “whose hunger is different each time she meets
man”(10), underscoring how modern women in the company of their lovers grow
oblivious of the difference between loving and love-making . Sex to Prof. Singh still
remains an alluring mystery that even modern science has not understood; instead,
it has made sex more mechanical, an act of incompleteness where beings bereft of
knowledge are conceived. Some poems follow the stress pattern of the Haiku poems.
“Love Hides” is a haiku sequence that presents a compelling intersection of love,
sex, and mortality.

“Melting Elements,” in mysterious terms and relying heavily on sensual imagery,
describes the relationship between a man and woman and the changing moods of
both the partners. Their love is still in that phase where revelling in the surfeit of
intercourse sums up one’s mortal existence. The sensual imagery, synaesthetic use
of words, and the portrayal of the concupiscence of the lovers from their individual
points of view produce before us a montage of the lives of the two. The cohabiting
couple separates after getting intimate one more time, only to realise that eventually
all comes to an end.

“Knocking Vistas” (I) is a series of Tankas that touch upon a variety of aspects
of human existence that begin from the poet’s personal dilemmas to political problems
of modern times, from emotions deeply and personally felt to a generalised perception
of others’ opinions.

“Knocking Vistas” (II) is a string of thoughts cast in the form of Haikus where
the poet weaves an eclectic mix of mythology, personal incidents and experiences,
symbols that acquire new meanings, and science. The various thematic and structural
elements impart a mysterious aura to each of the Haikus, one almost feels as if

192                                                                                               Ars Artium, Vol. 13, January 2025

_________________________________________________________________________________

going through encoded messages stringed together without any regard for the spill
over of thought from one to the next stanza. It requires some effort to decode the
wider implications of each stanza.

The “Afterword,” penned by Kevin Marshall Chopson, a renowned poet and
versatile artist, brings forth an appreciation of Prof. Singh’s poetic universe and his
meticulous grasp over his craft, placing him alongside some of his personal favourite
poets like Rilke and Mary Oliver.

In the end, it must be acknowledged that Prof. Singh has introduced new and
experimental poetry on the Indian poetic scene. The collection, in some sense, is not
meant for those readers who look for spontaneity and an abundance of emotions in
poems, nor for those who like poems that are more focused in the treatment of their
subject matter. These poems should be celebrated for their austerity of style,
intellectual rigour, and sensitivity of perception. The readers are more likely to be
left awe struck with the way in which an idea has been cast in the form of an
amalgam of sound, rhythm, and metaphors. Each stanza/Haiku/Tanka opens several
new vistas of thought when carefully reflected upon, leaving the readers wonder-
struck and searching, with more earnestness, for that one particular strand of thought
that connects or severs the next stanza from its previous one. Prof. Singh does not
come across as an escapist, like W. B. Yeats, lost in his own mythopoeic world, or
John Keats dwelling in his Hellenic world of eternal beauty. Instead, he embraces
and undergoes every experience that comes his way to draw his own lessons from
it.

________________________________________________________________________________

*Assistant Professor of English, University of Allahabad, Prayagraj-211002, UP, India.
Emails: h.singh765@gmail.com; pkgbhu164@gmail.com
© 2025 The Authors. Published by Paragon International Publishers. Open Access Under
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0).

https://www.arsartium.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Book-Review-6.-Hariom-Singh-and-PK-Gond.pdf

Two Poems and Ten Tanka in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, 24 January 2025

 

Two Poems & Ten Tanka Poems by Ram Krishna Singh

 

Search My Own Music

Dull notes of life

await re-ordering--

rhythm and pitch

behind closed walls humming

to search my own music

 

shake the silent soul

before the final beat

create symphony

merging truth and dream on

lips and eyes that’re alive

Body's No Picnic

Not too many issues

yet enough to upset

the mind of men and women

in postlapsarian world:

 

she blames me for changing size

shifting shape and cracking bones

aching joints and sleeplessness

menopausal ups and downs

 

she kicks me out of bed

saying my body’s no picnic

 

I know it’s difficult

to be a woman and wife

working and making home

 

I may be no saint

in your eyes but I never

tried to remake you

in my own or God’s image

 

I can’t give birth like you

nor can I stop the changes in you

I’ve no miracle pill

 

your body, your anger

I love you as you are

let’s carry no useless weight

 

Ten Tanka

Sealed vial

a product of time

I am

cut open and see

how life spends me

***

 

Anal bleeding

overweening reliance

on faith healing

leshies inside astray

limping hope and hairy age

 

***

Much before they script

new jihad for romance--

racist purity

in a cracked mirror each one

looks for share in the grabbed moon

***

 

Half-drunk women

on one side of the road

pimps on the other

ready to seize first-timers

to the tin box by street lamps

 

***

 

While I sit still

how my shadow moves

the little flame of candle

tossing against the wind

or wheedling passion nestles

in the grey of mound

 

***

 

Standing on a cloud

look through an open door way:

desires awakened

before I could step inside

the door closed, I missed my chance

 

***

 

Unquenched thirst

more and more indulgence

momentary pleasure

she says it’s enough now

rein the horse and seek the missed

 

***

 

Unemptied

the cup of remorse—

begging bowl

before the dumb deity

years of noisy silence

***

 

God has become

a habit in helplessness

faith a deception

when unable to enjoy

love, life and wonders of world

***

Stars on the earth

these glow-worms I want to clasp

into hands and

offer to God as flowers

of my first obeisance

 https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2025/01/two-poems-ten-tanka-poems-by-ram.html?m=1