The River Returns: A Review by Narayanan Raghunathan

 

The River Returns  

Professor R.K Singh is truly a multifaceted personality. First he is a professor and head of the Department of English and Social Sciences at the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. His  main fields of interest consist of Indian English Writing, especially poetry and English for specific purposes, especially for Science and Technology. He has authored over 150 academic articles, 160 book reviews and 30 books including ten collections of poems !! Very versatile and prolific indeed! 

His poems have been anthologized in over 140 publications and translated into many languages  

The first thing that I noticed about the book “The River Returns” was its elegant cover design. It uses very simple but perfect lines to outline a female nude. I instantly felt familiar and soon re-cognized it as Matisse’s famous drawing. I checked inside and read, ‘cover design recreated from “Nude” by Henri Matisse’. I was very fond of Matisse and this became an ambient personal introduction to the book. [ I felt that the Matisse lines have been thickened in the design which was not necessary in my opinion. (or am I imagining !) ]  

This book has two sections Part 1] consisting of  140 Tanka  Part 2] consisting of 365 Haiku . It must be one of the first book(s) ever published on Tanka and Haiku in English in India and the very prolific abundance is admirable. 

We will deal with the Tanka section first and wade through a few Tanka. Tanka was originally love poetry and continues to be so intrinsically : here in these Tanka by R.K Singh,  love manifesting, hope of love deeply enhanced by nature’s myriad wonders of perception etc. are  major themes that find varied structural and aesthetic elucidations ~~ 

 

“Unrealized bliss”  “rains love and delight”  in the following lyrical Tanka  ~~ 

 

She hears the voice
of unrealized bliss in
the coos of koel
at the window sill this evening
rains love and delight 

 

The passion of waiting for the tryst “at moonrise among flowers” “sparkles a secret on her smiling face” here ~~ 

 

His message to meet
at moonrise among the flowers
sparkles a secret
on her smiling face passion
glows with charming fervour 

 

Waxing and waning like the moon  in ancient cosmic Rtam ~~ 

 

She is no moon yet
she drifts like the moon, takes care
of him from the sky-
meets him for a short, waxing
leaves him for a long, waning 

 

The geometric formation of a woman in river waters inspires the following special tanka: It is more neutral [ not personal ] observation though sensuous in its subtler enhancements. ~~ 

 

At the river
she folds her arms and legs
resting her head
upon the knees and sits
as an island  

 

The Cosmic Rtam is referred again and the poet sees the Cosmic Mother Aditi in his beloved’s eyes ~~ 

 

Life limits between
whence the sun rise and where
it goes to relax:
joys of a fleeting moment
I see Aditi in your eyes 

 

A little drink, anarchy and epicurean refinements too discover a Dionysian fulfillment in some Tanka like this one ~~  

 

Drinking evening star
blue green patterns before eyes
no meditation
no god visits to forgive
the sinning soul in solitude  

 

Of course the physical ailments of the body also  surface for tentative attention in a gently mocking tragic irony as the poet “looking for the inhaler” breathing pipe choked with coloured dust ~~ 

 

Breathing pipe choked
with coloured dust celebrate
spring in coalfield:
the moon mocks my nightly plight
I look for the inhaler 

 

Very deeply angst ridden one that finds a way out of the entrapment in the sun’s antidote ~~  

 

I lost my sleep
over a thought I could not
make my own:
the sun’s antidote changed
the voice of the wind 

 

There are ‘shasei’ sentient  ‘aware’ invoking Tanka enhanced by ‘wabi/sabi’ like this imagist one immersed in Zen. 

 

A cloud-eagle
curves  to the haze
in the west
skimming the sail
on soundless sea  

 

Here is a strange and beautiful one with a hidden lyrical narrative and metaphysical resonance as the toddler / in thin sun awaits / her mom from the sea” ~~ 

 

Digging sand
with her little toes
the toddler
in thin sun awaits
her mom from the sea  

 

But anxieties have no escape and insomnia is a perpetual agony for the poet. Unlike many others here the poet talks about his personal pains which seem to be a part of the Cosmic Dukkha ~~ 

 

I thought I’d exchange
my anxieties for a bit
of peace but thinking
was easier than happening:
I couldn’t even sleep  

 

Fearsome nightmares and sleepless deeper darkness envelop the night(s)! 

 

I fear the demons
rising from my body
at midnight crowding
the mind and leading the soul
to deeper darkness 

 

The insomniac poet is in agony ruthless seeing with no self aggrandizement: survives one more nightmare: it looks fearsome if one tries to imagine what he says! 

 

An insomniac
weak with desires and prayers
hears the heartbeats
rising fast with dark hours
survives one more nightmare  

 

But surely there are gentler moments when “seven times he moves round  the vermillion god under the peepal sprinkling water ~~~~ ? 

 

Seven times he moves
round the vermillion god
under the peepal
sprinkling water to escape
the malefic Saturn 

 

Of course the poet can’t escape nor deny poetic lyric so here is one of RK’s beautiful and highly evocative Tanka with a cosmic perception ~~ 

 

Gentle like a dove
love was graceful a night away
on the white wave it’s
a sea searching ways leaps to
eternity tonight  

 

But meticulously he affirms almost immediately ~~ 

 

I’m no romantic
turning sufferings to bliss
and delude in
heavenly meeting with god
or life’s grandeur and greatness  

 

Again insists with a vehemence and even hidden pain about his unavoidable human predicament ~~  

 

I’m human and feel
their meanness every moment
get angry and lose
my sleep as the earth writhes in
the pain butcher’s knives inflict  

 

But there is the hope in poetry and prayer despite God’s nonchalant silence ~~  

 

There’s little save
poetry and prayer
to put up with
rising darkness in and out
and god too is silent  

 

There is a sad tragic reminiscence like this one: The poet also creates Tanka out of his unhappiness ~~ 

 

Couldn’t be happy with
my present nor could realize
any dreams all these years-
there’s nothing to look back
to say I lived my life well  

 

A strange esoteric mystery pervades the spirit of this brilliant Tanka ~~

 

Inside me
the whispers of the forest
will be quiet:
no tree will know
what the weather was like  

 

But surely there is “divinity unrealized in soul” is expressed eloquently as below in some Tanka.

 

The sun
on a mountain
grave illumines the path
to divinity unrealized
in soul  

 

Also, just brilliant imagist Tanka  very self-satisfactory  without critical comments ~~

 

With steel flow
the rolling water
pierces the rocks
shapes them into stars
turned into river’s song 

 

There are humorous one filled with sad wabi-sabi  ~~ 

 

She visits
a beauty parlour
to erase wrinkles
and returns with the same
wintry darkness  

 

Deeply meditative Buddha’s image in Padmaasana too finds way into one of the Tanka ~~  
 

 

At the river-front
in-drawn with Buddha’s image
in padmasana
eyes half-closed, meditating
his eyes not yet opened  

 

A somewhat disturbing sentient experience inspires the following Tanka 

 

Stray fungi grow
on the broken window frames
beside my bed
watery smell swells as if
a corpse in the river  

 

The Great Kumbh Mela finds a subdued expression ~~

Feeling the difference
between a tin house and
a weather proof tent:
on the Yamuna’s bank
Kumbh deluge to wash sins   

 

Very expressionistic and philosophically inspired Tanka also have their special place ~~ 

 

With black and white marks
and nest of ants on its skin
the tree grows taller
shining through the geometry
of sun, moon and halogen 

 

About layers of “dust thickening on the mirror”, “the stains” that “stay like sin” despite perpetual wiping  ~~ 

 

Layers of dust thicken
on the mirror water makes
the smut prominent:
I wipe and wipe and yet
the stains stay like sin 

 

A very deeply symbolic one about life and river and finding way in life ~~ 

 

I’m no river
flowing towards the sea:
I must find my  way
asking strangers in strange places
sensing soul, using insight 

 

Remarkably gentle Zen inspired imagist Tanka like a divine dream   ~~

 

The otter watches
a duck walking on
the frozen river
icicles drop bit by bit
from a lone tree  

 

Perfect human observations find their hidden poetry in some like this ~~ 

 

Peeling the orange
with manicured fingers:
she slits the rind from
top to bottom, separates
each section with artistry  

 

The eternal journey and eternal duel and the resolutions surely are part of the Tanka experience ~~ 

 

One thousand miles
traveling together
in tense silence
he and she contemplate
the next round of duel  

 

There are also difficult to decipher ones rooted in aware ( eternal transience )  ~~ 

 

Time is running out
cracks in walls develop fast
but I stay static
shrouded in cobweb, brooding
as if in dusk, denying death 

 

The physical pains and the occasional union in sleep of the insomniac with God is referred below ~~  

 

Each night speaks to me
in flatulence, wheezing
and pain in the legs:
god intervenes at times
in momentary union  

 

But with “years of rubbish he reeks of aborted dreams" as he rots in the "marsh" "like a frog" "cut off from the running source”  ~~

 

With years of rubbish
he reeks of aborted dreams
lives a stagnant pool
cut off from the running source
rots in the marsh like a frog  

 

The insomnia seems to be a perpetual unwanted companion and theme for Tanka inevitably again and again ! 

 

Lying all day
with pain in the heels
and sinking heart
I read tanka and wait
for miracle to sleep  

 

Now there are of course Tanka that express social concern and personal political indignation  ~~

 

With moral twists
name of god or religion
they fly planes to bomb
sheep of his pasture and
expect grace for humankind  

 

Where they preach peace with politics of terror  ~~

 

Preaching peace
explode ‘plane bomb, car bomb
human bomb
and bluff the living corpses
with politics of terror 

 

and the poet wonders how god condones the vague prophets and their cults  ~~

 

They claim to kill satan
mass murder innocents
and blow themselves up:
I wonder how god condones
vague prophets and their cult  

 

Here is a deeply personal one about the poet’s son working in the Armed Forces near the border where war may break out any moment where he must kill and live to kill ~~ 

 

From the border rings
he’s stationed dangerously:
any moment war
may break out for their follies
he must kill and live …. to kill 

 

A very strange memory of walking through a slum when “dogs bark to alert the dwellers to the presence of a stranger” finds a perfect expression in this Tanka. 

 

Naked children crowd
as I pass through the alleys
between smelly slums:
dogs bark to alert them to
the presence of a stranger 

 

But sensual ambience reigns in many of  Prof. Singh’s Tanka like this gentle lotus fragranced one ~~ 

 

Her letter smells
the lotus she wore each time
meeting in the dark:
I touch her fingers again
with all the hopes and passions 

 

Hilarious and romantic moods merge in this Tanka invoking the monsoon 

 

Waving arms of trees
conspire with overcast day
to drench again
the two of us look for shade
under leaking umbrella 

 

The Tanka section closes with the dead silence at sea when the poet surreally pulls down chunks of sky 

 

Awaiting the wave
that’ll wash away empty hours
and endless longing
in this dead silence at sea
I pull down chunks of sky  

 

The Haiku section begins gently with a few mutually related(linked) Haiku on hibiscus and there are spiders and webs The special meta-animism  is self-evident in the  following ~~

 

Haiku Oleander and
hibiscus blaze with passion
making love in sun 

 

Hibiscus seems to enthrall him and he finds it anew ~~

 

Suspended
on the spider’s web
a hibiscus 

 

and escapes the snares of a spider web here ~~

 

Narrowly escape
the midair web of spider
perched on hibiscus

 

But hibiscus is sacred when used for worship, so wash your hands before you touch them as the following haiku reveals ~~


Without washing hands
he touches hibiscus for worship:
her frowning glance    

 

“Chrysanthemum” flowers in divine abandon and is even growing in odd places like a "mossy roof " ~~ 

 

Chrysanthemum
on the mossy roof
deeply rooted 

 

He surely captures a huge spider between two roses ~~ 

 

Too big for its web
between two roses-
a yellow spider 

 

A lone pomegranate manifests from dense fog here  ~~

 

Shrouded in fog
the lone pomegranate
in the courtyard. 

 

An ordinary observation gets elevated to a haiku here ~~

 

Lying in the dust
a guava bitten off
by the parrots 

 

Leaves of trees become meta-beings wanting to fly in this Haiku ~~ 

 

Leaves sway
to fly like birds
free in sky 

 

The hill is veiling her breasts and blushing like a maiden in this poetic Haiku ~~

 

Veiling her breasts
with the season’s first snows
the hill blushes 

 

Transparent, explicitly shasei but still subtle Haiku  too find a voice here ~~ 

 

On a lean
branch of neem swinging
a bulbul 

 

A clean haiku painting is coaxed in a few syllables like this ~~

 

Painting
spring with willow
as brush 

 

His wife appears in some Haiku in domestic freedom unaware of her physical appearance ~~  

 

With her saree
hitched up between the legs
my wife in bed  

 

The newly wed wife rises early to please  and make all happy ~~  

 

Rising early
to make tea for everyone
the newly wed wife 

 

Pain of separation from beloved children finds its expression on the Diwali day ~~  

 

No joy in lighting
the candles this Diwali
both the children away  

 

The son working in the army on the dangerous border invokes this eerie death inspired haiku ~~  

 

Awaits his son’s
phone call from the border
dogs and cats wail 

 

The moon is a favourite topic and kigo for the Haijin. The following haiku closes admirably with a hineri [twist]. 

 

A star shines bright
beside the crescent moon
she fakes a smile 

 

Deep wabi-sabi is invoked in some, the ancient strange eternally solitary man  reinstated in his unique cosmos.  

 

After the party
empty chairs in the lawn –
new moon and I 

 

The Haijin’s incurable insomnia appears too: yet there is a moon !  

 

Noisy birds
don’t let me sleep:
midnight moon 

 

There are some sensuous haiku with direct reference to the female anatomy .

 

Wet bodies of
bathing women:
full moon night 

 

Very strange and impossible metaphors too appear sometimes ~~

 

Squeaking
under the blue moon-
the dry sky 

 

Religious and ritualistic elements find a new expression in some Haiku. 

 

Vultures waiting
for the leftovers
of the sacrifice 

 

Also, Mosquitoes, solitude and waiting ~~

 

Waiting for the train
alone on the platform
swatting mosquitoes 

 

Sleepless nights again and again repeating  ~~

 

The long night passes
sleeplessly I deep-breathe –
mosquitoes in bed 

 

The terrible after effects of an earthquake is captured eloquently in the following ~~  

 

Days after the quake
staring at the rubble –
a homeless widow 

The well acts as a mirror for the village woman coming to draw waters ~~

 

In the well
studying her image
a woman 

 

Very pathetic scene of poverty as seen in some places in India also becomes a theme ~~

 

Searching food
in the street garbage
a dog and a girl 

 

The poet can also be rebellious and ironic smoking cannabis on Gandhi Jayanthi day at Sabarmathi itself !

 

Smoking cannabis
at the Sabarmathi –
2^nd October  

 

The whole vast ancient Indian idea of transmigration from life to life for ever is invoked in silent grandeur ~~  

 

Facing the sun
the lone flower
dying to bloom 

 

Explicitly humorous Haiku too find a place in the Haijin’s repertoire ~~ 

 

Alone
on the National Highway  
Hanuman   

 

A very simple curious observation becomes a beautiful haiku here with vast worlds unfolding in its hidden recesses ~~  

 

A bubble flying
from over the shaving brush
bursts on the mirror 

 

There are common experiences that turn into “aware” invoking haiku like this ~~ 

 

Disposable blades
one over the other –
dusty switch board  

 

Also, strange, experimental but animistically suggestive ones too appear occassionally ~~ 

 

A star in making –
but an island appears
the palm amuses 

 

The Haijin despite much sexual activity recognizes that ~~

 

The bed room altar
no substitute for temple
sacrifice of sex   

 

But He clearly recognizes that these passions are all fleeting and unruffled by it all the Buddha’s calm still is a possibility.   

 

Unruffled
by passions and clamours -
Buddha’s calm   

 

There are animal related ones like this neat shasei experience ~~ 

 

A crow pecking
at the ripe papaya and
another waiting  

 

This beautiful senryu is something many people would have seen many times!  

 

In the morning train 
sleeping on his feet
the newspaperman  

 

The Endless Ganges is his perpetual theme  ~~

 

Awaits the sunrise
in the chilly Ganges
a nude worshipper  

 

He also encounters visions eating the food of gods  ~~

 

Sees visions
eating food of gods -
mushroom  
 

 

Religious symbols too appear in some of the Haiku  ~~

 

On Christmas eve
santa claus takes leave- 
mist on chairs in pairs  

 

The contrast of flowers and the cross is beautifully indicated in this haiku  ~~

 

Standing
between flowers
Jesus on the cross  

 

Krishna too appears in this mythogrammatical-haiku  ~~

 

Krishna offering
parijata to Radha:
Narada looks on  

 

But still the pains of this earth cannot be overlooked  ~~

 

All night rain
the gaping roof
her shelter  

 

That does not forbid the beautiful vision of a rainy day  ~~

 

Sudden rain
on the way home -
a peacock  

 

Then we come to the Haiku with the title of the book which is symbolic of human existence in a deep way  ~~

 

Dancing
a few muddled crocs :
the river returns  

 

The book closes with a rainbow kigo Haiku  and a new hope  ~~  

 

In the changing hues
of rainbow in the east
sun and lightning 

eternally bridging the many worlds  ~~

 

Reflects the rainbow
in the mirror of water -
Yamuna bridge   

 

There are certain things we may specially observe in Prof. R.K Singh’s Haiku & Tanka poetry. They are not bound by hard and fast rules. Firstly, the syllable count rule is not adhered to. Haiku and senryu are not classified. The haiku themselves are of various types we may say, extending Susumu Takiguchi’s tentative classification: Neo-classical [ with a kigo and kireji ] ,Shintai[ New style ], Gendai [ poetic, ornamented ]  and even experimental ~ The haijin has not artificially kigo-ized nor kireji-zed his Haiku thus avoiding the temptation to tentori-fication.   

 

My only negative observation is that some of the explicitly erotic Haiku  weaken the texture of the book and create a little distracting feeling     

 

I also notice that one Haiku has appeared twice in the collection. [ end of page 52 and page 75 ] . This should have been observed and corrected!  

 

Due to inexplicable reasons this review of this book took too long for me to complete. This made me more intimate with the book and the author in an intrinsic sense.  If I had made another review of the same book, other Haiku may be included as examples, offering another perspective and verbal meandering perhaps invoking another symbolic journey  .

 

 

Review of Prof. RK Singh's Book

 

http://www.wonderhaikuworlds.com/posts/view/4986