haiku tanka micro poems
हाइकु तनका लघु कविताएँ
haiku and senryu
हाइकु और सेनर्यु
photograph sourced from wix
you and me
together yet apart
beads of a rosary
~ teji sethi, India
Under the Basho, Aug 2020, Uncharted Roads (2021)
the Year book of Indian Poetry in English 2020-21
pottery and photograph: harmeet
photograph sourced from wix
reading between lines
the silence
he never wrote
~ Teji Sethi ,Bangalore ,India
First place, Indian Kukai, March 2021
Commentary on this ku
I have experienced these silences in music - when listening to others and when I sing for myself. I have seen these silences in paintings which the painter might not have noticed. Knowing that Teji is an artist and knows design - I see this as a *felt* moment. Silence getting folded in/under images, words and swaras is possible, peeping out from unexpected corners and this adds a poignancy to this senryu. Most importantly - as a reader it shows me that the narrator was pausing at every line/word, maybe? and I as a reader, wonder about the state of mind the narrator was in, when she wrote it. There is so much unsaid and unsaid most beautifully.
as it goes with
the wind this cherry petal
so shall I
Teji Sethi, India
както си отива с
вятъра това вишнево цветче –
така ще си отида и аз
translated in Bulgarian
Honorable mention at the Fifth International Haiku Contest,
May 2021, ‘Cherry Blossoms.’
pottery and photograph: harmeet
delivery room —
cold palms against the warmth
of a stillborn
— Teji Sethi, India
Second Place, Monthly Kukai, The Haiku Foundation, Aug 2021
Comments by the editor:
I found myself momentarily wordless (i.e., speechless) upon reading this haiku. The cold hands/warm body image is truly a haptic one, and it carries the poem.
pottery and photograph: harmeet
an aged banyan
roots as deep
as beliefs
Teji Sethi, India
Featured in The Haiku Foundation
Commentary by the Editor, Kelly Sauvage Angel
This haiku by Sethi humbles me. Not only does it offer an extremely resonant juxtaposition, but its depth and complexity continue to unfold in a manner that propels one into the most expansive of realms, the spiritual, while remaining utterly free of the tethers of religious dogma. Indeed, the history and mythology of the banyan are rich, allowing our understanding to manifest in whatever guise is most meaningful to us; at the same time, one can hardly glance over the banyan’s unique anatomy with its elongated aerial roots which, while expansive, extend underground to an extent that would prove insufficient for support as a single-root system.
While the more obvious metaphorical interpretation may leave us chuckling or nodding in agreement, we would be remiss to disregard the tree’s cultural and religious significance, whether as the site of the sermon of the Bhagavad Gita or within the context of the “world tree,” with its roots stretching to heaven. And, to whom is this piece referring? Perhaps the “aged banyan” is an older member of the poet’s community or an allusion to the depth of our collective failings—or our mythic potential.
photograph sourced from wix