Vidya Shankar - The Quintessential Word

Indian haiku comes of age this August at The Haiku Foundation with our own Lakshmi Iyer as the Guest Editor and thirty-one Indian poets featured one a day all through August. The featured poet for today (30/08/2023) is yours truly ☺
Thank you, Kala, for selecting this ku for Under the Basho. And thank you, Lakshmi, for featuring me in this Amrit Kaal series. Couldn't have been more proud to represent India.

To read all the featured poets, here's the link:

A five-year old dream comes true for me today. I have two poems published in Muse India, an exclusive literary journal from India, in whose pages I had cherished a dream of my work being featured.
The Vasant Ritu issue of Muse India (108, Mar-Apr 2023) showcases Japanese short-form poetry with Kala Ramesh curating the section as Editor. Thank you, Surya Rao of Muse India for this opportunity. And thank you, Kala, for selecting my haibun for this special bumper issue.

The Vasant Ritu issue can be accessed here:
https://museindia.com/

Sharing one of my haibun featured in this issue:

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰

Next to me, Sowmya’s face glows with pride as our school principal leads her mother to the two chairs on the stage. Her mother is the chief guest for this month’s inter-house cultural events. She gets to occupy a place of importance on the stage with our principal and address us, the students. Last month, Kalyani’s mother was the chief guest. Our principal had introduced her as a very successful businesswoman, someone we girls had to look up to for inspiration. Bertha, who is sitting behind us, leans forward and whispers, “Principal ma’am called my mother yesterday. To invite her to next month’s cultural but my mother is travelling to London. She had to decline the invitation.”

I look at Sowmya’s mother closely. A bright blue saree with vivid pink floral prints, matching chunky jewellery, bright pink lipstick, an embellished jutti in beige, and a beige handbag.

So different from Mother. All of them.

I wish the school would invite Mother someday.

amavasya
the neon lights
everyone sees

https://museindia.com/Home/ViewContentData?arttype=feature&issid=108&menuid=10547

Happiness is welcoming the new year in a glorious way. Here's to Glory and to 2023 🎉🎉🎉

Read my poem, Marriage, in the November-December issue of GloMag published this new year's morning.

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞

𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡
𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟
𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡
𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑
𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟

𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒
ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒
𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡
𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑
𝑑 𝑟 𝑎 𝑔 𝑔 𝑖 𝑛 𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔
𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒

The theme for the November 2022 issue of Storizen was 'Another Day in Life'. Yes, it's never too late.
Sharing my poem, Kalpavruksha, published in the November issue. Please click on the link below.

Storizen Magazine November 2022 | The JCB Prize for Literature Have you ever woken up and thought, I got another day to make it! Fascinated by this, we decided to dedicate November 2022 to the theme, “Another Day in Life…” The seven suns will lead the path to completeness. Isn’t it great to be alive, to see the light of another day, even if there is dar...

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." -- Lewis B. Smedes
The September issue of Storizen was prompted by this quote, and thankfully so because it brought me out of an unexpected hibernation.
Please read my poem, Forgiving' on pages 106-107 in this stellar issue of Storizen.

Forgiving - Issuu The entrance — tall, menacing, reaching to the skies yet so narrow, yet just enough for me to squeeze in but I do and move f o r w a r d leaving behind past grudges

Prune Juice Journal published their Issue 37 on 31 July 2022. Elated that I have a haibun in there.

Read my haibun, Bravado, published on 17 July 2022 in Scarlet Dragonfly Journal.

Bravado Dreamy hills of Sikkim. Deep, mist-covered, ghostly gorges. Suddenly, dark, grey clouds spread thickly across the valley — a vampire attack! Fear grips the village. Alone, I decide to fight the ene…