Haiku Response to the Kathmandu Earthquake
As you all know, the recent catastrophic earthquake in the Himalayas has left a heavy toll in the region. We invite poets to offer their haiku responses here, and share with you one such response, by the well-known poet Sudeep Sen, published recently in The London Magazine. (You can view the article here.) We will send our responses to The London Magazine as well, as continuation of the story.
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another tremor
another night of blackout
in Darjeeling
(Neighboring Darjeeling, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan have had continuous aftershocks.)
Langtang –
a toppled prayer flag flutters
amidst the rock and ice
Mount Everest
the abode of the gods
what demons shook you
white conch dawn
pyre smoke rising
to meet it
(white conch [DHI-TSA] in Tibetan and Bhutanese divination is the harbinger of ‘good news’.)
silent mountain
an old man
asks why
one day later
still speaking
in whispers
no where to hide…
only torn clouds over
the cathedral spires
nowhere to hide . . .
only rubble where
temples once stood
after the quake
people praying
for people
aftershock
his wooden smile
cracks with the walls
she sleeps
with her toys–
vast sunset
Richter scale–
the tragedy beyond
measurement
rising dust—
the bitter sweetness
of packaged food
a beautiful girl*
clutching, clutching
a food package
With apologies to Issa’s haiku
a beautiful girl
munching, munching
a rice-dumpling
(trans. Nanao Sakaki
nightlong prayers–
the voices quavering
in the aftershocks
morning after
and still the birds sing
in the valley of rubble
quake nightfall
the glow of mountains
in the blackout
month on
the silence of temple bells
in the valley
weeks of tremor
is that why you aren’t here
house martin
icefall
the weight
of our lives
after the quake
the sun also
rises
white water –
Kathmandu’s spirit
rafts in blood
strewn bodies–
a little girl searches
for her doll
Langtang
a prayer for
prayer’s sake
quake prayer lamps
on the roof of the world
wildflowers
three days
a chubby infant
resurrected
temple bells…
the hard swallow
of a mountain
Kathmandu sky
rows of funeral pyres
on the quay
lest we forget
the pain
of the Nepalese
ruins
child crying for
her doll
cries rend the air
as smoke rises from pyres
on Bagmati’s sandbanks
under the stars
without sleeping bag
a dead child
heavily trapped
inside a temple
silence of gods
Two brilliant haiku:
thousands of doves
on the temple’s roof
reincarnation
.
ILIYANA STOYANOVA
.
.
pocket money
still in the palm
of the dead child
.
Vladislav Hristov
.
.
These two haiku are very powerful. It’d be wonderful if the The London Magazine would publish them.
.
pocket money
still in the palm
of the dead child
thousands of doves
on the temple’s roof
reincarnation
Nepal earthquake –
from beneath the rubble
a statue’s begging hand
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photo is from here
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/25/world/gallery/nepal-earthquake/index.html