Kanchan Chatterjee works in the Finance Ministry of the Government of India as a tax officer. He has been writing poems and haiku since 2012. His poems have been published in a variety of ezines. He received an honourable mention for his entry in the 2017 Eto En Oi Ocha haiku contest in Japan.

 

rendezvous

the old man
looked up and
recognized me
instantly…

I said I’d
not expected him
this time

(must be in his late eighties
these days,
you know)

he winked

started
to laugh…

I noticed
a few
teeth
missing…

 

~

 

Chutu Palu – at the bend     

more hills, a car

passes by

us

dim

sun

more trees, here it’s slow

moving

everything, feels

good

3 hours till

i’ll

be near

canary hill, open cast

 

mines, cycle load of

coal, in gunny bags, on the way

to Ranchi

nobody bothers

about them

or the half-cut

hill

 

by which a new road

is being

laid, they say

development, damn

those trees

we don’t see

any more vultures

here

 

the kid in the front seat

starts another game in his cellphone

(or whatever)

never looks out the moving window, misses

a brilliant

waterfall

 

her mom isn’t happy

she says too much trees

around, her hubby with an i-pad nods

absentmindedly

 

they yawn

and wait. . .

 

~

 

monsoon

he takes another sip
closes the door
to the fog, the garbage heap, a barking
dog

he is ready
for something . . .

 

~

 

autumn

on this rainsoaked day
amidst crazy wind
watching the highway no. 33, through the moving window,
the distant hills
and miles and miles
of swaying grass – a train cutting through
all these;
whistling, homebound . . .

I forgive
myself