Description

the glide of herons . . .
I remove a word from
the haiku

Ramesh’s present book, spinning pinwheels, is studded with beautiful haiku, like fireflies in a midnight field. The art of de-cluttering is strong here, underlining the truth that less is more. When minimalism reveals her inner strength, nothing can be more beautiful, for haiku then becomes a wordless poem. The magic is evident each time. — Kala Ramesh

There is a tendency among spiritual thinkers to regard the world as broken, and to go searching for what heals. It is tempting to slot Ramesh’s poetry in the “healing” category, but that, I think, would be mistaken. What his haiku reveal is a world that is already healed. — Robert Hirschfield

In Ramesh’s haiku, the deep connection between nature and human life is vividly depicted — a farmer bathing, a neighbourhood rooster eagerly welcoming the returning poet, a cow pushing open the gate at dawn to nibble on a banana peel, a boy and a bird of paradise, a child flying a kite, a girl collecting seashells, a baby elephant catching up with its herd, Jacaranda petals falling onto a baby carriage … — Mayuzumi Madoka

In this arcing collection of artfully crafted poems, K Ramesh invites us on a kaleidoscopic adventure through this rich landscape, pulling the sublime from the ordinary and colour from darkness.  — Alan S Bridges

The haiku in this book are grounded in the mundane realities of daily life and yet they evoke such sublime feelings of tranquillity. — Ravi Kiran

With the eye of a fine photographer and the soul of a devoted teacher, K Ramesh shows us in his haiku and related work that there’s no “wrong route” or “dead end” — any road can lead to some quiet amazement or even a minor epiphany.  — Scott Mason

The haiku and haibun collected in Spinning Pinwheels reveal K Ramesh’s rich background as a highly respected writer.  — Joanna Ashwell

Traditionally, haiku is seen as a form of communion with nature and K Ramesh’s haiku are a testament to this quiet art of observation. — Geethanjali Rajan

K Ramesh is the author of three haiku collections titled, soap bubbles, pebble to pebble and A Small Tree of Tender Leaves’. His haiku have appeared in magazines and anthologies published in India and around the world. He teaches Physics at Pathashaala, a J Krishnamurti Foundation School, located near Chengelpet.

              Reviews

K Ramesh: Haiku Master of South India by Robert Hirschfield in Singapore Unbound

“I write only about what I directly experience,” Ramesh wrote in an email to me. The poet teaches at a Krishnamurti residential school in a village southeast of Chennai, built amidst paddy fields over which kingfishers, cuckoos, and golden orioles fly. It is also home to antelopes, mongoose, and hares. In the tradition of Basho, and the latter-day Japanese master, Santoka, Ramesh roams the Tamil countryside, often with his camera, much like Henri Cartier Bresson, the photo-journalist who covered the world for Magnum, waiting famously for “the decisive moment” to arise. For Ramesh, “I just walk without attempting to look for something.”

Read an excerpt in Icebox Haiku Express

Lakshmi Iyer in The Wise Owl

K Ramesh, a seasoned haijin, has mastered the art of tendering the macrocosm into microcosm; transcending the cycle of time and rebirth. Every poem has a story to tell and every story breathes slides of a typical Indian landscape, from village streets to school, through lanes and mountains and hills. The reader instinctively responds to the mood, emotions and perspectives wrapped up in a few chosen words.

Gabriel Rosenstock in Beshara Magazine

Haiku have lost kokoro (feeling, heart, spirit). From the time of the Man’yoshu, Japan’s earliest poetry anthology, the Japanese literary arts have invested mono (things) with kokoro. (Quoted in Simply Haiku Archives)

It’s true. The heart has largely gone out of haiku. Most haiku today aim at cleverness, a so-called ‘Aha moment’. Such haiku are, in fact, senryu [/] – not haiku at all. K. Ramesh puts the heart right back into haiku. That’s why he is one of the greatest of all living haijin (master haikuists).

————daybreak
————waves keep touching
————the dead turtle———(p. 58)

——the glide of herons
——I remove a word
——from the haiku———(p. 135)

first summer rain
my hand outside
the train’s window———(p. 13)