The Look

 

Two or three times a year I make trips to Chennai to be with my parents for a few weeks. My mother is 85 years old.?I notice every shade of emotion that runs along her wrinkles as she narrates incidents from her childhood days . . . and I do notice the?mischievous sparkle in her eyes that tells me she remembers the number of times she has repeated these stories to me.

 

the nemesis
of growing old ?
looking everywhere
for my glasses
but in the mirror

 

 

 

(“the nemesis” first published in Ribbons, winter 2015

Published by

Kala Ramesh

Kala Ramesh co-edited the award winning Naad Anunaad: an Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku (Vishwakarma Publication 2016) and co-authored an e-book with Marlene Mountain one-line twos (Bones 2016). She is the author of two books: haiku (Katha Books 2010, reprint 2017) and beyond the horizon beyond (Vishwakarma Publication 2017) and a tanka e-chapbook unseen arc (Snapshot Press 2017). Kala?s initiatives culminated in founding IN haiku in 2013. She teaches haiku and allied genres at Symbiosis International University Pune. To bring haiku into everyday spaces, Kala initiated HaikuWALL, haikuTRAIL, haikuTALK, haikuWORKSHOP, haikuYOUTH, haikuUTSAV, haikuDHYANA and haikuSAATSANGATH, the last being a stage performance with dancers and actors.

20 thoughts on “”

  1. Beautiful

    a far sight…
    an autobiography of a mother
    a biography of a daughter
    recalled,
    to be remembered

    1. Ha! Ravela,
      Thanks a tonne, for taking the time to comment about this piece.
      Happy you liked it so much.
      _()_

  2. Growing old is yet one more journey and I choose your gifted haibun as a companion. Thank you, Kala. Warm regards, Donna

    1. Thanks so much, Donna. Happy you could relate to it so well. . . what you say is so true.

  3. Absolutely interesting and also sublte in it's way of telling everything. The best thing is it never loses focus and attention towards what's the cause. Also there is a sense of humour in it. An interesting way of telling things.

  4. Dear Kala, I love the story in this and your humor. I have certainly been in that position with my glasses too. Growing older is something we need to temper with humor and reflection as you've done so well here. Lovely!

Respond here