learning: Haiku in Indian Languages - English

English - language Haiku — Compiled by Lakshmi Iyer and Kala Ramesh

English-language haiku has to be included too, for it’s our link language and we have many poets writing in English, who are known and respected outside India. A majority of the haiku submitted were published in reputed haiku journals.

Thanks to Lakshmi Iyer for collating the present English-language Haiku poets, in addition to our original list of 43 – we now have 114 haijin in India in total and our family is growing rapidly! The latest update as on November 2025 is; we have 158 haijin and the palette of poems are too good to read.

relocation—

a tulasi plant

on the gypsy’s head

—A. Thiagarajan, Mumbai The Heron’s Nest, March 2013

still water ...

a zebra runs away

from itself

—Aditya Ashribad, Orissa Cattails 1 Youth Corner, January 2014

subjunctive occasions Gita’s thickness

—Aditya Behl, Delhi Bones 3, December 2013

hide and seek

someone’s warm palms

on my closed eyes

—Ajaya Mahala, Pune Mainichi Daily News, January 03, 2014

stranded bike

a sparrow looks at its face

in the mirror

—Aju Mukhopadhyay, Pondicherry

class test …

filling in the blanks

in a star’s life cycle

—Akila G., Hyderabad Sonic Boom

business district

I keep a lookout

for wildflowers

— Alaka Yeravadekar, Pune

Hedgerow #132

welling up sky

a breadth of silence

before the downpour

—Anju Kishore, Bengaluru

LEAF #5, Nov 2024

little ballerina

on her dress —

stars

 —Aanchal Broca, Gurgaon                

Creatrix Poetry and Haiku Journal #39

mango orchard

soaked in rain

and koel’s song 

—Amita Paul, Bihar

LEAF issue 7, August 2025

 after the storm

 a limpet : forlorn 

 on the beach 

—Anna Maria, Kerala

LEAF #7, 2025

a bindi

on my mom's forehead ...

morning sun

—Aashna Goyal, Pune

scars …

the tide marks

its boundary

—Ashish Narain, Delhi Modern Haiku 49:3

planetarium ...

one by one

his teeth shine

—Aparna Pathak, Gurugram

Honourable Mention: Sharpening the Green Pencil Contest 2012

after harvest

the farm's set in fire ...

smell of charred sugarcane

— Arunachalashiva, Chennai

rumors of war

up into a darkening sky

—a child’s newsprint kite

—Angelee Deodhar, Chandigarh Third Prize, The Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award for 2003

ancient banyan ...

an owl shakes the night

off its feathers

—Anitha Varma, Kerala from: The Salt of a Distant Sea

the piercing sun

at the tip of a thorn—

bougainvillea

—Arvind Padmanabhan, Bengaluru

Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2025

drifting stars ...

a wish list flutters

in the breeze

—Arvinder Kaur, Chandigarh Mainichi Daily News, Sept 2013

sidewalk café

I smell the city

in my coffee

—Bhavani Ramesh, Mumbai Chrysanthemums, April 2008

brisk morning walk -

the roadside banyan

ageing gracefully

—Bidyutprabha Gantayat, Bhubaneswar

Holi sunset 

a soldier's wife 

wears white 

—Bipasha De, Midnapore

FemkuMag #39, Summer 2025

night flight

constant between two skies

of stars

—Biswajit Mishra, Canada

Honourable Mention, 6th Star Haiku Contest 2025, Japan

no place to go

the urban dreams

of banyan roots

—Dr Brijesh Raj, Mumbai World Haiku Review, Jan 2017

wildfire -

the lives within

without

—Devoshruti Mandal, Varanasi

old regrets ...

the tide abandons

some starfish

—Firdaus Parvez, Aligarh

haikuKATHA, issue 48, October 2025

the rustle

of fallen leaves -

forest music

—Gauri Dixit, Pune

Under the Basho, June 2020

a plane nosing

past clouds

mother's fact-finding mission

—Geetha Ravichandran, Chennai

failed haiku, #110 Vol. 10,

mountain lake

each splash from the oar

shakes the moon

—Geethanjali Rajan, Chennai World Haiku Review, August 2010

psithurism…

with every stride

i hum

—Gowri Bhargav,  Chennai

haikuKATHA, #44, June 2025

spring predawn—

the janitor sweeps

the night away

—Gowtham Ganni, Hyderabad

The Herons Nest Volume XX, Number 2: June 2018

summer highway

the stops we wish

we could make

—Govind Joshi, Dehradun

The Wise Owl, December 2023

rainy morning ...

the wife showering abuses

on her husband

—Hema Ravi, Chennai Frogpond, # 36.3

incessant rains

small talk

dries up

—Hemapriya Chellappan, Pune

The Heron's Nest, Vol. XXI, No.4: December 2019

Women’s Day

she applies makeup

to her bruise

—Indra Neil Mekala, Hyderabad Second Prize: 8th Polish International Haiku Competition, 2018

family album ...

pressed beneath my fingers

someone’s smile

—Ishaan Singh Sarna, New Delhi Chrysanthemum #28, Fall Issue

hospice care -

the fading rhythm

of rain outside

—Iqra Raza, New Delhi

ambuscade

a frog's tongue measures

the ripples

—Jagajit Salam, Imphal

Cattails, April 2025

lightning strikes—

a robin soothes the 

ash tree’s scars

—Jahanavi Gogoi, Canada

Cattails, April 2025

long days of rain -

the gurgle of frogs ripens

the little rice field

—Janak Sapkota, Switzerland Winner, Smurfit Samhain International Haiku Prize, Ireland, 2006

overnight rain ...

all the leaves carry

an impression

—Jayashree Maniyil, Australia Creatrix Journal, Dec 2013

monsoon sky

the white cow

chews a milk carton

—Johannes Manjrekar, Vadodara Haijinx Vol. II Issue 1, 2002

winter moonlight

everything the same colour

since you left

—Jesal Mallia Kanani, Mumbai

liquid twilight the tilt of a water pot on her hip

—Kala Ramesh, Pune

Frogpond 31:3 Autumn 2008

deafening rain—

to think it has no sound

of its own

—Kashinath Karmakar, Durgapur 3rd place:18th Kusamakura International Haiku Contest 2013

white lotus

floating in a vessel -

empty mind

—Kashiana Singh, USA Narrow Road Journal - Aug 2020

amma's handclasp

blue veins 

map a river

—Kavitha Ratna, Bengaluru 

The Wise Owl, July 2024

end of summer

colours fade away

with the butterflies

—Kaveri Kavuri, Pune

A Hundred Gourds 2.4, September 2013

autumn morning —

my shadow now has

a slight hunch

—Kumarendra Mallick, Hyderabad Honourable Mention, World Haiku Review September 2009

can't show

my golden teeth ...

surgical mask

—Kamrun Nahar, Bangladesh

Under the Basho, 2020

cold day ...

sound of clipping nails

from next room

—Kanchan Chatterjee, Jamshedpur

isolation ward –

I count

the remaining leaves

—Kakul Gupta, New Delhi

relentless rain 

a house at the top

slides downhill

—Kalyanee Arandhara, Assam

Cold Moon Journal, August 2024

jamun tree—

a splash of purple

on my new white kurti

—Kalyanee Rajan, New Delhi Under the Basho, 2017

colourful floaters

bob in the blue waters

… every time I blink

—Karkuzhali Sreedhar, Chennai

coffee break—

stirring a whirlpool

of thoughts

— Kausik KSK, Hyderabad Under the Basho, 2019

starry night ...

the empty rocking chair

casts a shadow

—Kavitha Sreeraj, Hyderabad

postal stamps –

the zig-zag edges

of our marriage

—Kinshuk Gupta, New Delhi Modern Haiku

silent sun

girl child collects her ruined

books after the flood

—Lakshay Gandotra, Jammu Third Prize: 23rd Kusamakura International Haiku Competition.

first winter

a flame Robin

sings in its territory

—Lakshmi Iyer, Trivandrum High Commendation—Winter Haiku, Australian Haiku Society

murder of crows —

cat brings one to the table

—Leena Anandhi, Kerala

haikuKATHA 43, May 2025

pebble beach

i count the countless

unsaid words

—Mallika Chari, Wardha

Frogpond, Spring/Summer 2020

winter twilight

gloves off

to catch the ferry boat

—Manasa Reddy Chichli, Hyderabad

Mainichi Daily News, March 2025

autobiography

an ink blot where i paused

before writing the truth

— Manoj Nair, Bangalore

The Heron's Nest: Vol XX1,No2, June 2019

what color the heart

  dividing brothers

    by skin color

  —Mariam Roshan Zachariah, Cochin

    Shadow Pond Journal Issue 5, June 2025

first flower ...

the lawnmower makes

a u-turn

— Milan Rajkumar, Imphal

Haiku Dialogue, August 2020

brave mirror

doesn’t distort truth

looks me in the eye

—Minal Sarosh, Ahmedabad

World Haiku Review, August 2011

north wind

the banyan tree grows

its own prosthesis

—Mohua Maulik, New Delhi

Cold Moon Journal, February 2025

distant bombing the baby's first kick

—Mona Bedi, India

The Heron’s Nest, Volume XXVI, Number 4: December 2024

temple bell -

the mellowed song

of the cicada

—Monalisha Gogoi ,Assam

ESUJ-H English Haiku, September 2019

temple visit

ants on the wall

returning with prasad

—Muskaan Ahuja, Chandigarh

Wales Haiku Journal, Spring 2020

deflated balloon

the hush within

my womb

—Nalini Shetty, Mumbai

haikuKATHA #28, February 2024

road trip—

a whiff of marigold

before the marigold

—Namratha Varadarajan, Bengaluru

winner: Poem of the Month, ONLY POEMS, November 2024

monsoon showers

all night long

the bitterness of neem

— Nandita Jain Mahajan, Gurgaon

The Heron’s Nest: Volume XXI, Number 4: December 2019

my baby’s heartbeat

next to mine

the rhythm for our lullaby

—Nandini Nair, Pune, India, First place, Indian Kukai #01, September 2013

gentle rain

even on the graves

with no flowers

—Neha R. Krishna, Mumbai

Winner, Weighing Raindrops, 2020

on a long way

with me in the dark night

these fireflies

—Neelam Dadhwal, Chandigarh Cattails, January 2014

crawling through the weight a baby snail

—Neena Singh, Chandigarh

Under the Basho, 2020

bubbling brook

our conversation gradually

shifts tones

—Nisha Raviprasad, Cochin

Mainichi Japan, January 2025

go slow signal

a yellow leaf lands

on my palm

—Niranjan Navalgund, Belagavi

Cattails, 2015

conch shell

the city awakens

mantra by mantra 

—Nitu Yumnam, India

indianKUKAI: 1st Prize, January 2025

cracked sidewalk...

a tiny yellow flower

peers at the sky

—Padma Priya, India

The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai: 3rd prize, May 2024

rising sun

the rainbow

in a dewdrop

—Padma Rajeswari, Mumbai

indianKUKAI #48: 3rd prize, Jan 2025

morning rush -

my pressure cooker whistles

the suprabhatam*

—Padma Srinivasan, Scotland

*suprabhatam: verses sung in South Indian temples to wake up the Gods every morning.

the width of this night milky way

—Pragya Vishnoi, Kanpur

Honourable Mention, UHTS 'AHA' Haiku Contest 2019

gleaming knife ...

edge sharper than

moon scars

— Prathama Rajeevalochan, Bangalore Modern Haiku Section, Under the Basho

incessant rain ...

the smell of coriander

getting drenched

—Paresh Tiwari, Hyderabad Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review, Summer 2013

cold winter morning

the pigeons coo

for more closeness

—Poornima Laxmeshwar, Bangalore World Haiku Review, Jan 2014

winter morning

two butterflies

warm the garden

—Pravat Kumar Padhy, Odisha

The Heron’s Nest, Vol XIII, No. 2, June 2011

custard apple …

the squirrel crafts

a bowl

—Priti Aisola, Hyderabad Under the Basho, 17 June 2020

cloudburst

meeting mother

after a hostel year

—Priya Narayanan, Ahmedabad

creating

rainbows on petal

dewdrops

—R. Purushotham Rao, USA

long after sunrise, 

the persisting fragrance 

of night jasmine

—Ram Chandran, Madurai

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 7:2, Spring/Summer 2024

autumn sky

patches of twilight

in the falling leaf

—Ramesh Anand, Bangalore A Hundred Gourds 1.2 March 2012

sunset ...

someone’s tent peg

on the cliff

—K. Ramesh, Chennai Presence #41

long walk home

the rhythm

of small change

—Ravi Kiran, Hyderabad

Editors' Choice, The Herons Nest, June 2024

winter rain—

water droplets cascade

over the leaves

—Ritaj Kalaskar, Pondicherry Cattails 1, January 2014

seat belt

for the teddy bear too

the child’s first flight

—R. K. Sameer, Karnataka Kernelonline, summer 2013

plucking

the last red apple

now I feel the cold

—Rohini Gupta, Mumbai Mainichi Daily News, 20 Feb 2013

mother tongue

I look back

to see the face

—Rajeshwari Srinivasan, Mumbai Under the Basho, September 2020

Just now

heart transplantation

his last breath

—Radhamani Sharma, Chennai Failed Haiku, 2019

power outage

in the candle light

we find missing things

—Ranu Jain, Australia

LEAF #6, April 2025

camellia in snow

taking back my words

silently

—Richa Sharma, Uttar Pradesh Poetry Pea Podcast, September 2019

a crack

in the concrete box

prisoner’s sky

— Rashmi VeSa, Bengaluru tinywords: issue 20.1

tree-lined street —

a rickshaw puller hums 

the leafy sky

— Rupa Anand, New Delhi

Wales Haiku Journal, Summer Edition 2024

neon lights

notes of her song settle

on empty chairs

— Samir Satam, Mumbai

haikuKATHA issue 44, June 2025

spring solitude ...

an alien girl feeds

the sparrows

—Sandip Chauhan, USA, Mainichi Daily News, May 2013

rural western pub 

the brown in my skin

suddenly deeper

—Sangita Kalarickal, USA

Acorn, Spring 2022

scars

that have begun to heal ...

purple asters

—Sanjukta Asopa, Belgaum

Daily Haiku Cycle 16, December 2013

autumn moon...

dragonflies teleporting

between garden lights

—Sankara Jayanth Sudanagunta,

winner: 5th Basho-an International English Haiku Competition, February 2023

morning assembly

not one crow

stands out

—Sathya Venkatesh, Coimbatore

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, issue 5, spring/summer 2025

remote village

even the stars

closely knit

Saumya Bansal, Agra

Wales Haiku Journal, Autumn 2024

child a rupee short ...

the ice cream vendor

turns the corner

—Seshu Chamarty, Hyderabad Boloji, January 2014

on wet earth

a snail draws a fine line

– a travelogue

—Shernaz Wadia, Pune Muse India, May-June 2011

cracked pot —

water seeps back

into the earth

—Shobhana Kumar, Coimbatore

erecting landmarks in the field of why

—Shloka Shankar, Karnataka

Under the Basho, 2018

temple bell:

thinking of God

in the midst of yoga

—S. B. Vadivelu Rajan, Chennai Mainichi Shimbun, January, 2010

dusting of dew

a road-sweeper scrapes

the night away

—Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, UK

Blithe Spirit, Issue 24.3, August 2014

marcescent leaves

unable to shake off

a year of war

—Shruti Patel, Switzerland

Frogpond 48:1, Winter 2025

sacred grove

even the rain 

tiptoes on leaves

—Sonali Rasal, Pune

Second Place, Triveni Haikai Awards, 2024

countless stars twinkling

in Grandma's open courtyard

old sleepover style

—Sucharita Parija, New Delhi

Under the Basho 2025

crossroads

I wait for the cool wind

to go first

—Suhit Kelkar, Mumbai A Hundred Gourds 2.4 September 2013

last breath—

the name becoming

a body

—Sumitra Kumar, Chennai

haikuKATHA #24, October 2023

lonely road

she walks with me

wagging her tail

—Surabhi Grover, India

Cattails 1, January 2014

winter nights 

the child sleeps in white noise 

of fists and whimpers

—Swagata Soumyanarayan, Mumbai

Triveni Haikai India Awards 2024, Honorable Mention

bustling street ...

from a graveyard

the smell of roses

—Swaran Singh Nijhar, India Cattails 1, January 2014

the sharp ends

of her eye liner

midnight row

—Saf Toral, UK

split sky -

the world painted

in two shades

—Shalini Pattabiraman, Scotland

The Haiku Foundation Sep 2, 2020

silent world...

he asks what he

sounds like

—Shreya Narang, Abohar cattails Youth Corner 2018

rising from clouds 

opalescence of the moon 

bathes the night 

—Shilpa Chakrabarti, New Delhi

LEAF 5 , December 2024.

raag malhar—

on torrential drum beats

window plays the flute

— Smeetha Bhoumik, Mumbai

empty space ...

my ring finger again

shines with a diamond

—Sonal Srinivasan, Mumbai

Under the Basho, 2017

voice of the cave

sea conched

in silence

—Sindhoor Varkoor, Hyderabad

the touch before we part mimosa leaf

—Sreelatha Nair, Chennai

tinywords: 16.2

light

at the end of the tunnel

glaucoma

—Sreenath, India

from haiga in haikuKATHA issue 33, July 2024 

suicide point—

the valley lies in

the fog below

—Srinivas.S, Rishi Valley Presence, Issue 65

gibbous moon

the pond's captive -

swims with fishes

—Subir Ningthouja, Manipur

sunny afternoon

a shadow

on the mammogram

—Suraja Menon Roychowdury, USA

Grand Prize Winner 2016 Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award

daybreak –

I still see the moon

in her eyes

—Surashree Joshi, Pune

The Haiku Foundation, Haiku Dialogue

mom's broken bangles

make a full circle

kaleidoscope

—Suresh Babu, Chikkamagalur

Under the Basho 2019

a pause

before the downpour -

the fries sizzle

—Sushama Kapur, Pune

The Haiku Foundation: Haiku Dialogue, September 2020

slicing a pumpkin

mother talks of my sister

elsewhere

—Srinivasa Rao Sambangi, Hyderabad Wales Haiku Journal, Autumn 2019

beggars

outside the temple

inside the temple

—Tapan Mozumdar, Bengaluru

you and me

together yet apart

beads of a rosary

—Teji Sethi, Bangalore Under The Basho, July 2020

midnight showers ...

I greet a jewelled world

at dawn

—Ustat Sethi, Bangalore ‘Tejas Award’ Cattails 2019, April Edition

dead worm

moving towards an ant-hill

— recycling

— Umesh Nair, Delhi

freedom at last …

colour of the butterfly

on my fingers

—Vadivelrajan Balakrishnan, Chennai

orange clouds 

in the autumn breeze …

our first macarons

—Vaishnavi Ramaswamy Chennai, India

O2 Haiku Literary Magazine, July, 2025

claps of thunder -

the twins kick

in my womb

—Vani Sathyanarayan, Bangalore 3rd place, 11th Indian Kukai, May 2015

strong winds

not every leaf waits

for the fall to fall

—Vandana Parashar, Panchkula

a caravan arrives

at my threshold

my own footfalls

—Vidur Jyoti, Delhi

twilight skies —

nightfall on the edge

of a bat's wing

— Vidya S Venkatramani, Chennai

Under the Basho, 2020

pallanguzhi

the filling and emptying

of life’s coffers

—Vidya Shankar, Chennai

Under the Basho, May  2023

gradually

i resemble the corpse

i will be

—Vijay Prasad, Patna

Failed Haiku, Issue 4

ink puddle —

the words that

never were

—Vinay Leo R, Bangalore Shiki Kukai, 1st prize, November 2013

pine needles

a carpet woven

with birdsong

—Vishal Prabhu, Greater Himalayas

Under the Basho, Aug 2024

twilight

helping mother take

baby steps

—Yesha Shah, Surat Polish International Haiku Contest 2013 - Commendation

a cobweb

in the misty branches ...

fairy hammock

— Yugaputhiran, Chennai

__________________________________________________________

the youth corner: The Young Haijins

dancing daisies

I practise 

my tae kwon do form

—Anna Krivosik, USA, Grade 3

Golden Haiku 2023

a bowl of salad 

how green my nation 

used to be

—Danish Yumnam, UAE

Under 16 winner: Paperboats Haiku Competition, Haiku for a Rewilding Nation 

new school year—

the girl I fancy gone 

past my height mark 

—Ranvir Singh, Grade 11

FreshOut mag, August 2025