Bones visible, barely alive
Better dead than alive
A mother mourns
For her kids
But who was to mourn
For her?
Such an image
Was but basic
During the demonic drought
I’m Manasa Reddy Chichili, a poet and short story writer from Hyderabad, Telangana. My haiku and tanka have been published in several journals such as Under the Basho, Mainichi Haiku, Awen, Atlantean Publishing among others. My longer poems have also been published on PoetryPotion, The Wise Owl and Neccheli. My haiku was nominated for the Touchstone Award (2025), and I have also dabbled in writing haikus directly in Japanese (in haikutown.jp).