Somebody rings the bell,
Shouting loud and long.
I open up the door,
Trouble is standing strong.
Aunty says, “My milk is gone,”
Her little dog barks loudly.
I say, “This noise is trouble,”
She blames me, angry and proud.
“You torture my poor dog,” she says,
“Whenever it sees you, it cries.”
She is alone, with too much time,
Watching me with restless eyes.
She sits right outside my door,
Staring at my home all day.
Rings the bell, complains again,
About plastic pots, about water spray.
She asks, “Did you steal my dog’s biscuits?”
Questions fall like rain.
She parks her car in my space,
Causing silent pain.
And when I open up my door,
She sings her songs out loud.
This is my neighbour granny,
Forever scolding, never proud.
I’m Manasa Reddy Chichili. I have a postgraduate degree in psychology, I am a poet and short story writer from Hyderabad, Telangana and 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 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).