Sitting by the cool glass of the bus window
Watching unfamiliar blossom trees
Endless parade of grey – green
The vastness of the British landscape
Stretched before her abstract painting – beautiful
Vibrant chaos of Britain’s streets
First time in years, a strange
fullness fills in her thoughts
To wander back to her British home
She could picture every moment of treasure
The delicate cup of green tea set from her kitchen
The collection of family members photos that captured
a lifetime of celebrations
They had bought the kitchen equipment and furniture
Something had been too precious
Too heavy with memories to keep.
A short bio of me: 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 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).