Sankranti Kites
Five haiku for a January terrace: north wind, glass-coated string, a muggu, and one torn kite that won't give up.
dawn on the terrace
my father wets a finger
to read the north wind
manja on the spool
the glass dust glints on my thumb
then the thin red line
a cut kite drifting
on every roof a boy’s hand
open to the sky
muggu in the yard
a kite’s shadow crosses it
and the dots stay still
dusk. in the neem tree
a torn red kite on its string
still trying to rise