Profile of a distinguished poet-professor from India
R. K.Singh: A Maverick Voice in Indian English Poetry
In the ever-evolving landscape of Indian English poetry, Ram Krishna Singh stands out as a
singular, uncompromising voice. A poet, academic, and translator of rare integrity and
conviction, Dr. Singh’s journey from the spiritual city of Varanasi to becoming one of the most
distinctive minimalist poets in India is marked by both quiet resilience and creative audacity. His
body of work, shaped over decades, resists easy classification, challenging the aesthetic and
thematic expectations of Indian poetry in English.
Born in 1950, Singh belongs to the generation of Indian poets who came of age in the post-
independence literary environment—navigating the tensions between inherited tradition and
global modernism, between rootedness in Indian ethos and the freedom of expression that
English afforded. But unlike many of his contemporaries who gravitated toward ornate or
politically overt forms of verse, Singh’s poetic evolution took a different route: toward brevity,
introspection, and a haunting honesty that is as unsettling as it is liberating.
The Poetic Voice: Spare, Sensual, Spiritual
Dr. R.K. Singh’s poetry is often described as minimalist, but beneath its brevity lies an intensity
that invites, and at times demands, contemplation. Influenced by Japanese forms like haiku and
tanka, Singh has been a pioneer in adapting these genres to the Indian context, both thematically
and imagistically. His poems often capture fleeting moments—of silence, sensuality, spiritual
doubt, or existential tension—distilled into a few carefully chosen words.
Books such as My Silence, Sexless Solitude and Other Poems, I Am No Jesus and Other Selected
Poems, Growing Within/Desăvârşire lăuntrică, Covid-19 And Surge of Silence/Kovid-19 Hem
Sessízlík Tolkȋnȋ, Tainted With Prayers/Contaminado con oraciones, God Too Awaits Light,
Against The Waves: Selected Poems, Poems and Micropoems, and Knocking Vistas And Other
Poems have not only deepened his reputation but also expanded the boundaries of what Indian
English poetry can encompass. Singh’s verse strips language to its barest essentials, offering
readers lines that are startlingly intimate yet universal. His haiku and tanka, often laced with
erotic or philosophical undertones, evoke a mood that is contemplative, sometimes
discomforting, yet undeniably human.
In a literary culture often dominated by expansive narratives and rhetorical flourishes, Singh’s
poetry reminds us of the power of the unsaid, the unadorned, and the unguarded.
The Academic and Professional Contributor
Beyond poetry, Dr. Ram Krishna Singh has had a distinguished academic career. He served as
Professor and Head of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian
School of Mines, Dhanbad (now IIT Dhanbad), where he specialized in English Language
Teaching (ELT), technical communication, and ESP (English for Specific Purposes). His
scholarly work, much like his poetry, was marked by clarity, precision, and a functional
commitment to language as a tool of empowerment.
Singh has authored and edited several books and research papers on communication and ELT,
advocating for a pedagogy that served Indian learners’ actual needs rather than imported models.
His contributions to English for Science and Technology (EST) professionals in India remain
influential, as do his efforts to promote Indian voices within global academic discourses.
In addition to his academic and literary output, he has been active in the international literary
community, with his poems translated into multiple languages and featured in journals,
anthologies, and academic studies across the world. He has also served as an editor and peer
reviewer for various national and international publications, further reinforcing his stature as a
respected voice in both the creative and academic fields.
The Man Behind the Pen
At the heart of Professor Singh’s writing lies a deeply personal quest—a search for authenticity
in a world that often privileges appearances over essence. His poetry offers a rare window into
the life of a man who has never shied away from confronting his own contradictions. Whether
addressing issues of sexual identity, spiritual struggle, loneliness, or the absurdity of institutional
life, Singh’s verse is marked by an ethos of vulnerability.
Raised in a traditional Indian environment, Singh has drawn from both Eastern mysticism and
modern existentialism, crafting a poetics that is simultaneously rooted and iconoclastic. His
work defies labels—neither entirely spiritual nor wholly sensual, not purely political yet not
apolitical. In fact, the defiance of easy categories is one of the most compelling aspects of his
voice. He writes not to please or persuade, but to bear witness—to himself, his time, and the
subtle stirrings of the soul.
Even in retirement, Dr. Singh continues to write, publish, and mentor, engaging with both print
and digital literary platforms. His resilience as a writer is matched by a quiet humility—he often
distances himself from literary cliques and institutional validation, focusing instead on the
honesty of the word.
Legacy and Relevance
In an era where poetry often bends to trends or algorithms, Ram Krishna Singh’s work stands as
a reminder of poetry’s original promise: to illuminate the self, however complex, flawed, or
incomplete. His minimalist style, far from being restrictive, becomes a form of liberation—for
the poet and reader alike. It pares down experience to its raw essence, forcing us to face
moments of truth we might otherwise overlook.
As Indian English poetry continues to grow in diversity and global recognition, Singh’s
contribution remains both foundational and forward-looking. He is a poet for those who listen
between the lines, who find meaning in the pause, the fragment, the gesture. And in this, Ram
Krishna Singh is not just a poet of his time, but a voice that echoes beyond it.
The CWPF is pleased to review Professor Singh’s latest poetry book, Knocking Vistas And Other
Poems published by Authors Press, New Delhi in 2024 and presents the following poems from
the it for your reading pleasure:
1
ONE MORE POEM
I don’t long for the past that swings and rings
I don’t care for the future I colour
with empty wishes prayers and meditation
dream’s dark inspiration carves the present
I suffer more at night than in the day
breathe hell seeking freedom in the body
through friends in spirit turn sanguine despite
the tricky degeneration in shared life
one more day passes one more poem born
2
MYSTERY
I’m still on nodding terms with days I hardly relish
except for memories of sex and poetry books
that’s me in stuckness in bits and pieces
howsoever dwarfed or doomed today
I grope the mystery that couldn’t be living:
autumn with songs of unbloomed spring
restive stillness mocking on the curtains
naked beings lying with blinder on the eyes
the lost moon in curse of tears never shed
the short grace period is no breather
to manoeuvre the words shelled in the skin
or turn oracular to light the vale
3
CRY OF A MOTHER
Why do they ignore the clitoris when half the world has it?
the lovers don’t care the doctors don’t talk
it’s no leaf that falls on the wave’s crest
and rots on the shore before they prescribe
a chocolate remedy or testosterone cream
to revive in dapple light:
denial is the way of life
be it desire emotion or frailty
for conformity unity and control
the redness of the setting or rising sun
is too much to the drab colours of the priests
who accuse of heresy witchcraft or immorality
to shut the so called hotbeds of sedition
when all they seek is stoppage
of the show of teeth blood and skull
in the spinning wheel
condemned to nursing home
4
NEW SLAVERY
From the 15 th floor window I watch
dreams racing on the muddied road
the ugly beauty of tomorrow
the romance of the miserable
the egotist the cunning the heart-broken
the idealist the maniacs the enlightened cheats
the crafty and the unlucky too
who conceal cavity in their shoes
in the gallery of great tech game
fabricating newer lies and hypocrisies
of saffron politics secular faith and people’s power
spilling blood to heal history of wrongs
create new cultural fantasy
new racism new slavery
homegrown narcissistic lords and ladies
5
DUBIOUS GOSPELS
Power politics
in the name of faith and god –
racist invectives
ranting the other
through media violence
shaping consciousness
all day from within
rear an impolite system–
pose neutrality
and foment hatreds
in official settings
shun each resistance
pave long-term darkness
singing anthems of progress –
dubious gospels
6
NOISES
I can’t hear my self
their noises erase my world
choices are denied–
questions of being wound me
courage and strength fade away
noises mute my voice
distract us from the truth
crowns change with the wind
and they play chess with our lives
they feed us dust and potions
in their new temples
arouse their magic deities
make us yell loud
and hang us upside down
***
[Poems selected from Knocking Vistas And Other Poems by Ram Krishna Singh. Published by Authors
Press, New Delhi, 2024.]
–Joshua Nnadimma Ayozie
