Tanka, a 1300-year-old, five-line lyrical form of poetry from Japan, was originally called 'waka', which translates as 'short song'. The Forest I Know, Kala Ramesh's first book in this genre, consists mainly of tanka, tanka prose and tanka doha. With stunningly bold and beautiful poems encompassing every facet of our day-to-day living, this book is at once ancient and modern, enduring and unforgettable - and is sure to resonate with the reader.

Murugan - the younger son of Shiva and Parvathy, the younger brother of Ganesha - is a tricky and temperamental god, but he is beloved of the poets. Fittingly then, Kala Krishnan Ramesh's contemporary bhakti poems speak in the voices of many poets. We don't always know who they are, but as the poems unfold, one voice emerges above those of the rest. She is the god's favourite poet, a woman whose whole life revolves around him. 'Kala Krishnan Ramesh offers a breathtakingly brazen collection of contemporary bhakti poems to the ancient god of the Tamils, Muruga, capricious "patron of poets". Adopting the argot of sacred passion in a fervent colloquial idiom, she rhapsodises hymns that are as adventurous as they are formally rigorous, intimate and exuberant in the elastic inscape of devotion. The enchantment of creativity and its sometimes twin, religious fervour, is rarely better sung than in this aching arc of ire and intoxication, despair and defiance that wrests tropes of weight and overheard whisper from Sangam poetics in voices single and choric.'-Priya Sarukkai Chhabria 'In their depth of feeling and poetic brilliance, these modern bhakti poems can only be compared to the best ever sung by poet-saints of yore. Kala Ramesh is an astonishingly creative poet who recreates a poetic tradition that is effortlessly infused with modern sensibility.'-Sudhir Kakar

beyondthe horizonbeyondHAIKU & HAIBUNKALA RAMESH'beyond the horizon beyond' is Kala's first book containing eleven years of her work. It has 281 haiku divided into 5 elements, known as the Panchabhutas and 41 haibun (haiku embedded prose). The cover design and illustrations are by Prabha Mallya.In this book are many examples of Kala's unique voice, which offers a delicacy of language, through her ability to articulate nuanced interior worlds.-- RICHARD GILBERTKumamoto UniversityAll Kala's many interests and studies resolve themselves in Kala: Haiku poet? Indian poet? Woman poet? A phenomenal poet, surely, ever absorbing and moving beyond what she finds in haiku, in art, in philosophy, in life. Travel with her as she takes us beyond the horizon beyond.-- BILL KENNEY

Author's United is proudly presenting the fifth anthology "Atoms of Haiku - Volume II" in continuation of its previous efforts. This anthology is a continuation of success story of Atoms of Haiku - Volume I. Haiku is the latest form of poetry that has come from the past and it is spreading throughout the world. Author's United has teamed up with the seasoned editors like Archana Kapoor Nagpal, and Hammad Khan to create a blend of Haiku with different styles into one book. It is an honor to thank all the 19 authors who contributed to this anthology - Adjei Agyei-Baah, Aparna Pathak, Archana Kapoor Nagpal, Christine L. Villa, Damir Janjalija, David Ishaya Osu, Emmanuel Jessie Kalusian, Hammad Khan, Jane Meme, Kala Ramesh, Maria Tomczak, Pat Geyer, Pravat Kumar Padhy, Saffiyyah Patel, Sandip Chauhan, Sanjukta Asopa, Sehrish Sarvar, Srinivasa Rao Sambangi and Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy.

contemporary haibun is dedicated to the best haibun, tanka prose and haiga published each year in English around the world. ch17 features 103 texts and 32 full-color haiga."contemporary haibun has stood alone, for more than a decade, as the chief vehicle and bulwark of the burgeoning haibun movement in English. Without the vanguard role of this annual anthology, one might reasonably inquire how?-?and perhaps if?-?haibun would have survived."-?Jeffrey Woodward, Editor, Haibun Today

Haiku are word paintings that pilot the reader beyond the image into a sacred realm. For a poem complete in just a few words, resonance becomes the keynote. In Sanskrit, the primordial sound in the cosmos is known as naad and its resonance as anunaad. According to ancient Indian texts, an instrument, including the human body, vibrates only to this timeless sound. The 746 haiku in this volume come from 26 countries. They resonate, each in a unique way - just for you!

A collaboration between three international haiku poets delineating the beginning, fall, and hopeful recovery of culture.

This is a Tanka and Haiku Journal