R.K. Singh (31 December 1950 / Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India)

Sunny morning:
a snake slides through the fence
looking for a prey

Full of silt
the Ganga overflows:
snakes under the waves

Raises its hood
a cobra in water:
algae criss-cross

Searching reason
in the labyrinthine pattern:
snakes in courtyard

Avoids searching
mushroom in the crowded green-
snake on the fence

Searches thorn apples
to propitiate lingam:
snake in sanctum

A snake's tail
coils round a sweet
in the box

Smells a snake
in the wet grass-
her smile

Rises with tickles
between the thighs
the dream-serpent

A yellow snake
slithers on the grass-
dewy trail of love

Climbing high through
rough pathway and stony cold
a green snake

A snake's dead skin
near the fence:
she stands unmoving