5] AH-HA! AND TABLE TOP HAIKU ~ Narayanan Raghunathan
In many Haiku Circles it is said and believed that a decisive Ah-ha! moment perceived and noted immediately is True Haiku and that most others are table[desk]-top Haiku written imaginatively or contrived much later [ table[desk]-top used somewhat derisively]. But I think that this point needs further investigation.
All Haiku Are actually a delayed response to some moment[s]. So we can classify them to different levels of Table[desk]-Topness depending upon the delay in writing them !!
Note ~ I have used Haiku and Senryu as examples in this context. Many more examples could be sorted out.
WAAFS HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written In A Few Seconds after The Moment of Perception.
a leaf falls
another leaf falls
yet another leaf falls
I close my palm
hold tight a breeze, open it,
let out an emptiness ~
twilight solemnity ~
solitary butterfly incants glory ~
destination Eternity ~
clouded morning ~
song on a distant radio ~
mother’s voice
WAAFMT HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written a Few Minutes after The Moment of Perception.
breeze far away
breeze near nearer
breeze all over me
two goats walk on
their walking shadows
in the mirror
my face ~
I smile
WAAFH HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written In A few Hours after The Moment of Perception.
an yellow butterfly
flutters flutters rises rises
vanishes into the sky
all children rejoice ~
Lakshmi’s first moped solo ~
Kaantha says bye-bye ~
WAAFD HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written In A few Days after The Moment of Perception.
Grandma conjures
from empty air Krishna
tales for Kaantha ~
Note ~ Lord Krishna's divine childhood pranks are part of the great Indian Domestic and Folk Oral Tradition ~[See Bhaagavatham for more details ~
the sacred drizzle ~
the birds have abandoned
the smell of earth ~
“shame periappa ~ please
go away ~ I am dressing
up my Barbie ~ “
Periappa ~ The Elder Father [Father’s elder brother] in Tamizh
[Dedicated to Ganga] ~
WAAFMO HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written A Few Months after The Moment Of Perception.
spring breeze blazes
landscape in sunlight ~ sparrows
stream in, in melody ~
WAAFY HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written A Few Years after The Moment Of Perception.
regal lion surveys
caged homosapiens
munching peanuts ~
twilight village ~
temple bell blazes ~ sparrows
tingle silences in mist ~
moonlight walk ~
sound of my footsteps
chase my feet ~
grandpa points his cane
to the moon explains day night
and sky, to little Ganga ~
a water-snake
wriggles into a sun
in the well ~
still pond ~
a dragonfly spreads
a circle on water ~
a sun in
a tiny pond on
a lotus leaf
ETHRA HAIKU ~~ Haiku Written Strictly Or Mostly From The Imagination Of The Haijin.
a frog leaps
over the moon
into the pond ~
floating angels bestow
wings to watermelons
stones sing chorus ~
soft fleshy watches
chant incense time in
green dream spaces ~
[To Salvador Dali ~ Ref: Dali’s Famous Painting “Soft Watches” ~]
an astronaut rockets
into infinite space-times
never returns ~
Conclusion ~
So we may freely write Haiku/Senryu without bothering whether the moment of inspiration is old from memory or immediate from memory. or even strictly from imagination. “Aha! to Table[desk]-top” is a necessary sojourn of every Haiku unconsciously.