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.