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.