haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 23rd May 2026

Srinivas Sambangi
May 23
2 min read

haikaiTALKS: zoom out|a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

A Disclaimer

Responsibility for the originality of the haikai rests solely with the submitting poet.

If anyone feels that it is similar to another haikai, they are encouraged to contact the relevant poet directly.

Triveni Haikai India will take any action as recommended by the submitting poet.

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haikaiTALKS

Guest poet: Srinivasa Rao Sambangi

haikaiTALKS: a Saturday gathering under the banyan tree

23rd May 2026

Zoom out

Zoom out is another cinematic technique which is quite opposite to what we discussed last week. The poem begins with a microscopic detail or close-up and then moves back to reveal the wider background. This shift in scale creates a sense of surprise and broadens the reader’s perspective of a single moment. Here is one of my favourite examples of zoom out technique

a poppy . . .

a field of poppies!

the hills blowing with poppies!

Michael McClintock

The poet initially takes up a close-up view of one poppy, then widens his eyes to a field and then to a mountain full of poppies revealing the wonders of nature.

Let’s take a look at this one-liner by Peggy Willis Lyles, which zooms out from the blue flowers of a single plant to a view that observes our planet from space

ground ivy flowering little blue earth

The zoom out gives the reader a sense of perspective and space. It transitions the poem from a simple “sketch from life” into an expansive, philosophical observation about the subject’s place in the universe

Few more examples:

things picked up

all start to move

low-tide beach

Kaga no Chiyo

(The poet looks at particular things, then observes the area where she is, and then she looks at the entire beach)

the white of her neck

as she lifts her hair for me

to undo her dress

Bernard Lionel Einbond

(The narrator’s view moves from a detail to a broader, more revealing perspective)

funnel webs

brushed with dew

starry night

Jon Hare

(Small creatures to dew and then to sky)

Prompt:

Please write one or two haiku with zoom out technique. As you try to write based on the images you have seen, some of them may turn out to be better poems though they do not fall under zoom out. Please post here the poems which meet the requirements of zoom out techniques. Do not retrofit your haiku to suit to zoom out technique which are otherwise better poems

KIGO WORDS

Shall we please try to include a kigo word in all the poems we share here?

Give the season and the word — under your poem.

For seasonal references, please check these lists:

“A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods,” by Jane Reichhold:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/