thinkALONG! 7 November

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, Lakshmi Iyer

guest editor: Ashish Narain

Please note:

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's monthly journal -- haikuKATHA, each month.

Poets are requested to post poems that adhere to the prompts/exercises given.

Only 1 poem to be posted in 24 hours. Total 2 poems per poet are allowed each week (numbered 1,2). So, revise your poems till 'words obey your call'.

If a poet wants feedback, then the poet must mention 'feedback welcome' below each poem that is being posted.

Responses are usually a mixture of grain and chaff. The poet has to be discerning about what to take for the final version of the poem or the unedited version will be picked up for the journal.

The final version should be on top of the original version for selection.

Poetry is a serious business. Give you best attempt to feature in haikuKATHA !!

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For me, one of the Spiess’s most interesting and difficult to understand speculations is this:

“Although nothing in haiku should be unrealistic, realism is of a relative nature in its function of

assisting in transmission of the spirit of the event-experience portrayed by the haiku.”

The best example I could find that illustrates this relative nature of realism is Issa’s poem,

in this world

we walk on the roof of hell,

gazing at flowers

--- Kobayashi Issa, tr by Robert Haas

Who knows if hell exists? But we all understand how it’s supposed to be and where it’s

supposed to be. This makes the poem real enough for me.

I’m curious to know what you think.

How “real” should the elements incorporated in a haiku be? Where would you draw the link?