triveni spotlight: 11th September 2025

triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY hosts: Anju Kishore and Mohua Maulik GUEST EDITOR: Anju Kishore

11th September 2025

triveni spotlight September 2025

slipping in

beneath the kitchen door

— first sunlight

Kala Ramesh

“The idea of continuity leads one to zoka, the creative force of nature. In Sanskrit, we call this ‘Prakriti’ which is described in the Bhagavad Gita as the primal motive force.”

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Zoka

This month, the Spotlight is on Janice Doppler’s path-breaking compilation One Thread, Zoka in Contemporary Haiku published in 2024. 

So what is zoka?

In her introduction, Janice says quoting Steven D. Carter, “the one thread” that runs through the work of the masters is a “commitment to zoka, the creative” — the dynamic spirit that transforms the natural world and the inner workings of the cosmos. Kala Ramesh in her foreword to the book says zoka is the creative force of nature and calls it “Prakriti”, an ever-changing aspect of reality as per ancient Hindu belief systems. She quotes Hiroyuki Murakami about working on zoka. “… this state can only be achieved when the haiku poet looks deeply toward nature that never stops changing and, in a sense, toward the universe, to the extent that he or she becomes assimilated with the subject.” 

The book is a collection of haiku written by poets from around the world who have presented their views and their own previously published poems that best embody zoka as they understand it. City-bred poets as most of us are, we seek both muse and solace in our brick-and-mortar lives, and in the little nature it provides. Attention to zoka therefore, is a practice that becomes necessary to cultivate, a skill important to be honed. From this stimulating anthology, I have attempted to choose haiku that blur the line between humanity and nature in a way that binds all of creation with one thread — zoka. Also included is a quote from the write-up of each featured poet. 

Anju Kishore

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