Monday, September 25, 2006
Haiku and the AHA Moment
When writing haiku, many poets submit you must have what is called an "aha" moment. This occurs primarily because of something called juxtaposition. For example, take a look at this haiku by the Japanese master Basho:
Not one traveler
braves this road -
autumn night
It consists of 3 lines. The first 2 lines describe something specific. In this case, it's describing something that is not taking place, i.e. no people on a road. In line 3 we have the setting "autumn night." The aha moment occurs when we read the haiku as a whole and go back and forth between lines 1 and 2 and line 3. This juxtaposition causes one, hopefully, to...
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Ed, I agree with you on this. I would add that a haiku poet ought not to go to the opposite extreme though and unnecessarily avoid the "aha". Occasionally I have an "aha" experience that turns into a haiku. I thinkt it would be a shame not to share that.
Vaughn, I agree with you as well! Nothing wrong with the AHA moment but I think too many haiku poets consider this to be the sacred cow of haiku writing.
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