Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

The moment can be viewed as a particular way of thinking, a particular approach and/or a particular method . For me, poetry is a form of escaping inside somewhere where anything can happen. The haiku moment provides a special type of ‘access’ gate to this inside place.

It is sometimes argued that the haiku moment does not involve imagination. But what about association? The great poem: along this road/ no one travels/autumn evening is instantly recognisable as a metaphor. The road is the road of life and autumn becomes the ageing person. No one would deny that some degree of imagination is needed in order to take this (albeit modest) jump from the literal. Most good haiku are contrived in the sense that they are ‘worked on’.

sealed jar of coffee
I smell
a memory

The moment can also be thought of as a particular thought or realisation resulting in heightened awareness/insight, as an instant when you see things differently - a moment of inspiration.

in the microwave
potatoes turning
round again

With this type of interpretation, the moment is not a technique. It is an experience. The writing of poetry, and that includes haiku, is an art form. If we want to develop haiku as an art form then it must be seen as such. Writing as a form of art involves employing suitable techniques and also involves inspiration, innovation and  (dare I say it?) progress.

Words are usually seen as a means of communication. Dialogue can be viewed as a two-way process involving action and reaction to what is being said. But then look at politicians, to them dialogue becomes an opportunity. A means of avoiding unsavoury answers, a means of publicity and a platform to say what they want to say - a starting point for their own monologues. Words begin to become something other than just communication, and that’s where art begins. So then, the moment is not an art-form, but the finished haiku may be.

spread-eagle
with an electric blanket
winter?