HAIKU: The Leap

“Haiku is about paying attention.” Natalie Goldberg offers a deep dive into the work of Tim Roberts who found haiku after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 49. His haiku in his new book Busted: Reflections of Police Life reveal that you can write haiku about anything. “One shot gun/Three of us walking/Doing the math.” Often, but not always, there is a leap in haiku, which “allows us to experience a little sensation of space.” Alan Ginsburg described this space as “no less than God.” Natalie revels in Tim’s leaps, offers several other haiku with leaps, and shares the experience of feeling the leap in photography through Upaya zen priest James Bristol’s book The House That Holds O’Keefe. Here is the YouTube link of the talk where you can view the photographs starting at ~1:05:00.