HAIKU DIALOGUE – Energy of Motion – Stillness in Movement
Energy of Motion with Guest Editor Vidya Shankar
Photography is poetry in a different dimension. Just as a poet captures emotional vibration in time and space within the framework of words, so does a photographer through the frame of their lens, thereby freezing it for eternity. There is a certain meditative aspect to this capturing. It exudes the energy of stillness, but also of motion. Photographs, like poems, or any other art forms, move through time and space, through the years because of this stillness. Thereby lies the paradox that we can explore through our poems.
Prompt: Stillness in Movement
Motion photography is all about timing. To claim that precise moment for their own, the photographer should be able to anticipate it. Motion photography is a demand on a photographer’s reflex, deftness, and outer awareness. Photographers use techniques like motion blur, fast shutter speed, long exposure, panning, and intentional camera movement. The intent is to suggest a pause in the unseen motion and create a narrative around it. What emotion is at play when the action is suspended? Is it a moment of calm or doubt? Is this the whole truth or the photographer’s interpretation? What happens next?
The photograph I have shared is a study in brown contrasting with silver-white, even though there is no stark play of light. What is interesting is that this tonal scheme is not the photographer’s deliberate choice. There seems to be a certain acceptance in capturing the scene just as it was presented to him. This attitude adds to the sense of warmth, harmony and peace that the picture evokes. But it also does something else. It helps the viewer focus on the monkey’s face, dissipating the rest of the photograph. And now the viewer understands where the deliberation happens. The monkey seems to have purposefully paused in its act of drinking water so that it can give the photographer a moment he can own. A very brief moment when even the water seems to have paused in its flowing. But the photographer has anticipated this and he clicks, stopping time for eternity.
When has time stopped for you?
For this week, too, I am looking for poems that take inspiration from the photograph without necessarily making it an exercise in ekphrasis. You could also use some of the aspects of photographic techniques mentioned above as cues so long as your poem(s) echo the theme “Stillness in Movement”.
The deadline is midnight Eastern Standard Time, Saturday, February 7, 2026.
Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry. (The Submit button will not be available until the Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in.) In the Poem box, with your poem(s), please include any special formatting requirements & your name & residence as you would like it to appear in the column. Please note that by submitting, you agree that your work may appear in the column – neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent. All communication about the poems that are posted in the column will be added as blog comments.
Join us next week for Vidya’s selection of poems on the topic Stillness in Movement…
Bios:
Guest Editor Vidya Shankar, Associate Editor for haikuKATHA journal, and author of two poetry books, is a writing coach, freelance copy editor, and an English Language teacher from Chennai, India. A widely published poet, her work has appeared in prestigious collections such as the Yearbook of Indian Poetry in English and the Poetry Marathon anthologies, and her haiku longlisted for the Touchstone 2024 awards. Featured in a unique coffee table book on 50 inspiring women of Chennai, Vidya loves singing, dancing, and making art. She finds meaning to her life through yoga.
Facebook: Vidya Shankar
Instagram: @vidya.shankar.author
Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.
Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.
Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.
Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.
Portrait by Laurel Parry
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Photo Credits:
Banner Photo & Prompt Photo credit: Shankar Ramakrishnan
Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.
