Contrasting & comparing lyrical versus instrumental music, & english haiku idioms like haiku & haiga

"A song ... with lyrics tells you what to think. ... with an instrumental composition you can think what-ever you want". (Miles Davis) 

The technical, artistic, lyrical, & sometimes spiritual challenges (include haiga with it's visual component as well) effecting these ehi (english haiku idioms) are intersectional and multi layered. Creating ehi, especially haiga is akin to creating polyrhythmic sound. All of ehi's components must stand on their own merit, while simultaneously complimenting every other. 

With ehi as with jazz as Miles suggested we initially "tell the reader what to think". We are creating a starting point for an artistic dialogue between the writer and the reader. After doing so we must leave it open ended; all of which may or may not be apparent to the reader depending on their level of familiarity with the art form. As writer we do so with our words, ambiguity, space, pragmatic particles, and the cutting/kireji - or the level and style of contradictoriness we communicate to the reader with. 

Then we leave the poem open ended so that the reader can seamlessly pick up our literary baton and take things a step further in their minds eye. This is where our poems acts as Miles suggested as a "instrumental (or literary) composition", which as he suggests allows the reader to "think what-ever you want" with your minds eye.

Without imagery poems that are more spiritual in nature tend to have fewer subjects, while those more centered in non-spiritual or secular subjects tend to have multiple subjects, This tends to be true whether those subjects reference nature or humanity.   

            Incorporating original poems and imagery, originally known as haiga:

When we incorporate visual imagery things become even more complex. This inclusion of imagery in the form of haiga most closely resembles Miles's polyrhythmic sound. The haiga image has to compliment the poem and vice versa, all without overwhelming one another. How? By communicating  specificity with it's imagery, imagery that act as visual lyrics that tell the reader what is being communicated, both in the image and the poem. This is akin to as Miles put it "telling you what to think".

Or the image compliments the poem  and vice versa with its more abstract-ambiguity, which also creates a wider spiritual opening. This abstractly-ambiguous opening acts as a visual catalyst with which as Miles put it, "you can think what-ever you want".

            Incorporating established haiga or imagery

For instance writing poetry specifically to accompany the woodblock prints of say Hokusai or Hiroshige is called jikuzo-shi. Here the image is created first to "tell you what to think", then the jikuzo-shi poem is created as an after thought to reinforces the print. It does so by speaking of what is transpiring within the image. This is rarely if ever spiritual in nature.

Honka-dori: Long story short, Honkadori are created from works that are derived from haiku's literary cannon, essential poems. Honkadori is akin to the way Jazz Musicians derive from their cannon of Jazz Standards, and create their own cover versions or reinterpretations. It may or may not tell us what to think, and may or may not be spiritual in nature.