Better Than Starbucks!

Tedious

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Master Shogen, the Abbot of Zuigan Temple, loved teaching haiku to his monks. “Haiku,” he lectured, “is the ideal poetry form. It captures the-thing-in-itself, and nothing more. There is nothing extraneous. Perceive your unique vision of the world. Haiku measures both the amount of Zen in the writer and the reader.” Shogen, a lifelong haiku devotee, read one haiku per day and rarely wrote more than five in a year.

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“Why is it that you read only one haiku each day?” asked Daitsu, one of his most promising students.

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“Because reading one haiku per day is sublime,” replied the old Zen Master, “reading two is tedious.”

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Unlike the fictitious Master Shogen, I write one haiku each day.  I consider putting together these 17 syllable pieces an essential part of my mindfulness practice. I prefer autobiographical haiku, images I have seen, heard, or smelled. This helps keep me awake, aids in preventing daydreams, idle musings, or perseverating about the hundreds of concerns each of us might experience. I do agree with Master Shogen that haiku are best read one per day or, if necessary, in small groupings. Reading haiku requires skill and concentration. Read them too rapidly, and you risk missing a beautiful image/insight. If we read too many haiku in one sitting, the haiku, due to their brevity, may bleed into one another; their unique character can be lost.

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The gopher tortoise,

Disappears down its burrow:

Woodpecker screeches.

Water lily leaves,

Uprooted by the storm’s winds,

Float across the pond.

  Kevin McLaughlin

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Pawel Markiewicz  was born in Siemiatycze.  He studied both law and the German language in Poland. He has a cosmic vision that ranges from spiders to stars.

the fog over me

lava is flowing slowly

in rhythm of spiders

the fog above me

all dreams are being fulfilled

in ways to the stars

ewer and calyx

the dew is being cooled here

ready to drink it

  Pawel Markiewicz

Nicholas Klacsanzky writes to us from Kyiv, Ukraine. Mr. Klacsanzky publishes a blog analyzing haiku. He is capable of seeing the sky with a touch of sparrows and also of grasping the essence of kelp.

kelp

the eyes I see

in the dark

thud of rain

on the forest floor—

horse dreams

an unfinished bridge

a sky with a touch

of sparrows

  Nicholas Klacsanzky

Honorah Murphy, a physics professor at Trinity University of Dublin, wrote to tell me how much she truly enjoys the work of our resident astrophysics buff Angie Davidson. I enjoy it, too.

The asteroid belt

Between Jupiter and Mars,

Circles the Sun.

Made of ice and dust,

Comets leave trails of vapor

Which are seen for miles.

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  Angela Davidson

Elaine Wilburt is a versatile poet with a gift for haiku featuring surprise and juxtaposition. She graduated Middlebury College with degrees in English and French. Her work has appeared in several publications, and her devotionals in The Word in Season.

car door opens

unexpected freedom:

frog leaps out.

leaving hospital

under dark clouds:

birdsong in the mist.

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  Elaine Wilburt

James Babbs has written three elegiac haiku that are in the Japanese tradition (mourning and sorrow) that also call to mind Donne’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and Milton’s “Lycidas.”  May you, Mr. Babbs, and your loved ones be blessed.

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without you,

autumn chill hidden

in the summer wind

longing—

dried rose petals in

the pockets of my coat.

morning light falling

over gravestones

long shadows on the grass

(Powerful.)

  James Babbs