A Haiku doesn’t talk about an experience;
a Haiku triggers an experience
— your own.
~ Br. David Steindl-Rast
Welcome.
We begin this practice with an invitation to give yourself over to reading haiku — discover what you are drawn to, and notice the experience that is triggered in you.
Calligraphy by Br. David Steindl-Rast
The Practice
Today we invite you to read haiku. Perhaps you have some books of haiku on hand. If not, here is a one-page assortment of Haiku to keep things simple.
Tom Clausen encourages us to:
Read to find what moves you, what you love, what you like and what you enjoy and brings meaning to you. With whatever writing brings solace and inspiration to you, let it sink in and become part of you so that you reflect and recognize what it is that touched you… in time, the more you are in this meditative and reflective space the more likely your own writing will bring out what is meaningful to you.
Once you have had an opportunity to be with some haiku, select one from among those you have read, write it down with the author’s name, and complete the following writing prompts relative to that haiku. Feel free to write your responses in a notebook and/or in the reflection area below.
1. I am drawn to this haiku because…
2. In this haiku I notice…
3. Reading this haiku I experience…
If you would like to explore this topic further and discover more about what moves you, you might want to repeat this three-part reflection exercise with a few more haiku.
Enjoy the full eight-day Exploring Haiku practice.
My Haiku Today
Sea water is free
We are splashing on the shore
Love is evermore
My first Haiku
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Felt somewhere Between ocean and moon-
Lost- found But
Bird awakens me out of lull.
Brass bell– reminds me of Angels of the Hours and its helpfulness to pause.
The moon in the pines
Now I hang it up, now I take it off
And still I keep gazing.
-Brother David Steindl-Rast
1. because of the references to nature and the initial sense it has inner meaning
2. There is a letting-go with an analogy to the moon being something one puts away like a hat or coat being worn
3. I experience a kinship to how the senses we feel through nature or anything that occurs stays with us though it may pass on or we may move on. It is a beautiful sense of our experiences and how we remain fascinated by them which may bring lessons and memories; though we move on we may also be mindful of them.
dome of stars
under it, a small round tent
lit from within
— Ruth Yarrow
I am drawn to this haiku because of the feminine curves in its imagery. It has me experiencing a sense of comfort and peace, like the safety of the womb.
In this haiku, I notice the light and the smallness. (Not insignificance, but like a baby lovingly held by an expansive universe).
Reading this haiku I experience peace, love, comfort, maternal love, aliveness, beauty in simplicity, mystery and trust in something greater than myself. All in 12 words. ?
here I am-
somewhere between ocean and moon
somewhere between lost and found
I am drawn to this haiku because to me it speaks of being fully present, yet paradoxically “somewhere between”. I am on a journey towards embracing paradox in my life and in the world.
I am drawn to this haiku because during this Lenten season I have been reading and reflecting on Henri Nouwen’s book about the biblical parable of the return of the prodigal son. I have felt many times in my life that I am the prodigal daughter…ever leaving and returning to the awareness of divine Love.
This haiku brings grateful tears of recognition and acceptance to my eyes.
rushing here and there
dodging autumnal showers
embracing new life
Dome of stars
under it, a small round tent
lit from within
Ruth Yarrow
I am drawn to this haiku because it speaks to me of someone who is out amongst the stars shining up above but, as he/she is sitting inside a closed tent, they do not see all the stars….what is important is that they are able to shine from within from their own inner light.
In this haiku, I see myself as that is what I feel myself doing, then when I open up my eyes to the beautiful sky above, I know I am in the right place.
Reading this haiku, I experience peace and great job.
the lake is lost
in the rain which is lost
in the lake
I am drawn to this haiku because it is at once clever and evocative. I notice its conciseness and imagery and can see the rain/lake and also feel an otherworldliness in that moment.
The cry of the cicada
Gives us no sign
That presently it will die.
Love this part of the connected haikus because of the reminder of this precious human life and that one shouldn’t take it for granted. Live every day as if one will die within the week.
here i am —
somewhere between ocean and moon
somewhere between lost and found — Zee Zahava
drawn to this haiku
something about the Earth elements
and feeling lost and found and lost again
In this haiku
once again I noticed
A shared feeling of Humanity
Reading this haiku
I experience again
Shared Human experience
alone in the waiting room
checking the plant
for reality
— Tom Clausen
drawn to this Haiku
Because I too
Have checked that plant
‘
In this Haiku I notice
A shared human
Fearful experience
Reading this Haiku I experience
Shared Humanity Needing Assurance
Of truth and reality.
almost missing
the exit
daisies so soon
I am drawn to this part because it brings up the mortality of things in me and also i reading this haiku i experience the the joy of this moment because it is always there and ready for me to see it.
I come weary
In search of an inn
Ah! these wisteria flowers.
I am drawn to this haiku by the intense feeling that grabbed me as I read it I can feel the intense need and then the unexpected finding of relief in a blooming wisteria . Reading this haiku I feel both joy and a wisp of sadness.
The lake lost in the rain which lost in the lake. The repeated words, the image evoked of no boundaries between sky and earth and i am cast back the Laurentian childhood summers watching curtains of rain coming across the lake eating up blue sky. Exciting and inspiring to my childhood self, these brief, occasional storms involve 6 senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, touch and, most importantly, awe. But i am also lonely…
beautiful!
there is a poem in that paragraph…