|
Posts Tagged ‘Poetry’
Posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2011
Tags: Appreciation, Awareness, Change, Curiosity, Death, Discovery, Meditation, Perception, Poetry, Spaciousness, Spirituality
Categories: Awareness, Change, Curiosity, Discovery, Meditation, Perception, Poetry
No Comments »
 In response to my #DEATH tweet books, readers often make comments about the “haiku” quality of the individual “tweets.” While an aficionado of great poetry, I previously had never studied haiku’s form or the “great works” of the genre. My first exposure to haiku came through the reading of poems of my friend, acupuncturist and Chinese medicine practitioner, Suzanne Freeman – a nice Jewish girl from New York, who gave up the practice of law, to follow her calling into healing. I recently became more serious about my pursuit of the haiku form as Nancy and I began our work on #DOG Tweet. Was there something in haiku that would aid us in our writing?
Patricia Donegan wrote a wonderful book, Haiku Mind – 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart, which has served as my portal into this poignant poetic form. The haiku traditional form consists of 17 syllables in three phrases ( 5-7-5) in Japanese or, usually, three lines in English. According to Donegan, “A fine haiku presents a crystalline moment of heightened awareness in simple imagery, traditionally using a kigo, or “season” word from nature.” That crystalline moment causes us to pause and be present to every day wonders. At the same time, the haiku references the ordinary and profound, the mundane and the sacred. It invites you to take a breath and relax, if for only a moment. That moment of awareness and relaxation is what Donegan describes as the “haiku mind.” A modern example from the great 20th century haiku poet, Shuson Kato: Keep Reading »
Posted on Thursday, January 20th, 2011
Tags: Awareness, Change, Curiosity, Poetry, Relationship
Categories: Awareness, Curiosity, Discovery, Fear, Generosity, Listening, Poetry, Relationship, Spaciousness, Trust
No Comments »
Nancy and I just returned from a weekend with David Whyte at the Mount Madonna Center, about 20 miles south of Santa Cruz. David is a poet, author and lecturer, who appears to be in his mid-50s, now living in the Pacific Northwest. His poetry is an extraordinary blend of influences stemming from his upbringing by an Irish mother who raised him in the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire; from his studies as a naturalist and his training in the Galapagos Islands; from his pursuit of all things psychological and spiritual. David has taken his perspectives on artistry into the field organization development to foster, in the corporate setting, courage, engagement, awareness and creativity to deal with issues arising from our ever-changing and increasingly complex world. Keep Reading »
Posted on Tuesday, November 16th, 2010
Tags: Change, Curiosity, Listening, Poetry, Purpose, Relationship
Categories: Change, Discovery, Poetry, Purpose, Relationship
1 Comment »
 Every second and fourth Friday of the month, there is a “happy hour” at Laguna Honda’s Ward C-2, the hospice ward. It is open to residents, their families, friends staff and volunteers. The happy hour was initiated by Dr. Derek Kerr, the former medical director of the ward, who used to dress in a “smoking jacket” to mix and serve cocktails himself.
Last Friday’s happy hour was a special occasion. Billy C. Tate, a ward resident for over a year, had his first book, Jack Artist, published. Billy sat in a wheel chair before a group of about forty, most of them known to him to read excerpts.
Eight solid years on a fifteen-year sentence. Day for day. He watched the clock tick. They painted the windows so he couldn’t see out. Didn’t know if it was rain or shine. No yard time. No kind of time outside the cell, save for half-an-hour a day shower. No one came to visit. He became the forgotten man. Learned not to need a damn thing, and felt good about it. By the time of his release, he’d earned the respect of the red-faced warden, who declared he didn’t like him, but nearly shook his hand on the day he left.
Keep Reading »
Thanking Larry Robinson again for his daily poetry postings, please enjoy:
 Sit Quietly
If you have time to chatter,
Read books
If you have time to read,
Walk into the mountain, desert, and ocean,
If you have time to walk, sing songs and dance,
If you have time to dance, sit quietly,
You Happy Lucky Idiot.
– Nanao Sakaki
I later will take up the subject of reading and how to consciously use it to expand your awareness, freeing you from constraining judgments and beliefs.
In the last week of May, a friend, knowing of my volunteer work with the Zen Hospice Project, sent me the following poem:
Dear God,
Please flood her nerves with sedatives
and keep her strong enough to crack a smile
so disbelieving friends and relatives
can temporarily sustain denial.
Please smite the intern in oncology
who craves approval from department heads.
Please ease her urge to vomit. Let there be
kind but flirtatious men in nearby beds.
Keep Reading »
 Every year, on the anniversary of my becoming a hospice volunteer with the Zen Hospice Project at Laguna Hondas Hospital, I receive a certificate marking the date. This morning, I opened an envelope from our selfless coordinator, Eric Poche and found my latest, recognizing six years of commitment to our hospice residents and a lovely handwritten note from Eric. The certificate contained six simple lines from the poet Tagore which read:
I slept and dreamt
that life was joy.
I awoke and saw
that life was service.
I acted and, behold,
service was joy.
Keep Reading »
|
|
In response to my #DEATH tweet books, readers often make comments about the “haiku” quality of the individual “tweets.” While an aficionado of great poetry, I previously had never studied haiku’s form or the “great works” of the genre. My first exposure to haiku came through the reading of poems of my friend, acupuncturist and Chinese medicine practitioner, Suzanne Freeman – a nice Jewish girl from New York, who gave up the practice of law, to follow her calling into healing. I recently became more serious about my pursuit of the haiku form as Nancy and I began our work on #DOG Tweet. Was there something in haiku that would aid us in our writing?
