A visual depiction of the 5/7/5 17 syllable Haiku form

The picture above, which I composed yesterday out of the common household and garden objects I had lying around, was a creative, playful, way for me to visually represent the 3 phrase, 5/7/5 haiku form.

Note the word playful. If you decide to try your hand at creating some sense haiku of your own, you will be doing it perfectly if you undertake it playfully, and enjoy your self in the process. Note word process. Note too that the word flawless is not the aim. (You are not aiming to create the greatest, most original, flawless haiku poem ever, or even at all.)

I often use magnetic poetry kits when I teach workshops.

This doesn’t mean you aren’t taking it seriously or giving it all your attention. In fact the greater your attention to the process, the more likely it will be that you create something you cherish and that speaks to others. However it is very important to embrace the concept that writing Haiku, or any other form, like Yoga, like, meditation, are practices. They are living, breathing, contemplative, experiences that change each time we engage in them. At their best they can become a lens through which we see and know the world and ourselves more clearly, perhaps even for the first time.

I am particularly inspired by Patricia Donegan’s “haiku mind- 108 poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart,” and urge you to seek out this little gem of a book!
And or her racier, “Hot Haiku” for a different kind of play. But here, at EngagingtheSenses, the purpose of haiku is as a means to help us touch, taste, see, smell and hear the Beauty of the ordinary world through our senses.

It is in Donegon’s tradition of embracing haiku not solely as a literary form, “but also as an awareness practice… the idea of “haiku mind”….is both to share a simple yet profound way of seeing or everyday world and living our lives with the awareness of the moment expressed in haiku- and therefore hopefully inspire others to live with more clarity, compassion and peace.”

A fine wish indeed. One that tuning into the intelligence of our senses helps put into practice. The more we can pause and savor the world through our senses, instead of letting them push and pull us around, the more power we have.  Engaging our senses this way, we practice and refine the art of discernment. This leads us to make choices in the daily ‘grind’ of the day to day that add to, rather than take away, from the quality of our lives. Choices that truly awaken and nourish our senses and heart. And by extension our world.

Yours truly in truth

Senses, beauty, and haiku