Haiku as Therapy

Yellow, white, pink  Spring

Lush green freshness all around

New beginnings here.

A few years ago, I began writing haiku poems as a way of creative expression, initially the beauty and joy I saw around me.  I was fascinated by the easy limited structure of this ancient Eastern verse form that is made up of just three non-rhyming lines.  The first line holds 5 syllables, the second line holds 7, and the third goes back to 5 syllables.  Simple rules.  Originally haiku themes were limited to the four seasons, but it has more recently been Americanized and therefore open to the expression of anything you wish.

Seasons of our lives

Flash in front of weary eyes

Stop!  Savor what’s left!

During that time, I found myself driving down the highway into town to work and words and phrases would pop into my head and the next thing I know I had figured out a way to put them into haiku form!  When I got to work I would write it down first thing and marvel at how the use of just a few select words could be used to express so much.  I was enthralled and intrigued with it.  It was “minimalist poetry” and I liked the idea very much!

Kitten energy...

Scamper leap twist stalk then pounce!

TigerCat within.

Fingers in the soil.

Dig plant water wait then pick.

Wash cook eat enjoy!

A few months after my first venture into creating haiku, I found myself in a state of depression due to so many stresses in my life at the time.  I quickly realized that the haiku I was creating was helping me express the emotions I was feeling and that I felt much better after putting those emotions down on paper.  I began at that point to consciously address my feelings in haiku and soon I was feeling much less depressed.  In fact, I felt empowered by the act of my writing it down concisely and having to choose the perfect few syllables in precisely the right order to express those feelings.  Awesome!

So much on my mind.

Thoughts muddled, unclear, hazy

Can’t seem to think straight.

Pick, choose and express.

I come back to this haiku.

Help to figure out.

Over the next several months, my mind just raced with ideas for haiku and the excitement of thinking creatively about the words and syllables to use, then getting them on paper became a very enjoyable endeavor and my depression lifted completely!  I shared them with two dear friends and each told me that they could see what was going on in my life and heart just by reading what I had composed at the time.   I read back over my poems, looked back on what had been happening during the time each was written, and they were quite right, and I realized that in the writing I had been healed, uplifted, and empowered.

When a dream has died

It is hard for your Spirit

To release...let go.

In the Quiet I

Knit read spin weave write listen

And feel Peace arrive.

So I am proposing to you here and now that I believe that haiku can be quite therapeutic….and I heartily recommend that you try it!  It is also fun, creative, and great exercise for maintaining a healthy brain.  I have a separate page here on this blog with some of my haiku poetry and I invite you to check it out for yourself.   You just might find yourself becoming addicted to it like me!

Take a leap of faith ....

It is something I must do.

Have faith and just jump!

Haiku rocks on HeartSong Farm!