Poetry can be a kind of meditation, explains Rashid Hughes. He explores how the art of haiku can open your heart and bring a sense of calm, inspired awe into your practice.
Life has so much to offer if only we would listen. The evening was young, and my body was tired from being on the move all day. There was silence in the air with a gray sky and an incessant but very gentle rain. I was sitting at my desk looking out the back window as I often do after a long day of reading or writing. There seemed to be very little of the usual sounds of insects and animals on a late summer evening. The candle flame to my left on the ancestral altar reminded me of the sanctity of rest, so I allowed myself a moment to just be. I happily open the window to listen to the rain with the occasional thunder on the horizon. As I feel on many rainy days, I felt that the rain was inviting me to listen carefully, so I did.
As I sat for a while enjoying the rain, I began to ponder a few words from Mama Alice Walker’s poem, Be Nobody’s Darling.
To be nobody’s favorite;
To be an outcast
To be an outcast;
It’s nice to walk alone
I felt lonely, but not separate. I exhaled. Something sacred was in between: undivided knowledge. A deep-rooted belief of belonging arose in me. As if I had become a witness of my boundless love. U aweI gave up.
From within this knowledge, the following haiku came to me in a very spontaneous, unstructured way. At that moment, life seemed intimate and inevitable. Solitude and fresh clarity caressed me; a moment of light meditation unfolds. There was no goal, no desire, just awareness of the present moment.
I don’t know why haiku became the form of writing that came to me at the moment. Poetry or writing is not how I usually express myself afterwards meditation. I can jot down a few notes, but hardly in verse form. I prefer to bathe in the natural clarity of mind after such moments. it is possible haiku emerged due to the natural slowness of pace and spaciousness required throughout the haiku poetic process. Who knows?
With the window slightly open, letting in the sound of the rain and a light breeze, I began writing these haikus.
Poetry can be a kind of meditation
If you don’t understand the meaning of a haiku, that’s okay. The gift of a haiku is patience that is appealed to, wonder and, on special occasions, bewilderment. You may feel that there are many possible interpretations of a haiku. That’s okay too; let everything be both true and false. I invite you to take a breath between reading each haiku.
Other knowledge
It enters me from below.
They scowl at me, Shrink!
I hear them calling
In the cool breeze on your feet.
I’m a contract, that’s me!
Time to slow down.
What will my five-year plan be?
It’s night, don’t sleep!
Cloudy, light rain.
So much sunshine grief
I felt at peace.
Ahhh, dreadlocks and beards!
The way they look on the streets
This feeling, please do not shoot!
The leaf is held
Autumn, some yellow and pink.
Take your time, just be
A candle burns brightly.
Walking back and forth I think
Tomorrow is not now.
Try your hand at haiku
I want everyone to be able to find joy in writing haiku. It can really slow your mind and open your heart when you need it most. Here are some tips to get you started.
- Go for a walk or sitting in your favorite chair at home.
- Watch the environment. Pay attention to the colors, the weather, the sounds.
- Listen to your heart and feel what is happening inside.
- Without thinking for a long time, in two sentences, pause and write down what catches your attention.
- Then write a third sentence which is not so closely related to the first two sentences.
- See if you can spot a surprising connection between the first two sentences and the third.
- Remember, try to really understand what idea or message you want to get across to the reader.
- If you need a challenge, rewrite three sentences following the traditional haiku structure: three lines, of which the first line has five syllables, the second – seven, the third – five.
- Most importantly, don’t judge yourself for whatever you come up with.
Try this guided meditation as a prompt for mindful writing
An invitation to connect with your feelings in a real or imagined setting. What do you hear? What do you smell? Pay attention to the emotional filling of the space. And when you’re done, transfer what you’ve learned to the page in whatever way feels right for you. More details 
