Wed., October, 1st, 12pm Eastern Time, ONLINE via Zoom
Through a Haiku Lens: The Ten Thousand Joys and Sorrows
English-language haiku can be a practice of tuning our perception to take in the both/and of life witnessing the abundance of both joys and sorrows the Buddha offered as core realities of human experience. Viewed through this lens, haiku of quiet wonder and transcendent peace may also share time and space with poems about suffering, injustice, and necessary truth-telling. The founding masters of Japanese haiku wove the complete tapestry of their experience into their work, and we may carry that both/and lineage forward into our haiku practice today.
We’ll share some practical how-to haiku information, devoting ample time for moments of reflection, writing, and Q&A. And, we’ll experience the gift of a few poems read aloud accompanied by beautifully evocative flute soundscape by musician David Levy.
About the Speakers:
Lorraine A Padden is the author of Upwelling, an award-winning haiku collection published in 2022. An active member of Zen Peacemakers, Lorraine has been a featured presenter at Upaya Zen Center’s Way of Haiku, and her short-form poetry regularly appears in international journals & anthologies.
For years playing flutes has been a form of prayer and meditation for David Levy. This playing invites him to listen more carefully, more deeply. He is taken, at times, into a place of awe and tenderness. For six years before COVID he worked in Kingston, NY hospitals and nearby long-term care facilities, playing flutes for people in their rooms. Since COVID David has created a recording studio in his apartment, that is, he turns his living room into a place to zoom live flute music into children’s hospitals around the country.
With gratitude,
The Zen Peacemakers Team



