Yesterday I was listening to NPR here in Chicago and heard about a Haiku competition that would be held here. I considered entering the competition briefly. It would require me to compose 27 new Haiku poems by Sunday.
This was very inspirational to me and so I began writing. As I discussed the results of my inspiration with my good friend and colleague at work (surely a finer writer than I) we enjoyed the experience together of taking the restrictions given to us by a particular artistic form and creating art that is unique and beautiful. I saw this as an analogy for life itself. We are born as humans with certain restrictions and our upbringing presents us with even more. We are born with a particular destiny provided by our ancestors. Within these restrictions our becoming is realized as a kind of living poem. To the extent that we live in harmony with the dialog of energies, we create beauty, even in the most terrible and trying times of our lives.
The first Haiku came to me as I was driving on the Ike. The day had started with a great sense of sadness and loneliness. I found this experience interesting considering the happiness that I have been feeling at being able to spend more time with my youngest daughter. The sadness was there still. So I used it. As I wrote one Haiku after another during the day, I came to realize that, for me, this was an expression of my sadness at the senseless destruction going on in Darfur. Even though I realize that destruction is a part of life, it is still sad to see the continued march of the Oil Wars rampaging across the Earth like a sickness ravaging a child. The Gourmanche healers will remind us that even a sickness has a purpose in the becoming of each individual.
So, I found myself with five Haiku. All of these Haiku have grown out of my sorrow. In writing them I found my sorrow lessened and the joy that I have felt over the past few weeks returning to me.
One of the poems refers to “Makheru”. Makheru is a Medu word that means “Truth Teller”. Makheru is the appellation that we offer to Master Naba. This is the traditional title that we use to refer to the master in the M’TAM School. He has many other titles. Some of which I am sure to learn in the coming months and years of my initiation. I do know that I owe him more than my life. He will always remain in my mind and heart as the one who was able to save me from the slavery that I have wallowed in for all of my life. I only hope that I will prove the worth of his teachings by my actions in the time to come.
I present here the five Haiku, which I call,
The Darfur Haiku Cycle
A kitten pounces
On a monarch butterfly
Black blood flows on sand
Silver leaves twisting
Alone in barren forests
Children play in mud-strewn streets
Flames burst forth from mouths
Of a screaming war machine
A river breaks a glacier’s heart
Makheru walks the strand
Of a violent beach of sand
A flock of crows rise
The last heartbeat dies
As a stillborn child returns
Mushrooms burst forth gladly