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Lectio + Haiku
In this corner of the courtyard, you can make your own poetic
response to the words of ancient and modern writers of the
Spirit.
A different poetic passage from the Bible or other sacred
writings is posted here each month. Using an approach based on
the monastic practice of lectio divina, we invite you to read
the text, give it your heartfelt attention, then respond by
writing a haiku.
If you like, you can email us your haiku to be posted here with
others. In that way, you take part in a running conversation
that has been ongoing since the ancient texts
were first composed.
If this is your first visit to Lectio + Haiku, please read
About Lectio Divina and Haiku.
Then join us in reading and responding to this month’s
text, following the steps
below..
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Haiku
leaf buds
on the prickly rose…
mom’s birthday call
-- Margaret, In the Courtyard
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From March 2007... |
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Our guide, clear-eyed through
joy or travail, shows a path
on this kindred earth.
-- Brad, Port Townsend
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Ashes to ashes,
Child of earth embrace your life,
Seed of lover’s joy!
-- Kay, Bargersville
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Plum blossoms swaddle
each branch of the sapling we
planted last winter.
-- Margaret, In the Courtyard
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Crows cough common thoughts.
Mocking ducks quack quack quack quack.
Starlings, startled, sing.
-- Greg, Seattle
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my Friend has died. He,
born common from the womb, wore
Purple in my eyes.
-- Brad, Port Townsend
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White in winter's dusk,
scattered on a well-worn trail,
fresh bones of a deer.
-- Greg, Seattle
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The thin stem still holds
the weight of a ripe apple
compacted with rain.
-- Greg, Seattle
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First, give up being
first. First, come out of the womb.
First breathe, then cry out.
-- Margaret, In the Courtyard
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Lent is a season for coming to
terms with who we really are. That thought led me to one of my
favorite passages from the Apocrypha, a collection of texts
that, though not part of the official canon, are sometimes
included in Bibles between the Hebrew Bible and the Christian
Testaments.
Wisdom of Solomon 7: 1-6
I also am mortal, like everyone else,
a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;
and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh,
within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,
from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.
And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.
I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.
For no king has had a different beginning of existence;
there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out.
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Steps for responding
Click for a
printer-friendly version of the scripture above and steps
below.
Take a moment for silence, becoming aware of God’s
presence.
Slowly read the poem or passage, then read it again,
listening with both heart and mind.
Jot down a few words or phrases from the text that “rise
up” and carry energy for you at this moment.
Now put the passage aside and turn to the words you jotted down. Spend time with the memories,
feelings, and associations they carry to you.
Write a haiku that includes at least one of those words.
(It’s okay to use a different form of the word if it
works better in your haiku. For example, if the word
“sowing” is on your list, it’s okay to use “sow.”)
Return to the passage, read it one more time,
then read your haiku response.
Take another moment for silence in God’s presence.
Share your response
To join your haiku with others in the courtyard, fill in
this form.
Archives: Lectio + Haiku
February 2010 -- I
met with twelve others in the Leffler living room on the
campus of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle to write haiku
inspired by themes of the Epiphany season. The focus of
our inspiration was a poem by Jalaluddin Rumi. The
Dream That Must Be Interpreted. This place is a
dream. Only a sleeper considers it real...
more...
January 2010 -- For
the last days of the Christmas season and the first
weeks of Epiphany, a song of intimacy and awe.
Psalm 139 : 1 - 18 O LORD, you have searched me
and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise
up...
more...
December 2009 -- For
the month of Advent and Christmas, a song of remembrance
and hope. Psalm 126 : 1-6 When the Lord
restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who
dream...
more...
November 2009 -- An
excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” in Leaves
of Grass (1855). The little one sleeps in its
cradle, I lift the gauze and look a long time, and
silently brush away flies with my hand...
more...
October 2009 -- The voice
of Wisdom, present at Creation, speaks in this passage
taken from Ecclesiasticus, a book of the Apocrypha.
Ecclesiasticus 24 I came forth from beyond
this world, And I covered the earth like a mist. I had
my tent in the heights, And my throne in the clouds...
more...
September 2009 -- The
wisdom of a Taoist sage, as interpreted by a Trappist
monk. "The Need to Win" When an archer
shoots for nothing / He has all his skill. / If he
shoots for a brass buckle / He is already nervous...
more...
July/August 2009 -- Isaiah
42:16 I will lead the blind by a road they do not
know, by paths they have not known I will guide them...
more...
June 2009 -- Matthew
5:13-16 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt
has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and
trampled under foot...
more...
May 2009 -- This month’s
passage is taken from the Apocrypha. The Wisdom of
Solomon 7:15-22 "Solomon Prays for Wisdom"
May God grant me to speak with judgment, and to have
thoughts worthy of what I have received; for he is the
guide even of wisdom and the corrector of the wise...
more...
April 2009 -- A
prayer from the Haggadah. Dayeinu – For
that alone, we would have been grateful! How many
wonderful deeds did God perform for us! Had the
Compassionate one brought us out of Egypt and not split
the sea for us – Dayeinu...!
more...
March 2009 -- SONG OF
SOLOMON 3:1-5 “LOVE’S DREAM” Upon my bed at
night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but
found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer...
more...
More archives of
Lectio + Haiku...
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