Welcome haiku lovers…
Hello, I’m poet Robert Lew Terrell …
The blog is filled with haiku I’ve written. I write about many subjects – seasonal, inner states, my pet friendlies (cats), nature, and moon haiku, to name a few. You may be wondering what the “pause” is all about? Though sometimes it seems like some things in life don’t change, in reality, the world is in constant flux. My haiku are often like snapshots taken in the flux matrix of life (a pause). If it stops your mind for just a moment, then perhaps my work is done :)
The essential Robert Lew is revealed (to the extent he is revealed) through these haiku, and the haiku on my other haiku blogs, My Haiku World and The Reflected Moon The haiku are different on each blog. Sometimes I post links to haiku with similar themes, on my blogs.
And if you would like to see what the last 30+ years of my life have been about, in a big way… visit my visual art website: Abstract Art by Robert Terrell :)
Now it’s back to writing – it’s what my creative life is about now. I hope you enjoy the haiku…
About Haiku and My Haiku
Do I write genuine haiku? Yes. I could go into various long explanations why they are, since I write in English, not traditional Japanese. I honor the Japanese haiku poets, and totally respect them and their art.
I will just say that I do follow a strict 5-7-5 syllable format with my haiku. I don’t always use seasonal references – often I do. But, my haiku work on me, as a “spiritual process” which I can feel.
R.H. Blyth said it so well:
A haiku is not a poem, it is not literature; it is a hand becoming, a door half-opened, a mirror wiped clean.
It is a way of returning to nature, to our moon nature, our cherry blossom nature, our falling leaf nature, in short, to our Buddha nature.
It is a way in which the cold winter rain, the swallows of evening, even the very day in its hotness, and the length of the night, become truly alive, share in our humanity, speak their own silent and expressive language.
Haiku: Eastern Culture, 1949, Volume One, R.H. Blyth
(Thanks to Sarah Whiteley for finding that quote, btw… check out her blog, Ebbtide… It’s in my blogroll)
To a great extent, my “haiku process” reflects these words. I know that it continues to affect me deeply and I will continue to write haiku.
- Robert Lew
I'm poet Robert Terrell. The blog contains my haiku, written in 5-7-5 syllable form. Take a seat, there's plenty of room...
