Freestyle Haiku - Collection 1: Chapters 1-4 (Freestyle Haiku and Spiritual Poetry – Collected Poems)

By Mattō

Chapter 1: "The six months of haiku in this chapter chronicle my life and my feelings as I dealt with some painful experiences. During this time I grew emotionally, I learned a lot about the world, and I became close to new friends. By the end of this trying time, I realized important truths about myself, about love, and about loneliness." -Mattō

Chapter 2: "During the five months I wrote these haiku, I found myself drawn to elemental energies. In particular, I felt the wind. Scientifically, wind is the mixing of different bodies of air as they rise and fall. To me, wind is about change, serendipity, opportunity, and renewal.

Air is essential in our lives, and it is frequently taken for granted. There's a lightness to air, and similarly there's a lightness in many of these poems. This chapter is about my spirit reconnecting with nature and the world. It is in this chapter that my spirit breathes again, mixing energy and life back into me."-Mattō

Chapter 3: "The Spring of 2011 was a wonderful time for me: I found a new love, I found Peace for a while, and I felt a renewed connection to family, friends, and nature. My positive and optimistic mind carried out into the world, and these poems are a history and glimpse of this beautiful time."-Mattō

Chapter 4: "The Spring and all it's beauty had passed, and in it's place I found an increasingly troubled mind. The relationship I had so strongly yearned for had broken apart, I faced wave after wave of layoffs where I saw my friends leave, and the home I thought I found started to feel flimsy. These challenges affected my words, as well as my productivity. I wrote far fewer poems in this time; a few less than 100 poems over the course of an entire year."-Mattō

About This Poetry:
Mattō's short poems may not seem like haiku, because they do not follow the traditional form that many readers might expect. These haiku are written in a free-verse style, that Mattō calls Freestyle Haiku. He discovered the possibility of this more freeing style of haiku from the writings of the Zen priest, Santōka Teneda (1882-1940). He wandered and traveled during the later years of his life while writing haiku.

Mattō enjoy's writing Freestyle Haiku, because it allows him to express abstract and powerful feelings in only a few words, free from a mandated structure. The words on his page are the most direct crystallization of his feelings and experiences, and the brevity of haiku draws attention to the exact words he chooses.

A meaning-rich haiku can be challenging to read; treating one like prose will leave it flat. The goal of a haiku is often to conjure up something beyond the words and their individual meanings. The reader must add themselves to the poem, to experience the words in the way they’re presented, to try and feel the poem. A good haiku will leave the reader with an experience.

About the Author:
Monk Mattō: poet, author, photographer, filmmaker, artist, inventor, teacher, engineer, carpenter, producer, entrepreneur, spiritualist, martial artist, Chimera wrestler, and Jedi Knight.

...Ok, maybe those last two are only true in a figurative sense. Monk Mattō lives in the Washington D.C. area, and enjoys cruising around on his old motorcycle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mattō
• Release date: Oct 1, 2015

Mattō

Monk Mattō: poet, author, photographer, filmmaker, artist, inventor, teacher, engineer, carpenter, producer, entrepreneur, spiritualist, martial artist, Chimera wrestler, and Jedi Knight. ...Ok, maybe those last two are only true in a figurative sense. Monk Mattō lives in the Washington D.C. area, and enjoys cruising around on his old motorcycle.

Book preview

Freestyle Haiku and Spiritual Poetry – Collection 1: Chapters 1-4

By Mattō

Copyright

Copyright © 2015 by Matt Costanza. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Created in the United States of America.

First Edition, 2015

Published by Lotus Petals LLC

www.TheLotusPetals.com

Introduction

My short poems may not seem like haiku, because they do not follow the traditional form that many readers might expect. My haiku are written in a free-verse style, that I call Freestyle Haiku. I discovered the possibility of this more freeing style of haiku from the writings of the Zen priest, Santōka Teneda (1882-1940). He wandered and traveled during the later years of his life while writing haiku.

I enjoy writing Freestyle Haiku, because I can express abstract and powerful feelings in only a few words, free from a mandated structure. My words are the most direct crystallization of my feelings and experiences, and the brevity of haiku draws attention to the exact words I choose.

A meaning-rich haiku can be challenging to read; treating one like prose will leave it flat. The goal of a haiku is often to conjure up something beyond the words and their individual meanings. The reader must add themselves to the poem, to experience the words in the way they're presented, to try and feel the poem. A good haiku will leave the reader with an experience.

I hope that you enjoy my poems and find them helpful, inspiring, or moving. You can read more of my haiku at http://www.freestylehaiku.com.

-Mattō

PS: When I started writing these on my blog, I had to give them a title. The title may sometimes add context to the poem, but the titles are not necessary when reading my poems. You can find a list of all the titles and dates of these poems at the end of this chapter. All poems are organized by number, and constitute a direct history of my writing.

Chapter 1: Crickets and Storm Clouds

The six months of haiku in this chapter chronicle my life and my feelings as I dealt with some painful experiences. During this time I grew emotionally, I learned a lot about the world, and I became close to new friends. By the end of this trying time, I realized important truths about myself, about love, and about loneliness.

001

Dark cloud or storm cloud?

A pair of candles flicker,

Begging to go out.

002

Hot inside—hot outside;

Maybe it’s just in my head.

003

I rode on an eagle to race one,

—We both won.

004

I stand on top of the mountain—

The treetops receive my burdens.

005

Ants scramble the boulder,

I see myself from above;

Left right—Left right.

At the top of the mountain,

My tears reached my chin;

Weights tossed to the valley.

006

The yoke cuts my neck,

I make ever deeper ruts—

..The worms are grateful..

007

Each day slips away,

Discreet as the drip, drip, in my sink

Unending chore of dishes

008

The ice swirls the glass,

The floor, the walls, still steady—

So hard to disappear

Light streams through the