On Being Blog

Spiritual Sound Bytes in Haiku

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Serendipity graces us with poetry this week. And, it is a rugged stretch of weeks to come mixing production schedules, vacations, the changing name of this program, and a rigorous upcoming travel schedule. Oy.

Krista’s interview with John Paul Lederach yielded some profound moments. The final portion of the show primarily focuses on his use of an enduring form of Japanese poetry — the haiku — as a form of creativity and “moral imagination” in finding new ways into conflict resolution that leads to sustained transformation.

He uses this age-old form of poetry in his work from conflict zones in Northern Ireland to Nepal. But, he also uses this expression to capture themes and ideas, turning points during heated conversations about social change and the definition of “compassion” here at home too.

During our editorial sessions, Krista mentioned that she attended an intense three-day dialogue in May 2009 with John Paul Lederach and others engaged in social change from various directions. It was in part, she says, an exercise in the tension and ambiguity that exists, even around notions like peace and compassion. Lederach condensed this lively interaction into 12 “conversational haikus” that capture the tension, promise, and paradox of moral action and meaningful language:

Generative memory

Converging Consensus: Creative Communities Conversing Compassion

Or

Twelve Doses of Compassion And One Epilogue

Or

Noticing Wisdom
Conversational Haikus
Wye River Accords

i.
Ordinary folk
Compass intact and
Voices dusted off

ii.
Shed the amnesia
Listen to the forgotten
Be, where people are

iii.
Sharing deep suffering
We want our humanity back
Glimpse of the true world.

iv.
Trauma strips us bare
Unfortunate awakening
Our wholeness begins

v.
Belongers.  Others.
None see me, yet I bid the 
Loving hands of God

vi.
Dear Sojourner Truth,
Welcome home!  We beg you, stay!
No lumpy grits here.

vii.
Shadow and Beauty
A mirror to see ourselves
We have to hold up?
We have to hold up!
A mirror to see ourselves
Beauty and Shadow

viii.
Some people carry
Their suffering without fear —
Grace-filled-Activists

ix.
A new narrative
Descending into the heart
Crystallizes questions

x.
Off his bow, echoes
Johann Sebastian Bach
Still rings in our ears

xi.
Human history:
Ten thousand acts of kindness
The Why river flows 

xii.
What shall you pursue?

To speak without fear
And with those who will resist
Listen with the Spirit’s ear

Epilogue

Ancestors beckon:
Be true to your deep calling
And gift your children

Spiritual sound bytes. Noticed. Acknowledged. Arranged.
John Paul Lederach May 7-9, 2009