Who are you and what are you doing with haiku?
As best as I can tell writing is bridge building. It is connecting two sides who spend more time apart than they should and who both can benefit from more dialogue. I started writing early, in junior high school, abandoned it in college, occasionally thereafter writing only when meeting someone and falling in love.
2
About four years ago with the confluence of grand children and retirement and falling madly in love with far too many facebook friends it occurred to me perhaps I had searched, foolishly at times, outside for someone who might be inside. I made a decision and a commitment to court this inner partner and “chat her up a bit”. I wanted to meet her. Know her. And her family. And so I write, most often early in the day as I usually care for my three little ones during the work day most days of the week. And I feel blessed. That is my story.
3
By education and training I am a psychologist, worked in clinics and taught classes on therapy, general psych, and psychology and religion. I met haiku while reading Erich Fromm’s Being and Having book for a Psychology and Religion course I developed. He cited a poem by Basho and used it as an example of the Being mode. It was this poem and Fromm’s explication of the “blooming nazuna” line that started me on my path here. The power of that poem and its alignment with a less grasping less strangling mode stayed with me. Stays still with me.
4
I wrote this “definition” of haiku today in haiku form as my way of saying thanks to this poetry practice and to this group and to you Amanda:
commemoration
of startled amazement and
an invitation
2 Comments on “Conversation 75: THE DAILY HAIKU Interviews: Tom Peterson”
Tom I found this interview so utterly joyous and absolutely agree that writing is indeed bridge building. Thank you too for the ‘thank you’ haiku. You help make TDH the special, nurturing and creative space it is. Your writing story is a familiar one where other ‘life’ often interrupts our creative flow, your rediscovery and reemerging writing journey now as a grandfather fully involved with his grandchildren and with more time in retirement is deeply inspiring. I look forward to a collection of your poetry about this fruitful time in your life. After reading this interview I have immediately added BEING to both the Weekly and Daily Theme polls.
I really enjoyed reading your interview and could relate to some of it too. I enjoy your haiku, and like the idea of building bridges with writing and poetry. ❤👩🦰❤