Haiku -Elements, Food and I

Sun, earth, wind and water,

in food, I take them all in.

Where does it come from?

We are becoming increasingly aware of the many ways of learning and diversity of sources, we encounter  in our human interaction. If we are curious and interested in increasing our awareness in the aspect  of our food culture, habits  and so on, then I’d like to introduce another path to igniting this interest. Poems!

I was very much inspired by a class I had taken with  Dr. Ron Gordon (COM 400- Seminar in Human Dialogue) at UH-Hilo. Dr. Gordon introduced to our class and used as one of our texts books :  ‘Poetic Medicine- the Healing Art of Poem Making‘ by John Fox.  I took this class a few years ago but much of what I experienced in that class still resonates within me, especially in processing thoughts and communication in writing my own poems and listening to others.  The emphasis in the creation of these poems, as we learned in class, was not the formality of poem writing but more in the aspect of engaging the heart and mind into self expression and in the process revealing thoughts and emotions that had not surfaced before.  We have an opportunity, through poems, to gain  clarity of thought, to move us to another perspective, to move us to an action desired. What have poems got to do with my research project concerning customers at open markets and the food they buy there you ask?

Well, I think everyone and everything is in a process of evolution as is nature, and we are part of nature. We humans are constantly evolving in our thought processes as we learn new things. When we buy food at open markets, we choose the products based on information we have acquired up to that point. We are also constantly learning new information as we experience it through,  as I mentioned previously,  many ways and sources of learning information. For example : news, magazines, books,  film,  folklore, conversation with family and friends…………….and poems. Poems can be a source of inspiration for awareness and change.

I will add my own poems from time to time, relevant to my subject matter of  customers and food in open markets.

I welcome you to create your own poems,  expressing your own thoughts about this subject matter. You could share your poems  by writing them in  the comment/reply section at the end of this post.

Resource

Fox, John. (1997). Poetic Medicine, The Healing Art of Poem Making.  New York, NY. Tarcher/ Putnam- Penquin Putnam Inc