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
The Furrow
Did I think it would abide as it was forever
all that time ago the turned earth in the old garden
where I stood in spring remembering spring in another place
that had ceased to exist and the dug roots kept giving up
their black tokens their coins and bone buttons and shoe nails
made by hands and bits of plates as the thin clouds
of that season slipped past gray branches on which the early
white petals were catching their light and I thought I knew
something of age then my own age which had conveyed me
to there and the ages of the trees and the walls and houses
from before my coming and the age of the new seeds as I
set each one in the ground to begin to remember
what to become and the order in which to return
and even the other age into which I was passing
all the time while I was thinking of something different
W.S. Merwin
Thanks Alan. I have just watched ‘ The Garden’ an academy award nominee for best documentary. One of the messages that came out of that documentary was: what else do we have in life if we are not connected to the land, being able to grow food and feed our families. This poem you posted here, brings me to the land, working in it, inspired by it, part of it through all time.