Accidental Poetry

Why do you worry When the wind blows so wildly Through the trees outside

I wrote this haiku by (sort of) accident last Sunday. I went to the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center as I frequently do on Sunday mornings to sit and hear a dharma talk. When I showed up, I discovered that Norman Fischer was there to do the talk!

I kinda knew who Zoketsu Norman Fischer was; I've read an article or two by him or quoting him, but not much. He came in and sat zazen (meditation) with us before his talk. While we sat, we could hear the wind blowing in fierce gales through the open windows; shaking the trees ferociously. As I sat, I was struck some anxiety (as sometimes happens) and I thought to myself, "How can you worry when the wind is blowing so wildly?" and then it became a poem, right there in front of me. Writing poetry is not the point of zazen, but there it was; I had to nudge it to get it into haiku form, but not much.

When Tim Burkett introduced Norman, he mentioned, before anything else, that he is a poet. This took me a bit aback. Never have I written a poem in zazen before and it made me wonder about the possible extent and ramifications of resonance. I talk a lot about emotional resonance with others in my Healing Presence classes and the effect it can have on the overall experience. I had never considered the idea of resonance in terms of skills or talents. Did being in that state of presence with someone who writes poetry regularly and skillfully resonate with my "inner poet"? I am delighted with this discovery and cannot wait to explore and play with this idea, stretching it to its illogical conclusion.

Please share any experience you have had along these lines; I'm dying to hear about them.