Haiku—The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines

by Margaret D. McGee

"Writing haiku offers the chance to honor, hold, and fully experience a fleeting moment that takes you out of yourself, a moment that hints at the deeper unity that lies beneath the surface of things."
--from Chapter One

Have a "haiku moment"--when your mind stops and your heart moves. In this encouraging guide for both beginning and experienced haiku writers, Margaret D. McGee shows how writing haiku can be a consciously spiritual practice for seekers of any faith tradition or no tradition. Drawing from her experience as a spiritual retreat leader and published haiku writer, McGee takes the mystery and intimidation out of beginning to write haiku. For those already on their way, she provides helpful hints and exercises to broaden and deepen both your haiku artistry and your appreciation of haiku as part of your spiritual life. With humor and encouragement, she offers step-by-step exercises for both individuals and writing groups, and shows how haiku can help you:
* Pay attention to the world around you to connect with sacred moments
* Overcome fear and self-doubt to access your innate creativity
* Explore and use haiku together with spiritual practices in your own faith tradition
* Make haiku a spiritual part of your daily routine

"Captures the heart essence of a moment and the feelings it evokes by paying attention to small things and honoring the sacredness of everyday life."
--Lucy Wynkoop, OSB, coauthor, Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness

"Insightful and informative.... Enhances our awareness of our daily lives and the spirit that surrounds us."
--Stanford M. Forrester, editor, bottle rockets; author, the toddler's chant

"Opens an important door wide ... instills a desire and ability to write what is essential and understand how it entwines with our individual spiritual practices.... It became irresistible not to try my hand at it."
--Sheila Bender, author, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief

"Inviting and accessible ... beautifully breaks open the art of paying close attention to the world through the heightened language of poetry."
--Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, author, Wind, Water, Earth, Fire: The Christian Spiritual Practice of Praying with the Elements

Genres: Poetry, Spirituality, Writing, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Margaret D. McGee has been a writer ever since she could read. Born and raised in Ohio, she is the great-granddaughter of family farmers, the granddaughter of two Protestant ministers, and the daughter of the superintendent of public schools in the town where she grew up. McGee has had a varied career, including a time at the Microsoft Corporation, where she was employed as a master writer. She now lives in the Olympic Peninsula with her husband, David.

McGee's books include Stumbling Toward God (2nd edition published March 2020), Sacred Attention, and Haiku – The Sacred Art, as well as numerous user guides and other technical pieces written for software companies over the years. Her short work has appeared in such publications as Alive Now, Frogpond, The Heron's Nest, bottle rockets, Englewood Review of Books, and Modern Haiku. She is a licensed lay preacher and worship leader in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia. Her liturgical prayers and skits have been used by faith communities across the United States, and can be found at her website, InTheCourtyard.com.

Reviews

[Marcus Carrillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for anyone starting off with learning Haiku and other forms of Japanese poetry like Haibun. Has some good exercises to get you going. Haiku is all around us and learning how to record these thoughts and experiences using a minimal amount of words can be challenging yet rewarding. It can lead to better writing by challenging yourself to choose words that are more descriptive and meaningful.

[Aikya Param · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sunday school class was writing haiku and was very excited about it and I needed suddenly to remember haiku. This book was one way in. I read some and then put it aside. I write some and then go back to the book.

I still am delighting in it. Margaret McGee takes us into the inner encounter, the jolt of surprise and pleasure that results in a haiku. I feel greedy to have the experience. She shares about the development of the form yet I never lose that soulbond of the pilgrim syllable counter seizing that aha!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am using this in a class that is on Zoom. It is a fun exercise writing these little three line poems. It is exciting to see how other class mates react to my poem and how I relate to theirs. We have a accepting group taking this online course and that makes it even better. One of my Haiku:

Sun on brown leaves
Early Autumn
Need tears from the sky

[Kirsten T]

Really enjoyed. It made me excited to try the practice and be more mindful and expressing it too.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just looks like a book about how to write haiku. Actually it's a book about mindfulness and learning to see the sacred in everyday life, using haiku as a means to pay attention. That said, the author does provide a good introduction to how to write haiku, covering the basics of the form, a brief history of haiku and related poetic forms, season words, and so on. But the focus of the book is on writing haiku as a spiritual practice, and here McGee shines. She provides exercises on simply observing the world around you, finding personal meaning in haiku's seasonal words, writing haiku in reaction to devotional reading, integrating haiku with lectio divina (a form of contemplative prayer based on reading) and art, and writing haiku with others to celebrate community. She takes an interfaith approach to the topic: she herself is Episcopalian and mentions writing haiku as part of her Biblical study, but she also describes writing a series of linked haiku with others that was read aloud during a Passover Seder.

If you only want to learn about writing haiku, there are excellent books out there that would probably be more along the lines of what you're looking for. But if you're interested in integrating writing haiku into your spiritual practice, try this book.

[Bridgette Mongeon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I greatly enjoyed both of Margaret's books. I interviewed her about both of them on a podcast.
You are welcome to use these links if you like.

http://traffic.libsyn.com/creativeendeavors/INSPIRATIONS_0079_Generations-_An_interview_with_Margarete_McGee_on_sacred_attention_and_also_haiku..mp3

By copying the links above the podcast will play on your website and open a separate browser, however, we would appreciate that if you do use it you put the following in your post.

This is a Podcast with Margaret McGee, by host Bridgette Mongeon and hosted by God's Word Collectibles. For more information and other podcasts please visit http://blog.godsword.net To subscribe in Itunes search for Spot on Radio.com

[Gene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good guide to basics of haiku, in the context of Christian spiritual practice. She does include Jewish and Islamic references, but the book is primarily Christian. This emphasis will bother non-theistic or secular readers. Her discussions of haiga and haibun are almost after-thoughts and sketchy. For me, the best part of the book is her exercises, which have helped me get started again with haiku. The weakest part, for me, is some of the examples that come from her workshops: three-line verses but not haiku as I understand them. Overall, a good book for a reader who can accept or overlook the theism, especially people new to haiku.

[Elizabeth Olson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, approachable book about a beautiful, simple, doable and maintainable daily spiritual practice.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was recommended, helpful with understanding Haiku.