College Haiku: Publishing Our Thoughts

With all the recent turmoil on campuses and among college-aged students more generally, it makes sense to find ways to create community on campuses.  Folks have tried a variety of approaches including special "houses" or "colleges" within the larger community that allow students to get to know each other in a non-academic setting with designated faculty in residence who engage with students; athletic events that draw students together to cheer collectively for their institution and its athletes; clubs and groups that enable students with similar interests and goals to work together on projects and activities.  Often, there is a shared reading for new students before they arrive on campus and then there are related activities when the academic year starts, all in an effort to create a common, shared story that bonds students together.

Here's an idea -- one that derives from two sources.

First, following the collapse of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, my then institution (literally in the backyard of Ground Zero) had all willing members of the community write short pieces about where they were that horrific day and what they felt as they reflected on that day.  The book idea was a way of acknowledging that we were all affected and forever changed by 9/11.  Then, the pieces were compiled and edited and published in a remarkable volume called Eight Blocks Away.  The volume was omnipresent on campus for months and given to alums and prospective students.  It became a powerful connector within the community.  

Nov. 23, 2015

Paris is burning
So is the rest of the world;
Quenching water lost.

 Second, when a member of my family was critically ill, she asked that friends and family send her Haikus.  I am sure there were many reasons. She adored and studied Japanese culture.  There is a power in something short -- few words and strong emotions.  And, I suspect that my family member appreciated (consciously or subconsciously) that her remaining time was short; these poems were similarly short but like her life, they were filled with beauty, meaning, power. The poems, like memories of her, would endure. 

What if a campus were to create a Haiku writing month (or week or day even), when everyone on campus was invited and encouraged to email Haikus they wrote to a central site.  The faculty, staff, students could write about whatever they wanted to write about; they could be encouraged to write about issues tied to the college and their thoughts on them -- whether those thought were positive or negative, inspiring or deflating, controversial or calm.  The idea is that in 17 syllables, folks in a community would share what was on their mind.  And, the task is not time consuming -- at least for many folks.

Assume the idea got traction and people across campus took the idea seriously.  There could be other features added to this idea like get-togethers to read Haiku; informal seminars to explain the intricacies of Haikus over their long and rich history; tips on Haiku writing.  I am intrigued by this particular concept: Haiku traditionally contain a "cutting word" that appears at the end of one of three lines of a Haiku; the aim of the "cutting word" is to make a reader pause and reflect on the other works that precede or follow it.  

Dec. 20, 2015

Light as leavening
Rising to meet the dawn and
whatever else comes.

After the month of Haiku writing, the poems could be reviewed by a panel (composed of faculty, staff and students) and then a volume of collected Haiku could published. The volume would identify each author, and the Haiku could be divided into chapters based on shared themes -- love, racism, academic revelations, sports, growing up, teaching, personal struggles, sexual assault, life after college, issues on campus, strengths of community.  

The Haikus, as a collective, could bind an institution together and give everyone a true "deliverable" to serve as a reminder of what college (whether or not it is a liberal arts institution) can provide.  And at the same time, it would enable others to see what people were thinking and feeling on campus.  In an unusual way, the Haiku would create opportunities for others to listen to the student voices, and the value of listening cannot be underestimated -- especially if one takes the time to do it with "open ears."

Think about it like a survey of campus culture in poetry.

There are many ways for creating community and the Haiku collection suggested here is but one such idea.  As we start a New Year and a new semester, we can move from idea (this or another one) to reality and focus on approaches where folks can speak and other folks can listen -- thoughtfully, wisely and with an aim to improve the campuses on which hundreds and hundreds of students now live and/or attend.  If we were to do this, I suspect tensions on campuses could ease at least a bit; writing and listening can do that.  It won't cure all that ails campuses but any improvement is worthy.  

Oct. 10, 2015

Whoever is reading this
Hope your day brings joy to others
Amidst life's dangers.

Anyone willing to give it a try?  Seems well worth both the time and money, at least that's what my prior experience suggests.