Stravaig #17
about two haiku in Scottish Centre for Geopoetics online journal, Stravaig
with update on building at Plum Village, France
Many thanks to the editors of the Scottish Centre for Geopoetic’s online journal Stravaig for publishing two of my haiku (p.69) in the November 2025 hope-filled issue that bridges East and West. The Centre's work is a refreshingly true turn to worlds that carry on despite human tragedy and I am grateful to be included in the community of artists drawing from this well. Following are brief notes about my haiku. Please see Stravaig #17 and past issues of the journal along with the Centre's other offerings: Stravaig.
The first haiku with sweet pea was written early summer 2020. The poem is inspired by my experience training sweet pea to climb a structure that a friend built for the flowering vine in her garden as well as a moment of absolute darkness (several years prior) when the Light shown through. Spring 2020, my then ten-year-old son created a series of sweet pea drawings, including The Lamp (at right) and one with sweet pea climbing a microphone that was printed on Sweet Pea Festival’s 2020 youth t-shirt.
The second haiku was also written years ago after a big snow storm one early April when I woke to find snow covering the front gate. Crocus had already bloomed that year, so were buried. Spring that jumped ahead had to wait. This haiku was revised during a workshop in one of my CIIS courses in 2024. Whereas when writing, I was focused on an individual buried, a classmate thought of generations buried when she read the poem. Only recently have flowers had a regular chance to bloom as early as April around here. This year, their new leaves up by mid-January are not buried but frozen and we experience a changed world.
The Lamp by Meg’s son (2020)
My haiku with sweet pea is dedicated to Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who passed on January 22, 2022. On January 23, 2025, fire consumed the building, Purple Cloud in Lower Hamlet, where Thay stayed at Plum Village. Please see Fire Relief for haiku inspired by the fire and a brief on the event. With many thanks to friends at Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, please also see the following 2025 year-end message from monastics, and consider supporting global spiritual refuge: New Hamlet
A building update with gratitude from Plum Village monastics for support to “preserve and protect spiritual refuge for all”; Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.
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