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Margaret Chula’s Haiku
The contemporary Haiku author, Margaret Chula, grew up in Norfield, Massachusetts in a rural environment. At twenty, Margaret’s sense of adventure led her on a quest that allowed her to take the position of an exchange secretary in London. After awhile, Margaret and her husband traveled around the world and ended up in Japan. They spent twelve years living in Japan. Margaret taught English at Kyoto Seika University and creative writing and haiku at Doshisha Women’s College. While teaching English in Japan, Margaret found a copy of R.H. Blythe’s haiku translation in the library. This translation inspired Margaret to study and come to an understanding of haiku form. In this process, Margaret kept a journal that contained some of her favorite translations. Margaret took this love for haiku a step further by practicing writing her own. Margaret’s time in Japan helped her to foster friendships with some famous Japanese poets like Allan Ginsberg and Gary Snyder.
In Grinding my ink, Haiku Society Of America’s winner of the National Book Award in 1994, the reader sees the traditional three-line haiku poems. Chula has intricately blended the human conditions of joy, sorrow, hopes and dreams of life with the Japanese tradition of three-line haiku structure, referring to seasons, and ending with a surprise. Chula integrates words that reflect emotions with innuendos of the natural world; moreover, she uses punctuation as a means of reflecting and expressing the moment, which sets the overall tone of the haiku. When excitement occurs, the reader might see an exclamation point. If a pause is needed, the reader notes it by a dash. I believe Chula’s punctuation and writing style bring the reader within the haiku.
I really enjoyed the descriptive language within the introduction in Grinding myink. It portrays a figurative and literal illustration of Chula’s home in Koyko. The dwelling appeared to be rustic, yet offered her a sanctuary of solitude and tranquility. Icho da cho was situated on the outskirts of urban life. The occupants of ‘Gaijin Mura’ were mostly foreigners hence the village was referred to as (foreigners’ village). Evidentially, most of the people indigenous to the country had moved to more modern accommodations.
The title Grinding my ink describes the process of creating ink on an ink stone. I believe this coincides with writing haiku. “As the color deepens and ink fills the hollow of the suzuri, the artist’s mind begins to empty. All thoughts of past and future are left behind in this repetitive motion of the present and one enters the state of ‘no mind’ or muga,’ In haiku, imagination creates inspiring words which link the form and set the tone for the poem, just like the color filling the hollow of the suzuri. I t is a repetitive and slow process, yet it creates beauty within and without as the writer pours out his/her soul. This is parallel to the following:
Grinding my ink by: Margaret Chula
the silence between the notes of a flute
the white space around an ink drawing
that which is left unsaid.
I think these verses provide an accurate interpretation of the art of creating. It leaves room for the reader or observer to draw a conclusion based on his own personal experiences and or prior knowledge. It is open-ended; moreover, each reader can create his/her conclusion. Writing and painting both capture a moment of time or emotional state, which is etched on paper and left for the interpreter. Chula’s haiku reminds me of my daughter, who plays the flute, because each note is precise, but each piece of music is left to the listener to make his/her own inferences. Sometimes the sheet music provides a pause and other times a note is emphasized. Writing haiku is similar to this because writers provide the reader with time, space and imagination.
I think Grinding my ink portrays real situations that most people experience. For example, in the section Flower (Hana) Chula shares a moment of time during is spring.
cow dung, chicken dung
dug into the new garden
the cat adds his own
Chula grew up exposed to rural life. I think this haiku expresses the realism of springtime in the country. Spring is associated with rebirth. Every spring most individuals use dung for fertilizer because it provides necessary nutrients for quality plant growth. When I lived with my parents, I remembered each spring my dad would till up the dirt in our garden. Then, he would fertilize the ground before planting each seed to ensure potential plant growth.
The next seasonal cycle in Grinding my ink, by Margaret Chula, paints an accurate account of summer vacation. You can almost feel the heat of the sun and smell the whitewashed walls of a school.
Fire (Hi)
teacher’s question
hangs in the drowsy classroom
a crow answers
This haiku depicts an empty schoolroom during summertime. Nobody is present except for lurching creatures. Usually, a classroom is disassembled and teaching materials are put away and stored for the summer. Students sleep in instead of getting up to catch the bus. Any unresolved questions a teacher had for students are put on hold until next school year.
This haiku brings to light the nostalgia of lazy summer days. The reader is transported back in time to youth. During the summer, I remember enjoying swimming, playing, riding my bicycle, and participating in softball. By the end of summer vacation, the thrill of summer was gone, and I would simply lie around and twiddle my thumbs in anticipation for the new school year to begin.
I associate autumn with football games, school supplies, new clothes and warm classrooms without enough ventilation. Leaves on trees begin to turn orange, yellow and brown. Slowly, leaves begin to fall off trees and clutter yards.
School begins:
Moon (Tsuki) Grinding my ink by Margaret Chula
morning glories
fold into seedpods
yet another autumn
In my backyard, I have a trellis that is loaded with morning glory each summer. It appears that the flowering plant reproduces ten-fold. My trellis is about to break because of overgrowth. Nevertheless, autumn brings my rickety trellis relief. The morning glories stop blooming at dawn. Instead, they fold into seedpods and slumber during the winter. For the last five autumns, I have tried to bring myself to dispose of the trellis and flowering plants, but I cannot bring myself to rid my yard of the unusual glories that bloom in the morning and rest during the day.
After autumn comes winter:
Snow (Yuki).
Hibachi embers-
red berries
dusted with snow
According to the glossary of Grinding my ink, a Hibachi is “a large ceramic urn containing charcoal, often placed in temples for guests to warm their hands over as they view the garden.” This haiku is a mirror image of the Japanese culture. This appears to be Chula’s image of people visiting the temple in the dead of winter etched on paper. The visitors are in need of the warmth a hibachi can offer while they pay their respects. However, I think of Hibachi embers as a means to grill tantalizing food. My grandparents used a Hibachi during the summer to grill barbecued hotdogs. In the winter, I could see the Hibachi sitting on the deck. The embers were cold like icicles. Around the outskirt of the yard, red berries peppered the holly bush dusted with the first snow.
I appreciate Chula’s haiku because it deals with realistic emotions. The reader can take the words in the haiku and relate them to self. It is a reflection of humanity. Another contemporary author I really enjoyed was George Swede. I liked his candid use of words and visual impressions he creates within his writing. In Almost Unseen, I found a haiku that is paradoxical to one of Chula’s from Grinding my ink.
Almost Unseen by George Swede, Page 85
a field of wildflowers
I recall the courtship
not the marriage
Grinding my ink by Margaret Chula
lying side by side
separate letters
from our divorced friends
In Swede’s haiku, the reader can see a springtime courtship where two people are completely wrapped up in one another. However, marriage brings a prison cell. The couple no longer takes time out of their busy schedule to enjoy one another’s company. Instead, autumn brings nagging and despair. The marriage dwindles and dies like the wildflowers do in the autumn. The couple is left with bittersweet memories, but they do not have reconciliation, so they part. This leads into Chula’s haiku. The divorced couple feels the need to justify their actions to their supposedly happily married friends. Like the received letters the couple lie side by side. The restless couple in bed is trying to make sense of their self and relationship in order to find truth. Is their own love able to stand the test of time?
I believe Margaret’s real life experiences have influenced her writing. Her form of haiku expresses realism. Margaret’s work is a reflection of the human condition, which offers something for everyone. I think Margaret’s cultural background and previous experiences have influenced her work because it pointedly reveals reality by painting with words to the reader a realistic vivid impression of the occurrence and or the spirit of the moment. According to James W. Hackett, author of Zen Haiku and Other Zen Poems, ‘Ms. Chula’s sensitive poems show a clear understanding of the haiku experience. I liked them, and the heart and awareness they reveals.”
Works Cited
Chula, M., (1993). Grinding my ink. Lake Oswego, OR: Katsura Press.
Chula, M., (2001). Always Filling Always Full. Buffalo, New York: White Pine Press.
Chula, M., &Youmans, R., (1999) Shadows Lines. Lake Oswego, OR: Katsura Press.
Swede, G., (2000). Almost Unseen. Decatur, IL: Brooks Books.
Bernard, K. “Bernard on Chula”. 1(6). Retrieved August 3, 2006, from http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/MillikinHaiku/haiku/writerprofiles/BernardOnChula.html |
