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Robert/Bob Boldman's Haiku of Care
Hospice Chaplains are care takers, people who care for and spiritually provide guidance in the lives of their patients. Their patients are people who are dieing of cancer, old age, or basically on the close road of death. These people provide the care to create a helpful and comfortable environment so that their patients can live in more of a peaceful state and can be spiritually at peace. Bob Boldman, also known as Robert Boldman, is an author of many spiritual haiku that are used to help the patients during this time of need.
Bob Boldman grew up in the country area of Dayton, Ohio. When he was young he was introduced to Zen Buddhism. This includes a lot of meditation and relaxation of the body and sole. He learned many techniques for relaxing and calming the body. This led to him becoming interested in therapy and helping people. He went to Wright State University and finished his degree in Respiratory Therapy. This is a kind of therapy that helps people with bad asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory infections and inflammations. This includes relaxing techniques that help relieve the stress and inflammation in these areas. Meditation and relaxation became a huge part of Bob’s focus in life, he used this to help people spiritually calm and relax their body to become more spiritually aware.
While many of his haiku are about death, they aren’t necessarily negative. Bob’s goal is almost to take death and shape it into something that becomes familiar to people, instead of scary and horrible. This haiku may seem sad and depressing, but this haiku is about taking life as it is. New life begins where old life ends. This is the circle of life and that should not be depressing. This haiku is in a book called, “Walking With the River”, it is published in 1980 as a High/Coo Press chapbook by Randy Brooks.
in the skull of a rabbit
/////////////////////////////////////
blades of grass
(Boldman, Bob, WWTR)
While at first this haiku seems radical and forward for this time, that is not what it is supposed to do. First a rabbit is an animal that we don’t think to much about. If we see one, people take notice, because they are cute. However, we always know that rabbits are out there, they aren’t anything new or really amazing. A skull to be found in the grass seems to be kind of cool and different. This is not such a normal thing. This signifies death, as human beings we don’t like to think about death, it has been made to appear as a bad thing. So the skull of the rabbit has made the rabbit more significant. The following line paints the rest of the picture. We see that the skull is within and among the grass. Look closely, he does not say grass, but he says blades of grass. There are hundreds of thousands of blades of grass. This has made the skull less important, because its practically lost from all of the grass. The skull symbolizes death. If death is being hidden among the grass, what does this mean? This means that death is what creates and allows life. The grass is not dead or non existent around this skull. The grass is still there. Life still goes forward after death. Life is still circling. This does not mean that one person’s life is insignificant, but it does mean that it’s a part of life and life happens in circles.
This next haiku has a religious guidance and influence. Even if he had a patient that was not under this religion, it has a common meaning beneath it. This message is a good message, not because it’s a clear and strait message, but because its different and unclear. This haiku is going to be different for each person, one thing that is going to remain is that it is personal and thoughtful.
the priest
his shadow caught
on a nail.
(Boldman, Bob, WWTR,)
The first line places us in a personal relationship and spiritual calmness. The word priest is a word that brings peace to a lot of people, because of its spiritual meaning. Looking at the next line alone we see the talking of a shadow. A shadow does not speak, a shadow moves silently. Some people notice it, but for the most part no one notices their own shadow. A shadow is always there, whether you see it or not, it doesn’t walk away. A shadow is non living, but a part of something that can be. To have a shadow caught on something there has to be something moving to begin with. The priest is moving, there is motion from the priest, but something stops him. Then we come to the third line. We see the nail. The nail has multiple meanings. First there is the nail on the cross from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The nails are a symbol of pain and suffering, the nail is a sign of a promise. The nail is a sign of something that can be seen, but not always taken notice of. I say this because of the promise that others have made. People show their generosity and love for others, this is what people can see, then there are times when this is not seen and not noticed. The shadow and the nail are much of the same in this haiku. They both are seen at times, but not at others. Both are a part of something real and sometimes alive. These words come together to not only create a picture, but to give a relationship.
These first two haiku have a common factor. These haiku create images that move past the surface and introduce the better side of tragedy. Tragedy is not always something that is negative and should not always be looked upon as dark and sad. In the first haiku it was death that we moved past. Since Bob lead us through the first sight of death, we also saw life. This takes us away from the depressing images of death and instead gives us a picture of spring and new birth. In the second haiku we see pain and suffering for others. This is not necessarily a bad thing. This is a sacrifice because of a love for others. For a priest to feel this dedication for others, this is not a sad and depressing thing, it is wonderful. These are examples of moving past the depressing subject and looking more into it until we see the grace and good picture of the situation.
Bob’s haiku are not always about death. He doesn’t always focus on the image of death. Sometimes Bob relates to meditation and relaxation. This gives an image for people to pull from to help remain calm and give a sense of solitude during hard and difficult times.
walking with the river
the river does my thinking
(Boldman, Bob, WWTR)
This may sound simple and carefree, and it is. Look at the imagery though. In order to walk with the river one must be in it. You can walk beside it, but still then you are not quite walking with it. So Bob gives us the idea of being in the river and moving with it. A river that flows has a steady pace, for the most part. However there are times when the river will hit a point that is deeper. This causes the water to not flow as quickly and not have a steady pace. This relates to the next line, “the river does my thinking”. When people think they like to day dream, and the biggest thing that we do when we have time to think is think of “what if” scenarios. When thinking and spending time relaxing, we think a lot, sometimes we get caught in a stream of stories and fun imaginations. Other times we get caught in a whirlwind of thoughts that we can’t escape from. This is like being caught in a river. The river is going to take you where it wants, your thoughts are gong to be carried by your relaxation and casual thoughts. This is the nature of relaxing and letting the earth’s natural creations lead you. This is a very meditative and relaxing thought, because people don’t’ like to have no, or little controle over what they do. So to totally give that up, would be becoming completely passive in one’s thoughts.
There are many different haiku that Bob writes he writes of religious influence, he talks about meditation and relaxation, and he also writes about things that are happy and delicate. This one is very different from the other haiku that he has written. This haiku is found in another one of his books, “Wind in the Chimes”, in which he was refered to as R. Boldman. It was published by the Juniper Press in 1983.
kissing o
they let go o
of the ball ns
(Boldman, Robert, WITC, 6)
“Kissing” is fun and playful. Kissing is not something we see as sad or being the end of something. But here that is exactly what it is doing. Using the word “they” this directs the feeling outward. This expresses feelings that we are seeing from other people. So to see this emotion from a third person perspective might not see personal, however in this sense it is. Balloons can be filled with air, but air doesn’t make things float. If balloons are filled with helium, something that is special, the balloons can float away. If we hold on to these balloons that are filled with helium they are going to stay, but if we let go of them they will float away. Now, this sounds like we would want to keep them and hold on tight to the balloons. In this case no, the balloons are filled with something special. In this case we could say its love for someone else. If this balloon is kept selfishly it could pop. This message is very similar if people keep a hold of what they love and not let them go, then they are trapping the other person and they are trapping themselves. When a loved one dies we must let go of their death, not forget about it, but release it. Otherwise we are holding ourselves back from living life fuller.
Relaxing and a sense of release is the concept of the third and fourth haiku. The third haiku leads the reader into a thought process all on its own. Both of these haiku lead us to a place of relaxation and pure thought process. The idea is to let go of something and release the tension. The release of tension can be someone we love we are holding onto, or releasing our mind so that it can be free of worry. Both of these haiku guide us to this place.
The main theme of many of these haiku is death. The theme might not be directly death, but there is a sense of what it means to people and what effect it has on people.
mary’s
granite face
wearing the wind away
(Boldman, Bob, WWTR)
First we see the name. This is a specific person, however the name Mary gives us a lot of character and there is a lot of history in that name. Mary could have a religious meaning, but it is also a very biblical name. The next line in two words changes the whole entire haiku. These words place us in the story and the scene. Granite face is referring to the granite face of a graveyard head stone. A grave yard head stone can be very cold, and rigid. With this so far in the haiku we are left with almost a sense of hurt for the death of this person, but we really don’t know what happened. Within the next line we see that this stone has been there a while, but instead of the wind wearing the headstone away, the headstone is wearing the wind away. What does this mean? Looking at the style of Bob’s writing we know that her headstone is wearing the wind away because she stands out. Her headstone is bold matching her own character. There is a purpose for her death, specifically it doesn’t matter. The point is that Mary’s life was not over looked. I think he is saying that each life can be just as powerful as the next and every death is going to be remembered. People aren’t forgotten after they die, their headstones stand strong in their memory.
Bob follows a very spiritual theme and seems to believe that everyone’s life is significant. I think this addresses many people’s fears of death, people are afraid that they won’t be remembered and people will move on with not much thought of their past life.
standing by the sea
her voice drowning
in the wind
(Boldman, Bob, WWTR)
While this doesn’t immediately speak about wanting people to remember us, it is still about remembering people after they are gone. “Standing by the sea”, this person is not sitting passively looking at the sea. There is a sense of energy when someone is standing that isn’t there when they are sitting or lying down. The choice of a sea instead of a lake is also very important. The sea is completely open and practically never ending. There is a sense of bigger space and eternity. “Her voice drowning”, first there is the drowning reference, the reference directs it back to the sea and the harshness of something so beautiful (the sea). Drowning gives a very physical description and we immediately see the sea, the waves and the rigorous dark depth. Last we are left with the description of the wind. The wind is always there, but there are times, when its presence takes us away physically and spiritually. Seeing these descriptions together there is the vision of a girls voice being swallowed up in the wind. There is something being lost by this girl. The voice of a person can be someone’s whole identity. It can be very difficult for people that don’t have a voice to speak out and share their feelings. This girl is grieving over someone that she has lost.
Unlike the first haiku of these two, the second haiku is about someone grieving over someone else’s death. The first haiku is about someone who is dead and feeling these feelings. Both of these haiku give the first impression that it is sad. But in reality these aren’t. In the first haiku Bob points out that the headstone is standing strong and will always be remembered. The second is an example of someone who is yelling out to remember someone that they have lost. While we might think that this is sad, it in fact is true feelings of grief toward a loved one. This can be good and it is something that we all have to work with whether we ourselves are dying or someone that you love is dying. These are examples of ways that he would touch his patients. People need those connections to help them deal with death in their own way.
Bob Boldman is a writer that focuses much on relaxation and meditation. This is what most if not all of his haiku is about. In some way his haiku brings a tough subject to everyone’s attention and lightens it up with hope. Stanford M. Forrester is another author of haiku. He has written numerous haiku in relation to meditation and Buddhist teachings that guide spiritual relaxation and imagery. Stanford M. Forrester writes in his book Temple Marigold that was published by Bottle Rockets Press in 2006.
Zen archery
letting go
(Forrester, TM, 5)
This is a haiku that is about releases and letting go of tension. First the idea and description of Zen is there to describe archery. Archery first has the image of revenge, violence, or something to that extent. So the two words “Zen” and “archery” are there and reflecting opposite images. So the word Zen immediately changes the meaning of the word “archery”. This feeling is followed by words of release. This is about releasing aggression not on anyone, but releasing it into the air so it doesn’t come back. This is a great picture that people I am sure would meditate on. These same useful images are used in Bob Boldman’s writing.
the feet of Buddha
darkened
from the touch of hands
(Boldman, WITC, 15)
This is a great image of meditation. In the Buddhist religion the belief is that as you go through your path of lives you become purer and whiter or cleaner. Using this knowledge we can relate it to the image of this haiku. First we see the feet of the Buddha. There is a statue and the reason we see the feet of the Buddha is because we are bowing and praying. The feet of the Buddha is what is closest to the people who are meditating and using the Buddha for meditation inspiration. Then we see that the feet are being darkened by the hands of all the people that have come to meditate and be with the Buddha. This is inspiring and relaxing in many ways. The burdens and the dirtiness of these people’s day has been left on the Buddha. They have released this, to fulfill what they are asked to do, which is become cleaner and purer. These two haiku and authors are talking about releasing what is burdening them in their life and letting go of them so that they won’t weigh them down.
These authors have much in common. They both use faith as their guide to give spiritual relaxation. This is inspiring and very useful. There are, however, differences. Bob uses different religious beliefs to inspire different images. Forrester uses mostly Buddhist images, because that is his major influence. Forrest also steps away from the relaxing and meditation examples and uses funny and comical haiku. Bob Boldman tends to stay on the same track and focus on meditation therapy.
There is so much that is in these haiku that one can learn from and use to help the growth and spirituality of people. These haiku are written for inspiration to people that are sick and dieing. Death is a very sad and depressing time. Many people feel as though they have much more to do with their life. This is a way to relax and release their past transgressions so that they feel as though they are ready. All of this is very similar to what Hospice is there to do. This is great care and attention to be used. I enjoy these haiku, I found myself reflecting back on my life and I have become more relaxed with my past.
Works Cited
Boldman, Bob. Walking with the River. High/Coo Chapbook, 1980. no pg.
Boldman, Bob. Wind in the Chimes. La Crosse, WI: Juniper P, 1983. 15.
Boldman, Bob. Wind in the Chimes. La Crosse, WI: Juniper P, 1983. 6.
Tripi, Vincent, and Stanford M. Forrester. Temple Merigold. Weathersfield: Bottle Rockets P, 2006. 5.
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