Writing Roundtable: Zen Aesthetics & Haiku
EN 170-01 (CRN 10198)
Fall 2022 - SH422

All writing assignments are to be submitted by email attachment by midnight on Sunday before each class period. Please save your files as RTF "Rich Text Format" or DOC format documents and include your initials or name with each file sent.

Send them to: rbrooks@millikin.edu

Course Assignments Schedule:

for 8/24

(1) Read the introduction to Zen Art for Meditation. Write an email to me about your plans to find a quiet place to relax and meditate on the paintings and haiku you read for this class.

(2) Read issue 73 of MAYFLY magazine (in class) and write (after class) about 1 of your favorite haiku.

Due midnight Wednesday 8/24: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 8/31

(3) Go to following Podcast and enjoy listening to it. After listening to it, write a response about your realizations or questions about a life of writing haiku.

https://www.haikuchronicles.com/podcasts/2012/e23-tea-talk-haiku-a-way-of-life

Also answer these questions in your reflection—how can haiku be a means of learning to notice, observe or be more aware of your surroundings? How is haiku an art of awareness? Is haiku a way of life? What is that way of life? The haiku life?

(4) Sit in your quiet place and write 3-5 first haiku attempts. These may come from ideas from the podcast or from favorite haiku in MAYFLY issue 73. You may want to find and start writing a haiku journal.

Due midnight Monday 8/29: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 9/07 - kukai 1 in class

(5) Read Chapter One of The Wordless Poem. Write an email to me about your responses to Amann’s explanation of how haiku is a Zen art. What questions do you have?

(6) Find another quiet place (or return to your previous one) and write 3-5 additional haiku attempts.

Due midnight Monday 9/05: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 9/14

(7) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 1 favorites.

(8) Read & meditate on Zen Art for Meditation, tenet 1 – everyday things. Write a response about 1 favorite haiku from this tenet.

(9) Read MAYFLY 72 and write about a favorite haiku that demonstrates writing about “everyday things”

(10) Write 3-5 haiku on everyday things from your recent life experiences.

Due midnight Monday 9/12: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 9/21

kukai 2 • kukai 2 favorites

(11) Read ZEN ART tenet 2 – perceptions and write a response to a favorite haiku or artwork.

(12) Read "This Haiku of Ours" by Raymond Roseliep and read COLLECTED ROSELIEP (pages 61-68)  and write about a favorite haiku that demonstrates writing about “perception”

(13) Write 3-5 haiku based on tenet 2 – perceptions

Due midnight Monday 9/19: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 9/28

(14) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 2 favorites.

(15) Read ZEN ART tenet 3 – everything exists in relation and write a response to a favorite haiku.

(16) Read COLLECTED ROSELIEP (pages 69-80)  and write about a favorite haiku that demonstrates writing about “everything is in relation to other things”

(17) Write 3-5 haiku based on tenet 3 – everything exists in relation to other things.

Due midnight Monday 9/26: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 10/05

kukai 3 • kukai 3 favorites

(18) Read Chapter Two of The Wordless Poem. Write an email to me about your responses to Amann’s explanation of how haiku is a wordless poem. In what ways are haiku wordless?

(19) Read ZEN ART tenet 12 – words are not living and write a response to a favorite haiku.

(20) Read MAYFLY 71 and write about a favorite haiku that demonstrates the idea of being a wordless poem or just perceptions and images.

(21) Write 3-5 haiku based on going beyond words or how words are not enough.

Due midnight Monday 10/03: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 10/12

(22) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 3 favorites.

(23) Read Chapter Six of The Wordless Poem. Write an email to me about Amann’s emphasis on “selflessness” in haiku? Write about a favorite haiku example from this chapter by Amann.

(24) Read ZEN ART tenets 4 – the self – and write a response to 1 favorite haiku or artwork.

(25) Read COLLECTED ROSELIEP (pages 81-93)  and write about a favorite haiku that demonstrates writing about “selflessness” or how “the self is not separate from the universe”

(26) Write 3-5 haiku where it is NOT ALL ABOUT ME (selflessness) or write about being part of the “universal self”

Due midnight Monday 10/10: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 10/19

kukai 4 • kukai 4 favorites

(27) Read ZEN ART tenets 5 – collaborating with nature & 6 – no ego – and write a response to 2 favorite haiku or artworks from these tenets.

(28) Read COLLECTED ROSELIEP (pages 94-107)  about a favorite haiku that demonstrates collaborating with nature or being “egoless” in nature

(29) Go for a walk and write 3-5 haiku on being in nature or collaborating with nature. Avoid letting yourself be the center of the haiku . . . become the background of your haiku.

Due midnight Monday 10/17: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 10/26

(30) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 4 favorites.

(31) Read Zen Art for Meditation, tenet 7 – true insight – and write about a favorite haiku example.

(32) Read Chapter Four of The Wordless Poem. Write an email to me about Amann’s emphasis on “nothing special” in haiku? Write about a favorite haiku example from this chapter by Amann.

(33) Write 3-5 open topic haiku in response to these chapters on insight from nothing special – everyday things noticed and enjoyed fully.

Due midnight Monday 10/24: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 11/02

kukai 5 • kukai 5 favorites

(34) Read ZEN ART tenets 8 – emptiness and write a response to a favorite haiku or artwork.

(35) Read MAYFLY 64  about a favorite haiku that demonstrates the emptiness of not bringing assumptions, just being in the moment.

(36) Write 3-5 haiku from your readings or the artwork from tenet 8 – emptiness

Due midnight Monday 10/31: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 11/09

(37) Read ZEN ART tenets 9 – thinking versus acting and write a response to a favorite haiku or artwork.

(38) Read COLLECTED ROSELIEP (pages 133-145)  about a favorite haiku that demonstrates thinking versus acting or just doing.

(39) Write 3-5 haiku from your readings or the artwork from tenet 9 – thinking versus acting

(40) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 5 favorites & a favorite either/or haiku choice.

Due midnight Monday 11/07: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 11/16

kukai 6 • kukai 6 favorites

(41) Read ZEN ART tenet 10 – the unknown and write a response to a favorite haiku from this section.

(42) Read Chapter Seven of The Wordless Poem. Write an email to me about Amann’s emphasis on “oneness” in haiku? Write about a favorite haiku example from this chapter by Amann.

(43) Write 3-5 haiku on the mysteries of the unknown and the feeling of “oneness” with things that are bigger or larger than yourself.

Due midnight Monday 11/14: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 11/23 – THANKSGIVING BREAK – no class

(44) Write a paragraph about a favorite haiku from kukai 6 favorites.

Due midnight Monday 11/21: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 11/30

(45) Read ZEN ART tenets 11 – the present moment and write a response to a favorite haiku or artwork. Why are haiku written in present tense?

(46) Read School’s Out by Randy Brooks and write about 3 favorite haiku that demonstrates being present in the moment.

(47) Write 3-5 haiku from your Thanksgiving break. Let your readers be present in moments from your Thanksgiving travels, friends, family, gatherings, shopping, ...

Due midnight Monday 11/28: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 12/07

(48) Read School’s Out by Randy Brooks and write about 3 haiku and how they illustrate a Zen aesthetic tenet.

(49) Create a collection of your best haiku into a booklet. Give it a title and write an introduction on the art of writing haiku.

Due midnight Monday 12/05: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu

for 12/14 – Final Reflections

(49) Go for a walk or find a place to sit and observe what is happening around you. Meditate or quietly sit and notice what's going on. Let yourself observe and connect to your own feelings, memories, or thoughts arising from this place and time. And just write. Send me a reflection about your time & place and send some of the resulting haiku from being there.

(50) What was 1 or 2 of your favorite haiku you have written this semester?  Why are these your favorites?

(51) Also write about what you have learned about yourself through this course from Zen aesthetics and meditation. How will this course help as you develop a life of meaning and value? What have you learned about writing haiku from this course?

Due midnight Monday 12/12: EMAIL your assignments to me at: rbrooks@millikin.edu