138 poems by Monk Mattō (written between March 2010 and September 2010)
“The six months of haiku in this chapter chronicle my life and my feelings as I dealt with some painful experiences. During this time I grew emotionally, I learned a lot about the world, and I became close to new friends. By the end of this trying time, I realized important truths about myself, about love, and about loneliness.” -Mattō
About This Poetry
Mattō’s short poems may not seem like haiku, because they do not follow the traditional form that many readers might expect. These haiku are written in a free-verse style, that Mattō calls Freestyle Haiku. He discovered the possibility of this more freeing style of haiku from the writings of the Zen priest, Santōka Teneda (1882-1940). He wandered and traveled during the later years of his life while writing haiku.
Mattō enjoy’s writing Freestyle Haiku, because it allows him to express abstract and powerful feelings in only a few words, free from a mandated structure. The words on his page are the most direct crystallization of his feelings and experiences, and the brevity of haiku draws attention to the exact words he chooses.
A meaning-rich haiku can be challenging to read; treating one like prose will leave it flat. The goal of a haiku is often to conjure up something beyond the words and their individual meanings. The reader must add themselves to the poem, to experience the words in the way they’re presented, to try and feel the poem. A good haiku will leave the reader with an experience.
About the Author
Monk Mattō: poet, author, photographer, filmmaker, artist, inventor, teacher, engineer, carpenter, producer, entrepreneur, spiritualist, martial artist, Chimera wrestler, and Jedi Knight.
…Ok, maybe those last two are only true in a figurative sense. Monk Mattō lives in the Washington D.C. area, and enjoys cruising around on his old motorcycle.
