Seven Brides For Seven Poems
I like haiku. Don't think that they're not coming. (1)
Today my improv class from six years ago had a reunion. One of us had a baby and was (along with his wife)talking openly about that, which was much appreciated. It's been a while since some of us have seen the others. Tis a special group made up of great people and united by an understanding of improv as something big. (2)
A friend of mine has told me more than once how happy he and his wife are that they don't think too much. I wonder. Paul Simon says: "Maybe I think too much for my own good. Some people say so. Other people say - oh no, the fact is you don't think quite as much as you should." (3)
Today a friend announced that there are two types of people in the world: those who take naps and those who don't. In How To Make Friends And Influence People Dale Carnegie advises having a couch in one's office on hand for a daily nap. The negative effects of being hungry, angry, lonely, and tired can't be over estimated. The same goes for the positive effects of tending to these needs. (4)
What do we owe to whom? (5)
Lately my train has not been gong all the way home. So you have to get off and then wait for and get on a bus. They have signs up that make it sound like a treat; Free Shuttle Bus. (6)
John R. Noe is quoted as saying "A person doesn't become old until his regrets take the place of his dreams." As I grow older, and maybe you too, I find that some regrets have gotten added to the mix. But the dreams are still there. It's not one or the other. (7)
(1) Haiku are contained
in seventeen syllables
start and end real fast
(2) Don't be a stranger
an old friend said to me
but I think I may be
(3) To think too often
or to barely think at all
These are both mistakes
(4) When I am tired
the world is a different place
...now I'm hungry too.
(5) I may schlep too much
for people I owe little
Must schlep for myself
(6) Free shuttle buses -
once you've paid the price of time.
What is really free?
(7) Sweet mistakes, sweet dreams
life's not simple as she seems
short, right; like haiku
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 11:13 PM
3 Comments:
It's hard to not think too much or too little (I think I tend to err on the side of too much) because we don't have either a meter to tell us when we've reached the perfect stopping point, nor do we have an on/off switch (if you do find these, please let me know).
Shoshana, I was thinking about this (sic). In some way we're all thinking all the time. But some people like my dear friends who are pleased to "not think too much" mean something else. They've told me that when they hear people analyzing certain philosophical issues, they say to themselves - I thought about that back in seminary/yeshiva, now I'm done. There's philosophical thought and obsessive thought on one hand. On the other hand there's thoughts about breathing and relaxing, or technical thoughts about checking off boxes on to do lists. A long time ago I heard of a yeshivish Rosh Yeshiva who recommended (against company rules) to a student to read murder mysteries because he thought it would redirect the fellow's nervous thoughts in a healthy way. Certain kinds of therapy are about reframing and shifting thoughts (rational emotive). There are relaxation, meditation techniques that effect the way we think. Theres a lot to say on this topic and I fear rambling so I'll stop for now - I think.
This summer they have posted banners with poems along Emek Rafaim and other streets - Shir Rechov. One of the poems was named Jerusalem Haiku. Took me a few seconds to figure out that heh-yod-yod-kof-vav meant haiku.
(By the way, I'm back already. Trip was too short.) :(
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