A Summary in Haikus

As part of my writing process, I experimented with articulating my ideas in the shorter, pithier form of haiku. I wanted pithier statements because: 1. I like being pithy; 2. working on reducing my ideas to their bare essence helps me to clarify what I’m thinking and feeling and 3. I want to try out different ways of commu- nicating these ideas to others (note: haikus work really well in tweets).

Some of my tweets were incorporated into my accounts and some weren’t. I’m including all of them here. As I read through them collectively, I realize that these haikus are fairly effective in summarizing my accounts. If I were teaching in the classroom now, I might assign haikus for theory assignments. They’re fun and useful to do.

warning: don’t trust what
I write. In my stories I
don’t care about facts

you should know I write
accounts that aim to question
and unsettle Truth

do not be alarmed
if my accounts seem suspect,
that’s done on purpose

on learning

to learn is not just
to collect facts, earn degrees
but to engage life

on theory

theory works when it
heals pain, moves us to struggle
and creates new worlds

theory doesn’t work
when it alienates us
from that which we love

on graduate school

when I started school
my wonder was fueled with joy
but lacked direction

when I finished school
my wonder was directed
too much; it lacked joy

on experts

the shift from student
to expert is the end of
new ways of thinking.

i don’t like experts.
they claim, “i have THE answer!”
when i want questions.

watch out for people
who claim that they are Experts.
They are often jerks.

questions i ask

why are things the way
that they are? who decides this
and for what reasons?

who benefits with
the system as it is and
who gets exploited?

why not imagine
(or value) other ways of
being and doing?

i wonder, how much
is broken? how much never
worked in the first place?

invitations

let’s collaborate,
tell stories and talk about
what we think and feel

if not this, then what?
not a haunting question, but
an invitation