From time to time I feature other authors on my blog. Today, however, I am extremely delighted to share this page with author/workshop facilitator, and one of the co-authors of our upcoming book, “Muse & Ink: Soul Expressions Through Writing”, Marjorie Miles, DCHMarjorie Miles, DCH, MFT, author of the uplifting memoir, Healing Haikus: A Poetic Prescription for Surviving Cancer, fulfills her passion for creative expression as a writer, dream worker, haiku poet, and wabi-sabi word artist. Dr. Marjorie has appeared in print, radio, television, and film. She is featured with famed director, Wes Craven, in the dream documentary, Night Terrors. After the events of 9/11, Marjorie volunteered for three years as a consultant for the National Nightmare Hotline. Currently, she facilitates individual dream sessions, “Dream Power Workshops,” and “Writing with Your Dream Muse” classes. Please visit www.MarjorieMiles.com
Heather: Thank you for joining me today. I love your writing style and fun approach to creativity. I learned a lot from you on playing with words and allowing the muse to emerge. Can you tell us about your book, Healing Haikus?
Marjorie: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you today. I am thrilled to be one of your featured guests. My book, Healing Haikus: A Poetic Prescription for Surviving Cancer, is a memoir that chronicles my experience with cancer that brought me to the healing power of writing haiku poetry, the discovery of my creative self-expression, and a mysterious Muse.
It’s my personal journey of healing from a cancer diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to recovery. It illustrates the extraordinary power of poem-making to heal through storytelling, haiku, and humor. Through my book, I would like to reach out to anyone who has been touched by cancer.
It all began when I was daydreaming in my oncologist’s office, waiting impatiently for his arrival. Almost as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard a voice, which instructed me to write a poem, and the voice continued very emphatically: “And it needs to be a haiku!”
Despite the notion that cancer was not a poetic topic, I reluctantly picked up my pen. Moments later I was staring at a simple three-line poem that I had written about the radiation phase of my treatment. When I read the poem aloud to my doctor, I discovered an enchanted echo that went beyond the words.
Radiation . . . Zap!
Search and find the mutant cells
Glowing . . . going . . .GONE
Heather: Recently, someone asked me why I write. When I sat and thought about my motivation, it was eye-opening. Now I want to ask you, why do you write?
Marjorie: Originally, I started writing just because I wanted to express myself. For years, I dabbled with writing down personal reflections, poems, and my dreams. As professional work demands increased, I completely neglected my writing . . . until I was diagnosed with cancer. Now, I write because composing a daily haiku offers me a simple way to slow down, to reflect, to recover, and to retrieve the lost, repressed, and forgotten parts of my Authentic self.
My muse was silenced
Neglect had stifled her voice
But cancer heard her
Through my experience with cancer, I discovered the unique Japanese poetic form called haiku.
I discovered that haiku is celebrated for its ability to express a simple moment in a genuinely profound way. By condensing thoughts, feelings, perceptions and sensation into only three lines, I realized that I could paint vivid word pictures—using only seventeen syllables—to reflect upon any life situation.
These powerful, short poems helped me access my innermost feelings—even those I feared the most—and bring them into the light. Haikus were divine containers for healing unions that included: brevity, depth, wisdom, and beauty.
Heather: Haiku are very important to you, but lately, you have been playing with Wabi Sabi word art. Can you explain a bit more about that?
Marjorie: I was already deeply immersed in writing haiku when I experienced a third recurrence of cancer. This one led me directly to the Emergency Room and onto the operating table. I had brain surgery. This time, cancer had inalterably changed my life. My precious Muse was damaged. I could no longer write without great difficulty. Word-finding was comprised, and my written words tumbled out—wounded and jumbled. I knew what I wanted to say, but writing it was excruciatingly painful.
Frustrated and angry, I exploded my feelings onto paper and into a poem— not making “corrections” but simply writing down my rawest emotions using cross-outs, squiggles, BIG LETTERS, and wiggles.
Exhausted, I re-read the more visibly darker lines, the ones crossed out, and those made into words. Through several thwarted attempts to write a “perfect” haiku, I was astonished that my frustration and my pain could be transformedinto art.
When I learned about the Japanese art and philosophy called, Wabi Sabi, a way of life that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections and impermanence of life, I decided that I am a Wabi-Sabi Practitioner.
My next chapter, Wabi Sabi Haiku Word Art, has already started . . .
Heather: Can you share with us a little about your writing process?
Marjorie: Whether writing prose or haiku, I find it important to be grounded in a daily ritual. Before I meditate in the morning, I draw an Angel Oracle card and read a poem. I meditate, and then I write a haiku.
When I am writing a memoir, I usually know what I want to say, and just let the story sort of spill out. I tend to write in chunks. When I get to a natural stopping place, I review what I’ve written. Then I edit, revise, add, or delete. When I finish this process, I have my first rough draft.
Heather: Can you tell us a little about your workshops?
Marjorie: After being instructed by a powerful dis-embodied Voice to begin writing haikus during cancer treatment, and later to write my book, Healing Haikus, I heard the Voice again! This time, it said, “You need to start a writers’ group.” This group had a specific purpose. It would provide support for the words and stories of under-represented writers who needed a place to be seen and heard. I was further instructed to tell each person in the group to invoke their Dreaming Mind for inspiration and creativity. That same night I fell into a deep sleep, and I dreamed about a “Facilitator’s Guide” for a writing group and a script for a waking dream meditation entitled, “Writing with Your Dream Muse.”
I followed those instructions, and our writers’ group was born. We meet on the second Tuesday of each month in Irvine, CA.
In addition, Lillian Nader, and I facilitate “Dream Power for Writers” Workshops
Heather: How do you allow the Muse to work through you?
Marjorie: Relaxation, imagination, and a spirit of playfulness. Honoring guidance, intuition, allowing ideas to unfold rather than resisting something as impractical or impossible.
Heather: What tips do you have to overcome writer’s block?
Marjorie: This technique works well for me. I never stop writing when I feel stuck. Instead, I write about my “stuckness.” For example, if I can’t write a haiku, I might start with something like, “I can’t find the words . . . I feel the flow is all dried up . . .” Then I write what that feels like.
Heather: Can you share a little about the book we’re working on together?
Marjorie: I am so excited about collaborating with you and Lillian Nader, the other contributing author, and editor of this book. The title of my chapter is, “Saved by a Haiku.” As a three-time cancer survivor, I write about healing through writing and poem-making.
The title for my chapter evolved through three iterations. When I thought back on the dark times after my diagnosis, I asked the question: “Besides medical treatment, what was the MOST important thing I did that was essential to my survival?” The answer: Writing a daily haiku.
Our book, Muse and Ink: Soul Expressions through Writing, is informational and inspirational musings on the craft of writing. It is our love note to all writers.
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Haikus-Poetic-Prescription-Surviving/dp/1493512064
http://www.marjoriemiles.com/
