A haiku work in progress...

Haiku: 
A Selection of  Winter Sketches
by Marie Bortolotto

Artist Marie Bortolotto finds inspiration in the poems of Japanese haiku master, essayist and literary critic Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902). He radically reformed the haiku with his idea of “sketching from life” which encourages poets to see the world as it is and write from their own experience. Haiku: A Selection of Winter Sketches is Marie Bortolotto’s third book of haiku (each one written in 3 simple lines) in which she offers a window into mindfulness, inspiring us to open the eyes and ears of the heart and find beauty in the present moment, even in the wet, grey winters of Western Canada.

Haiku Sketches: 
300 One Line Zen-Inspired Poems

Available now on Amazon!

 

Under the trees, among the rocks, a thatched hut:
verses and sacred commentaries live their together.
I'll burn the books I carry in my bag,
but how can I forget the verses written in my gut?

-- Ikkyu 

Marie Bortolotto

 

Haiku Sketches ©
by Marie Bortolotto


300 One-Line Zen-Inspired Poems

Available Now on Amazon! 

Haiku Sketches © by Marie Bortolotto

Artist Marie Bortolotto takes us on a mindful stroll through her portfolio of haiku sketches as she follows in the footsteps of renowned Japanese poet, Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902). Shiki is best known for his efforts to modernize haiku poetry, especially his idea of shasei or “sketch from life” where he encouraged poets to look at the world, as an artist does with a sketchbook, observing and expressing what they see in everyday life with fresh eyes. Each haiku sketch in this collection offers a window into meditation, inspiring us to open the eyes of the heart and find poetry in the ordinary.

 

A few excerpts from Haiku Sketches © :

resting on a vintage garden chair dead leaves

autumn’s decline even the bindweed sheds its glory

atop melted snow a red scarf and a carrot

slowly a beetle crawls across the sidewalk

Paperback, approx. 110 pages


Marie Bortolotto is a visual artist and poet. In early years she travelled extensively, both as an airline employee and a humble backpacker. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and worked for many years in complementary healthcare. Currently she lives in Vancouver, Canada.
 

consider me
as one who loved poetry
and persimmons

- Masaoka Shiki (1867 - 1902)

Marie Bortolotto

Marie Bortolotto Art

One Line Poem
by Marie Bortolotto


yellow leaves raining down empty swings

The Meaning of Existence (2002)
by Les Murray

Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe.

Even this fool of a body
lives it in part, and would
have full dignity within it
but for the ignorant freedom
of my talking mind.

 One Line Haiku
by Marie Bortolotto 

dried leaf fading between pages red

One Line Haiku Poem
by Marie Bortolotto


morning the pine tree bereft of whispers

 
from Birds. Art. Life. by Kyo MacLear

 

"...except this simple secret:

if you listen to birds, everyday will have a song in it." 

Everything just as it is,
just as it is,
as it is,
as is.  
Flowers in bloom.
Nothing to add.

- Robert Aitken. 

Marie Bortolotto

1/

You are not a separate being. 
You belong to the living body of Earth. 
You are the Earth, looking up at the stars. 
You are the Earth, becoming conscious of itself.” 

2/

To see all life as holy rescues us from loneliness 
and the sense of futility that comes with isolation. 
The sacred becomes part of every encounter when 
you open to it and let it receive your full attention. 
I don’t have to go to Chartres Cathedral to be in 
the presence of the Divine. It is right here. This 
understanding is essential for facing collapse and 
living in this time. This means that our sorrow is sacred, too. 
Within us all is grief for what is happening to our world…
That’s because I belong. That’s because I am part of the 
sacred living body of Earth.

– Joanna Macy (1929 - 2025)

Marie Bortolotto Art

Marie Bortolotto Art

 

One-Line Zen-Like Haiku
by Marie Bortolotto

dandelion gone to seed, she makes a wish

  

Marie Bortolotto Art

Marie Bortolotto Art

 
"Your laughter will open a thousand and one
roses within you."

- Osho

Marie Bortolotto Art

“Since everything is but an apparition,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection, one may well
burst out in laughter."

― Longchenpa

Marie Bortolotto

From Toshi Tsuchitori: Breath (1980)

One-Line Haiku
by Marie Bortolotto


just a single daffodil surrounded by mud

Marie Bortolotto 2025

 

 

Sound art installations by Zimoun

Field of Flowers by Daniel Schmidt & Paul Dresher

from The Confucian Anelects

The Master said, "What a fine man Hui was!"
One container of rice, one dipperful of drink,
living in a back alley -- others couldn't have endured
the gloom of it but Hui never let it affect his happiness.
What a fine man Hui was!"

Marie Bortolotto

 

 

Marie Bortolotto

Haiku Utterances
by Marie Bortolotto


300 Zen-Inspired One-Line Poems to Liberate the Imaginal Heart
 
Purchase your copy here!

Haiku Utterances by Marie Bortolotto

In this book by artist and poet Marie Bortolotto, we're invited to slow down and attune to the poetic utterances that speak to us and through us from the heart of existence. Dropping the rules of traditional Japanese haiku, she writes in a free verse style that reflects ordinary day-to-day experiences. Most of the poems in this collection were gathered during daily walks while she was recovering from a lengthy illness. At first one may consider them too simplistic or insignificant, but once they seep into our hearts our eyes can see a depth of beauty found in the present moment.

Haiku Utterances encourages us to cultivate an imaginal way of seeing by listening to the haiku utterances in our own lives.

A few excerpts from Haiku Utterances:

   pinned to the sidewalk white paper butterfly

have you stopped to say hello little sparrow

fragrance of emptiness in her hand a tiny flower

all frogs on the tree stump gone! except one

Paperback, 110 pages

"Follow your inner moonlight.
Don't hide the madness."

~ Allen Ginsberg, American Poet & Writer 1926 - 1997

Marie Bortolotto Art

 

"At this moment, only does my life exist."

- Dōgen Zenji, Zen Buddhist monk, writer, poet, philosopher,
and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan.

Marie Bortolotto 2025

      Short Verses
by Marie Bortolotto 2025



long way home
just to see
 the snowy mountains

Marie Bortolotto Art 2025

    Short Verses
by Marie Bortolotto 2025


no words
no thoughts, no one --
bird chatter

  Short Verse
by Marie Bortolotto 2025



even in a hard cold rain black cat runs to greet me