Jane E. Flattery, who was born and raised in Baltimore, attended a book signing for her book, 'Healing with Haikus.' Photo courtesy of Jane E. Flattery

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When you lose someone, the holidays can bring back the pain of that loss no matter how many years have passed. After all, grief isn’t linear; it comes in waves — it ebbs and flows.

For Jane Flattery, healing took the form of three lines, 17 syllables, and a 5-7-5 syllable pattern: a haiku.

Flattery, an 88-year-old Baltimore native, published a book of her poetry five years ago. She began writing haikus as part of a hospice writing course after her husband Paul’s death in 2018.

“When Paul died, everybody said, ‘How’d you do it?’ and I said, ‘Well, I hit the road running,’” Flattery said in an interview with the Beacon. “I found outlets.”

Initially she started writing letters to her late husband, as her counselor from Gilchrist Hospice Care Center had suggested.

“It was only a month after Paul had died, and I was just a mess,” she remembered. “I ended up writing about 25 letters.”

During that time Flattery learned about haikus in a writing class and became entranced with their structure.

“Once I found out about them, everything I thought about was in a haiku,” she said.

Flattery’s outlet became the letters, the letters became haikus, and from the haikus came healing.

While writing poetry aided her in the grieving process, she said, her haikus are not maudlin.

“Those three lines, to me, are very powerful. There’s nothing sad about it. They provide strength to people,” she said.

The makings of a book

Flattery began to send out her poems to friends and family, including her daughter’s sister-in-law, Karen Truant. A photographer, Truant told Flattery she had photos that would go well with her haikus.

Truant asked, “Would you want to think about doing a book?” Flattery agreed and they collaborated, and in June 2020, they self-published Healing with Haikus.

“The thing that’s amazing about this book is that I wrote my haikus not knowing about her photographs,” Flattery said. Truant “took her photographs not knowing about my haikus. And they just kind of…worked.”

The book has been well received, with copies distributed to the authors’ friends, family members and even the Cockeysville library.

Accessible to all

The simplicity of haikus makes them accessible to a wide audience, including those with medical conditions.

For instance, Flattery shared her book with a woman whose mother had had a recent stroke. Although she loved reading, she couldn’t read for long periods of time anymore. Three lines with a profound message were the perfect solution.

“When I told them about my book, the response was, ‘I think my mother can read three lines,’” Flattery said.

Flattery’s haikus have provided healing not only to herself but to others as well. The Baltimore County resident hears from readers all over the country.

“The latest call was from one of my friends in South Carolina,” Flattery said. “She said, ‘I just loved your book so much. But my husband just died, and your book just means so much more to me now.’ … I never dreamed that this book would carry that much to so many people.”

With poetry, Flannery found a creative outlet to process her own grief, but in the end it helped her connect with others.

“Haikus are very comforting,” she said, “and they bring peace.”

Healing with Haikus is available on Amazon.