Local haiku author Ryan Ray describes how he uses his outlet for expression

With a cool breeze blowing through the wisps of his hair, Ryan Ray, of Gering, walks along the Monument Pathway next to the calm North Platte River for a moment away from the hustle and bustle of his daily life as a techie for a local manufacturing plant.

He contemplates the sounds of the water and the birds, the feeling of the brisk air, the colors of the browning flora going dormant for the season. He sits at one of the benches and finds inspiration.

“sunset elation,

scampering to the river:

two baby foxes”

Ray, 49, has been writing haiku, an ancient form of Japanese poetry, since he was in high school, but it was only just this summer that he finally decided to share his writings more formally. He published “51 Knots,” his first book of haiku poetry, in June 2021.

In the traditional Japanese sense, haiku was always performed in one breath, one slightly longer breath, and then one breath again, according to Ray. When the Japanese writing form began to make its way into the Western world, it translated into the 5-7-5 syllable rule that haiku is known to have in English.

One of the little-known pioneers of Western haiku was novelist Jack Kerouac, of whose work Ray had a fascination. It was Kerouac’s writings that got Ray interested in haiku in the first place, and thus began his experimentation with the poetic form until he published a body of his work this past summer, a decision which Ray attributes partially to the pandemic.

“Over the course of last winter and even into early spring, I felt that what I was producing was of a much higher quality than I had ever produced before, and I wanted to share it,” he said. “…I think maybe the pandemic contributed to the output, either through isolation, or quarantine, or social distancing or whatever you want to call it — I spent more time at home. … Maybe some of the emotions that rolled up into the pandemic contributed to that also.”

While traditional haiku usually focuses on nature, seasons and the environment, Ray played a little more with various topics in this style, often emphasizing mental health and looking inward.

“Much of my work captures my mental health state at times. Mental health fluctuations are no secret to anyone anymore, and it always comes out in your writing. Whether you feel depressed or ecstatic or anywhere in between, it comes out in your writing,” he said. “…So you will find a lot of reflections of that principle in this book (“51 Knots”). You will find many that are inspired by … mental health swings. They’re not unusual for any human being. I think any person can relate to that. It’s part of being human.”

Ray said he’s written in other forms of poetry, but considers haiku his main outlet. He’s dabbled in other creative works as well, including music and woodworking. He said his creativity somewhat stems from the not-so-creative day job that he has doing tech troubleshooting.

“My work life and my creative life — very distinct areas of my life,” he said. “Which isn’t bad. I think one fosters the other, honestly. … You could say that working in a job where you aren’t challenged with creative tasks very often maybe renews your reservoir for that capacity. And vice versa — writing haiku or writing poetry or writing anything or any creative outlet, really, you reach a level of depletion at some point, and it’s nice to take a break.”

Those breaks from creative writing or non-creative tasks — however you see it — can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days for Ray. He likens his writing process to a storm.

“My writing typically begins with maybe something like a slow buildup or a slow stirring, and then I would liken it to something like a storm or a hurricane even,” he said. “There’s this flurry of activity. There’s this tremendous output of writing, and then it dissipates and I’ll take a break.

“… I will go through stretches where I write like a madman. And then, I’ll go through extended stretches where I don’t feel creative or I don’t write or I don’t feel the ‘call of the muse,’ as some people would say.”

Ray said his muse often comes from walks by the river or hikes through the Wildcat Hills, while other times he likes to take different words and sounds and find a way to combine them into something meaningful. As far as writers that influence his work, a good friend of Ray’s once described his work as, “something like an illegitimate child of Jack Kerouac and Emily Dickinson,” he says.

“There’s definitely influence there,” Ray said, but he also finds a way to make the poetry his own.

He said his haiku, particularly the poetry in his recently self-published book, aims to capture various moments in time that express the human experience.

“One person sees their circumstances, or their surroundings, for what they are. We see everything in our life as we are. And every moment of every day — during consciousness — we are acting or reacting, assessing or evaluating our circumstances or our environment,” he said. “Haiku attempts to capture those moments when we are doing that, when we are reacting to our life. They’re brief, they’re easy to read, they’re quick. It’s like micro-fiction, or a very, very short story.

“…I enjoy the challenge of creating a scene, or a moment, where there’s some suspense or there is an element of wonder. But mostly, it’s those thoughts or moments or times in your life when you pause and either take stock of your life or you condition, or you remind yourself what it is to be alive.”

Ray's book "51 Knots" can be purchased at Cappuccino and Company, French Bohemian Market and Amazon.

*Originally published in the Scottsbluff Star-Herald on Dec. 27, 2021 and the Gering Courier on Jan. 8, 2022.