While stationed in Japan in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s, Thomas Canull became hooked on the nation.
“That’s when I fell in love with the culture and the people,” he said.
Soon after leaving the Air Force, he fell in love with haiku, a short form of poetry.
“To me, it’s similar to a Rubik’s Cube, because you have to twist it and turn it to make a fit,” Canull said. “These ideas will come to me in the morning or at night when I go to bed. I have a pencil and pad in every room.”
Canull, who has lived in Carmel for more than 40 years, recently published three books of haiku, “The Dragonfly Darts, “The Origami Crane” and “The Lonely Crane.” Publishing the books were the last items on his bucket list. The books are available through Amazon Kindle and Amazon.com.
Canull, 72, wants to share his love of haiku to increase awareness of the art.
“I also want to show seniors in the community that nothing is out of reach if you set your mind to it,” he said.
The retired painting contractor had accumulated a large number of poems through the years.
“I thought I’d just go through my files and I’d have a book,” Canull said. “I figured out I had enough files for almost four books. The fourth one has to be re-written because I included things in there that aren’t haiku.”
Canull plans to do a fourth book with haikus and a fifth book on his musings and interesting thoughts.
Canull’s haikus have been published several times in Japanese newspapers in the past 15 years.
“It’s just a moment of clarity in time and space,” he said. “The Japanese like it best if it has nature in it. Original haiku has something about nature and, hopefully, an ‘ah-ha’ moment at the end.”
Canull has made five trips to Japan, the last one being five years ago. Canull said another trip is unlikely because of a serious spine issue.
“I had a neurotransmitter planted in my lower back to ease the pain of my spine compressing, which is an anomaly no neurosurgeon in this area had ever seen, heard about or read about,” Canull said. “What happened after that was a loss of 40 pounds in June and a 2-inch overall loss in height in the past two years. To this day they have been unable to determine why I cannot put any weight back on, which leaves me exhausted most days.”
Canull recently was diagnosed with Raynaud’s disease, which causes some areas of the body, such as fingers and toes, to be numb in cold temperatures. Canull is in the process of selling his house and moving to Florida.
“The doctors said if I was here next winter, I might have to have my fingers amputated,” Canull said.
