Global Haiku • Fall 2016
Dr. Randy Brooks

Under the Mango Tree

by
Ryan Sikora

Under the Mango Tree is a collection of many of my romantic haiku, along with some of my personal favorites. There are many aspects of romance, falling in love, the ultimate happiness only a significant other can bring, but also how they can tear your heart in two. I look back at past relationships and reminisce about all the wonderful times I had, and feel deep nostalgia. My haiku remind me of all these feelings that overcome me, and as I read some of them, I am hit with powerful emotions. Other haiku are just poetic and create either beautiful or funny situations, to pick me up. I hope you enjoy this collection, and it is only appropriate to leave it with a haiku summing up everything:

city walks,
your deep blue eyes
I playfully poke you

About the Author:

Ryan Sikora is a Sophomore Actuarial Science major from Hickory Hills, Illinois. He is an active member in the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity and a Millikin Men’s tennis player. In his free time, he likes to play League of Legends, hang out with friends, listen to and make music, and go on runs.  

under the mango tree,
carving
the sweetest names

hand me down
I cannot fill
my brother’s shoes

I dance with
a brown hair belle
in three quarter time

you on my shoulder
all the stars
mean nothing

the couch opens up
I don’t move
away from you

a drunk stumbles in
to give respect
to his dead brother

polaroid picture
capturing only
half of how I feel

waiting for mom,
one string is plucked
on the broken bass

the second plate
piled higher
than the first

she loves me not?
no problem.
          we are only dust.

in this war
my toy soldiers
will be at your side

rowdy nightclub
us sardines
dance until dawn