Global Haiku • Fall 2019
Dr. Randy Brooks

Let in the Night
Where the Sun Never Sets

by
Alexander Bergland

While looking through all the haiku I had written this semester, I started to notice a trend in my haiku. In the beginning of the semester, I wrote almost primarily about nature. When the semester began, I was going through a very rough mental transition coming back from spending 6 months in the Netherlands and was struggling to readjust to the strains and every life of being a university student. Nature has always been a way for me to cope. The wilderness is where I find myself and my place in the world. In nature is where I can breathe and separate myself from the tribulations and simple stresses of the civilized world. I tried to keep my perspective and experience out of these first haiku, and let nature speak through me.

As the semester progressed and I started to transition back to a version of normal, I started putting myself in my haiku. They mostly still revolved around a theme of nature, but now they had my voice and experience them, I started to give myself room in my writing. I started to approach bigger topics and issues outside of nature that involved more thought on human nature. Becoming more comfortable with this new approach to haiku, I branched out even further and strayed from nature completely, talking about relationships with other people, life, and simple moments of everyday existence.

This collection follows this transition from nature, to my relationship with nature, to my relationship with the people around me. Through these haiku, I hope you take away my growth and writing as a tool for this growth. Read these slowly and become part of the story.

About the Author

Alex Bergland is a junior creative market applications major. He is an outdoorsman and artisan working towards seeing the world and doing as many out of the ordinary things as possible. When he gets writers block, he looks at an inspirational photo on his desk of a bear pooping.

birdsong
the forest wakes up
with the sunrise

inhaling autumn air
deep          breaths
the creek sings

heavy packs
we carry more than we need
up the mountain

a challenge to the sun
even during the day
you shine

the hunter’s moon
finding my way
in pale light

lost in the night
where the sun never sets
i talk to the birds

open photo albums
sprawled across the room
spider web

a homeless vagabond
bathes in the lake
I sit in the rain

skipping stones
on a mirror
the mountain quivers

unexpected wisdom
under a military crew cut
I will press on

steering my way
through cobbled alleys
warr komt u vandaan?

warming up to the idea
of letting it all go
spinning bike tire

grandpa passes wisdom
through the generations
fresh caramel

sharing a charred yam
with strange friends
frisbee sunrise

chasing fireflies
she jaunts into the forest
for me to follow

hypnotist’s pocket watch
watching her walk
two steps            behind

she looks back at me
and smiles
glacial retreat

handwritten
I can feel
your energy

thousands of miles away
your words stay with me,
folded in my backpack

rose scented ink
with blood red letters
you say goodbye

the home of an old lover
why can i never
forget You

evening light questions
if she thinks about me
corn maze