Global Haiku • Fall 2020
Dr. Randy Brooks

Mammatus Clouds

by
Danica Brezovar

Mammatus clouds are in essence upside down clouds. They form from sinking air rather than rising air like most clouds. Most frequently they form before cumulonimbus, or storm clouds. The line “mammatus clouds” also appears in my signature haiku. I chose this line for the title of my collection because it is a beautiful line and because like these clouds, my approach to writing haiku almost turned upside down over time.

My approach to writing haiku began with my attempts to write random haiku in a moment. I soon realized, those haiku were ether too broad or too specific where I attempted to tell an entire story in one haiku. Because of this realization, my approach switched. I began writing haiku from random moments. I was influenced by the stop look and listen approach to writing haiku. I would stop in a moment that I felt a strong emotion, focus on something about that moment and write a haiku in this random moment. The haiku in this collection was chosen because I felt that these haiku are some of my best and represent this switch in approach to writing haiku as well. Thank you for joining me on my journey towards understanding the “haiku moment”.

a water bottle cap
spilled on a table
shots of water

did we
walk past
our future selves?

the macarena circle
of dateless girls
glas to breathe

lights flicker
I pull out a chair
my invisible roommate relaxes

frog
meditates
on a surfboard

Dorothy
and Frodo
the odd couple

New Year's countdown
he avoids
her longing gaze

a metronome
his breath
holds me tight

watercolor sky
mammatus clouds
bubble under the storm