Global Haiku • Fall 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

Sunday Funnies

by
Bailey Banks

Sunday Funnies is in itself funny in the context of this collection. It references one of my more observant, optimistic haiku. What I especially fell in love with about "single-breath" poetry is juxtaposition. the irony & bittersweet reality that exists in every breath we take is what makes us human.

Though many of these poems can be read as stoic or melancholic, I hope to provide a canvas for readers to feel the tongue-in-cheek humor that comes from feeling alive. Any feeling, any experience, is better than no experience. Finding that beauty in the coexistence of opposite ideas helps poets & readers alike to reflect on their ability to find peace everywhere they go.

Enjoy, & thanks for reading!

morning moon
there is lovely
in all your in-betweens

whiskey breath,
salt-stained cheeks
i still love you

wrinkly hands
from washing my dishes
i was not yours to fix

a bag of popcorn
your knuckles white
around the barbell

white lines
high school crafts teacher
wipes his nose

children's prozac
spilled on the counter
mother's eyeroll

city park
the ghost of seventeen
skips to the fountain

euchre tournament
mom's lit cigarette
chokes my table talk

starry eyed stare
i was your muse
nothing more

laugh lines
envying the place
where your skin grins at itself

golden city
Apollo hides behind
cinderblock silhouettes

tide
hugs the sandcastle tight
back to square one

evening picnic
birthday present
warpped in Sunday funnies

ten year reunion
your belly laugh
sounds fine without me

long distance
even mountains erode
over time

nested in your neck
using your curls
as a fidget toy

October confessional
with mom
her gritted teeth

dirty laundry
even the cross
had bloodstains

tomorrow
is just enough away
to take a nap

missing you
r   dad

childhood bedroom
removing our tacks
from the map

walking your luggage
across the city
broken flip flops