Global Haiku • Fall 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

About the author:

My name is Maya Gomez and I'm a sophomore Creative Writing student at Millikin University. I found a love for haiku in Honors Global Haiku Traditions, though I'd practiced them in the past before. This class showed me how truly powerful haiku can be. Besides writing haiku, I like to write spoken word pieces, plays, and short prose pieces.

Emptying Eyelids

by
Maya Gomez

One of my favorite things about Global Haiku Traditions was that I was consistently documenting how I felt throughout the term. Now, I can look back and see how I was feeling throughout the term. It’s almost like keeping a really concise diary. The assignments, for me, were almost like an every couple days check in on my emotions. Looking back, I went through so much this term.

Haiku was very enriching socially as well. During Kukai, classmates were able to share their haiku with one another. These haiku ranged from very relatable humorous haiku to being very deep and personal. I feel like I got to know everyone a lot better through sharing our haikus. I have an appreciation for each classmate’s individual writing style as well. For me, it made me be vulnerable. I had to raise my hand and admit that I wrote haiku on very heavy topics. The class was a very safe space, so I felt comfortable doing so. Opening up to my classmates like that created a really unique learning environment where everyone was more in tune with how the others were feeling. It made us all closer as classmates and also built our haiku skills at the same time. I really loved seeing what made some haiku funny. Identifying things we could all relate to was so fun! On the other hand, seeing the things a lot of us could relate to and wish we didn’t was interesting. The deeper haiku that resonated with a lot of the class provoked a feeling of not being alone and having people who understand what you’re going through.

I just turned twenty
I want to stretch my arms
like shooting stars

scabs on my fingers
from picking apart
intrusive thoughts

lavender eyes
you sip your tea
like god made the oceans

I want to hold you
with all my diameter
rose quartz

I write your name
on my heart
in pencil

empty your eyelids
into my palms
eyelash, make a wish

meet me under
my eyelids
tonight

you used my ribs
as drumsticks
for your theme song

O,C,D
it’s as easy as
1, 2, 4 I hate 3s

call me
love
day and night

coming out
the shower water
is too cold

a cute girl
asks for my snapchat
the gold at the end of the rainbow

breaking up with him
I dust off
my mirror

shattered glass
still reflects
a rainbow

tattoo
your favorite things
on my lips

Last but not least, this is the haiku I had published by Femku Magazine! Like another haiku of mine, I enjoy the chewy syntax of this one. I hope that makes sense! I like how it flows. Each line is like a subtle surprise, when it’s really a broken up sentence. This is the haiku I’m most proud of, because it is published, but also because it’s so visceral. I think love is hard and painful, and I wanted to get that across in this haiku.