Global Haiku • Fall 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

About the author:

Nico Velazquez is a nursing student from Millikin university. He enjoys simple things such as cooking, playing video games, and watching Netflix in his free time.

Have a Good Night

by
Nico Velazquez

This is a collection of my favorite haiku I wrote during my time at Millikin University. All of these haiku were written when I took a class for the honor’s program called global haiku. My first impression of the class was that we would be reading and interpreting poetry for an entire semester. To my surprise, it was far from that. The best way I could describe our average classroom would be like a group therapy session for a bunch of 19 to 22-year-olds. I loved my time in the class and because I learned to evaluate my life through interpreting moments I experienced and translating it into a haiku. The order of my haiku in this collection is loosely put into chronological order of moments throughout my lifetime. A lot of what these poems never felt like they would be any good but many of them were quite popular with the class. I highly encourage anyone who may get the chance to take this or a similar class in their life to do so because you may just learn something about yourself.

Throughout my time in Global Haiku, I gained confidence in my artistic ability to express small moments of his life through haiku. Many of my haiku don't have a specific style or structure he follows. Rather, I rewrite and rewrite my haiku until they sound good enough for the rest of the world to see. My haiku might make you laugh, think, or ask “why would he ever say that?”. But they all have one thing in common, they are all real moments, thoughts, or feelings experienced by me at one point in my Life.

a cracked sidewalk
staggered me
and the trailing cop

orange slices
peeled
without even asking

too late 
to transfer
taco night

where’s my exemption card?
I gave them their
ID 10 T. 

wild onion
my brother
foraging 

open seating
I know it’s a trap but
I still sit next to you

warm rice and beans
Mom’s cooking
to make me stay

midnight blizzard
the front door creaks open
Dad's home from school early

for every smile you 
take away
I eat more beans

you frown at every shape
your silhouette is
I love that you’re still standing 

years worth of other people’s
gastrointestinal issues
on my toilet brush

leftover change 
I remember the face 
of my first crush

AC-less summer
Dad reminds us
where he grew up

heartbroken friend
hesitant to report
she did it again

walking her home from school
brainstorming how to tell her I
want to end things

separating skittles
and ranking them
we discuss racism

bartering aesthetics
over practicality
Pokémon cards

mom’s rice
attempted
but never replicated

the breath you take
when finding the words
loving you is

waking up
Abuelita
to sweet bread

you’re falling for me?
oh my...
get up then.

Mom’s hand
finds my heart
Vicks Vaporub

the world slows to make me
think I can catch up
test day

family I knew well
calls me names
I don’t remember

grandma explains lost traditions
I explain
why they were left behind

grandma's hesitant
to reveal 
the size of her plate

curved trombone
never quite found
our song

amongst the avocado trees
Mom learns who we are
Grandpa’s little farm