looking into the sky
a name
shining through clouds

T.J. Grifin

the moon
illuminating the night
understands silent sorrows

Alizarin Salmi (4)

I enjoyed this haiku because I find it relatable. There have been many times that I have caught myself stuck in my own mind. Sometimes before bed, I would look out my window at the moon and think about the things that I am doing with my life and the things that I could do in the future. I can imagine the moon through my window screen seeing the small squares contrasting on the moon’s bright surface. It makes me think of laying in bed, calmly enjoying the open window breeze as the night time clouds sometimes covering the bright surface of the moon. I thought the structure of the haiku is very well done as well. I like that the haiku begins with the moon on its own. This helps the reader to focus on the moon and understand that it is one of the most important parts of the haiku. I also enjoy that the words “illuminating” and “sorrows” were used in the poem. These words give it a different feel, one that is more precise and detailed in the description of the feelings that the author wants to get across. Samantha

in the center
standing still
other skaters pass by quickly

Samantha Bies

sleep on it
advice from Mom
to the young one

Emily Mihalkanin (4)

I just get this connection with it because when I was a young boy, my mom and everyone else in my family gave me the same advice. They told me whenever I make a big decision, to always take time to think about it. This gives you time to think about the pros and cons of the situation. Another thing is that a good night sleep, strengthens the brain to make big decisions. It’s a saying out there that says, moms always knows best, so listening to the advice could be beneficial for the young one. TJ

lazy yellow lab
begging under the table
food gone in a gulp

Hannah Mahr

hay wagon
meaty strong hands
to lift the dusty bales

a horse’s breath
warm on my hands
the smell of fresh-cut hay

Alizarin Salmi (2)

Reading this haiku I can feel the horse’s breath and warmth on my hands. It makes me feel right next to the horse which is such a great place to be. I can smell the hay, very fragrant since it’s fresh-cut. I like the simplicity of the haiku, beginning with the breath. Betty

late in the night
voices of broken love . . .
burned out streetlight

Megan McGurr (7)

This haiku gives me a very vivid image. I see two people whispering under a broken streetlight. They are standing in darkness, which adds to the feeling of sadness. The broken streetlight emphasizes their broken love. This haiku appeals to the emotions. Alizarin

the clay pit
she takes one small step
and slides to the center

grandpa reads—
the little one asks "again?"
his smile grows

leaving my love       on the line

T.J. Grifin (7)

I picture a selfish individual making the choice to sacrifice the love of their life to achieve an aspiration. Not that the partner wants to give up the love they cherish, but because they feel it is the only choice they have. They know they can’t balance their work load and relationship equally. They would rather feel the string of loss rather than live with disappointing their love. They know providing the proper attention, their partner deserves, is unattainable. They are willing to risk their relationship with knowing their lover may not be waiting at the end. Kailey

sun beating down
boys in the river
splashing ahead

wooden dock by the lake
diving in head first
escaping the summer sun

Megan McGurr (2)

I love how I can place myself directly into the poem. It applies to not only my sense of sight but also my sense of touch, hearing, and taste. I imagined myself at a lake some where with the hot heat beating down on my back, neck, and face. I look up to the sky and decide to take a dip. Once I reach the water diving in, I can feel that sudden sense of relief from the cool water. It is almost like I have been born anew. Also, I can taste the cool and freshness about the water. This poem is very refreshing and leaves me yearning for that summer heat. Hannah

bouncing balls
a saddened kid
with no friends

arriving at the large gates
tears streaming down
a mother’s face

horse's mane
a few brush strokes
love at first sight

Hannah Mahr (2)

I love this simple haiku that embodies the close relationship between horse and groomer or rider. All it takes is a few brush strokes and the closeness is sealed. This is true for cats and dogs also, as long as the brushing is gentle. Betty

on the rocks
parents gaze
admiring from afar

twinkling lights
wrapped around the tree
he’s coming

HOT steaming coffee
younger brother asks for a swig
YUCK!

the sun peaks over the mountains
the waitress
pours another cup of coffee

heated city
the boy filled with demons
with a loaded gun

T.J. Grifin (6)

I really liked this haiku. I think it brought a lot of emotions and feelings. It can relate to the world. I see a city, stricken with violence and anger. A city that is run down and full of gangs and hatred. A boy, wise beyond his years is fighting a war that isn't even his to fight. Probably pulled into a gang himself and there is no way out for him. He full of anger and hatred. Pain from losing his family and friends. He only knows how to fix things with violence. He, himself, is a loaded gun. He is about to explode from all the pain inside of him. Ready to go off at any moment. The loaded gun brings a lot of fear to people. He is ready to use it. Waiting for the right moment to unleash. Megan
 
This haiku is very tragic to me. I get a sense of sadness from the words as well as chaos. It makes me think of a suicidal kid, someone still in high school. Someone who cannot see an out to the situations that he is stuck in. I see a boy who is left on his own most of the time. He has few friends and is feeling lost in the world he is in. His demons are clouding his mind as he isn’t sure where to turn to anymore. He can’t see an escape. It is scary to think that a boy who feels so lost has a loaded gun. This also makes me think of a situation that happened in my neighborhood. A few summers ago, news came out of a boy who had died from a gunshot to the head. While he was out with his friends they had decided to drink alcohol in their garage. Due to the alcohol they weren't thinking straight and ended up playing Russian Roulette. With a gun loaded with a single bullet, the gun went around the circle until the boy shot the gun into his own mouth. It is crazy to me how people think that guns are a game or something that can be used so casually. Samantha

I think this is a powerful message. It plays on what is happening in the world today in many major cities. The view is that this boy is filled with all these demons and he is what is wrong with the world. There is so much violence that is leading to the death of many young boys and girls. The beginning of this haiku state what is really happening. The heated city and giving off these aspects to the boy. The heated city is creating these demons within him. The heated city is what is causing him to unleash this violence built inside of him into the world. I think that this is a great piece. You can feel the pain and sorrow within the boy. You can also feel the fear his has as well. Walking around with a loaded gun is scary within itself, because it doesn’t take much for it to go off. Uriah

headstones
engulfed in sorrow
surrounded by love

Uriah Walker (6)

Sadness and happiness surround this haiku. Mixed feelings are brought up by the words. A graveyard is a place full of sadness from losing loved ones. People that we can never bring back. You can feel the sadness all around. Faces wet with tears, flowers from loved ones placed on the graves. The instinct feeling when you think of a headstone and a loved one lying under it is sadness. But then you begin to think about all the people who visit. People who come weekly, or monthly, or even just yearly. People so overwhelmed with the amount of love they still carry that they visit their past loved ones. From beyond the grave. People who will always care. They surround the graveyard with love. It's carried throughout the air. Megan

What I get from this, is a special bond between people. I can see a family going to the graveyard, seeing a loved one name on a headstone and instantly feel pain. Then the love of the people they are surrounded by, makes everyone feel good about their coming together. When someone loses a special one, they feel like they are alone in the world and no one cares about them, but in reality it’s the total opposite. Deaths either tear people apart, but in most cases they bring people together. That right there is the love that they are surrounded by. TJ

fog rolling into the moor
a pink-cheeked girl
loses her bow

Alizarin Salmi

Mother’s warm embrace
tears streaming down
slowly drowning

daydreaming
I tie my legs together
I am Ariel

Kailey Hurst (3)

I liked this haiku because it brought me back to a happy time in my childhood. When I was a little girl, I loved The Little Mermaid movie. I watched it multiple times a day. Whenever I was near a body of water, I would pretend I was Ariel and would flip my fins while singing her songs. The word daydreaming sets this stage because it was just that. It was all a daydream, or the imagination of a young child. You can visualize the child tying her legs together, and in her mind, she has turned into a mermaid. You can see her swimming around and playing. As she jumps out of the water, she says, “I am Ariel.” Uriah

sitting
under an apple tree
blank

adolescence
exploring physics . . .
I am late

Kailey Hurst

the sand . . .
underneath my feet
salt water toes

strawberry rows
splashes of RED
all over an innocent face

a Christmas surprise
for a little girl
her dream puppy

in the cemetery
where the dead sleep
she gets behind the wheel for the first time

Samantha Bies (3)

sand mounds
she climbs to the top
watching as waves crash into shore

Alizarin Salmi

From this haiku, I get a really vivid image of the ocean crashing into some cliffs and a little girl climbing to as high of a point as she could to see the amazing scenery. This is very fresh in my mind because I always enjoy watching the waves come onto the shore, but a year ago I was in Cozumel, Mexico, and I got to see the ocean crash onto the rocks and cliffs on the undeveloped shore on one side of the island. I had never seen anything like it in person, I was just used to the water meeting the sandy shore. The ocean seems a lot calmer and gentler when it is only coming up on the sand, but when it hits the cliffs it is a whole different story. The phenomenon is rough and violent, it is only to be viewed from a distance or somewhere higher up. This haiku reminded me of watching the waves on the undisturbed shore and how beautiful that natural place was. Heather

wildfire
his words
warm my heart

grab everything
mine, mine, mine
card declined

Uriah Walker (6)

I like this haiku because it makes a statement about today’s society. I see a woman going black Friday shopping. She is grabbing an unnecessary amount of items, and gets to the cash register to find her card has been declined. I think this really highlights the materialistic culture we live in. Alizarin

This haiku has a little humor at the end. When I began reading, I pictured someone shopping on Black Friday maybe, grabbing everything they could see, for themselves. I can picture them going to the cash register to pay for their things and not having enough money. It is an easy haiku to picture everything and it shows good imagery, I can picture the shopper grabbing everything and them up at the cash register. There is almost some rhyming happening with the second and third lines, making the haiku flow. It can also be interpreted as representing our society and how materialistic we are nowadays. People want stuff all the time and spend so much time comparing what they have and how much they have, and this is just a reflection of our society. Emily

This poem has a light rhyme that I don’t really see in most haiku. The rhyme is not over done and flows perfectly with the haiku. When reading this I am reminded of how my generation wants everything. We expect to have it all handed down to us without having to work for anything. We rely on instant gratification too often. We grow up having everything handed to us. When it comes to the real world, applying for jobs and working for our future employers, we come to a rude awakening. The card being declined after grabbing everything is like the door getting shut in our face. We are declined the job or future successes because we have too greatly relied on our parents to hand down or greatest desires. Hannah

lightning
illuminates the room
the baby sleeps peacefully

Alizarin Salmi (5)

I like this poem because the image immediately comes to mind, a baby sleeping without being woken up or seeming disturbed by the storm or by the lightning outside. I picture the baby to be in its crib near a window with the flash of lightning illuminating the room only for a moment before the room goes dark again. The baby doesn’t notice the violent weather and continues to be at peace while sleeping. I see the parents waking up from the loud cracks of the thunder and when they go to check on the little baby, they see it not even reacting to the storm. It looks as peaceful as it did when they put the baby to sleep. I feel like the use of the word “illuminates” creates a more fulfilling light. I also like how the first line is simply “lightning” it’s a very bold word because of what it is, and making it stand on its own reinforces that boldness. Heather

This haiku has beautiful imagery. Babies are very precious to witness sleeping. As a parent you are the primary caregiver so it is nice to see them at peace and content rather than crying for something they need. The parents may be uneasy about the lightening waking the baby up, therefore when they witness the baby sleeping peacefully a sense of calmness is brought to the parent. Kailey

high—
I mean hi
my name is lol

the world on
shrooms in Yellowstone
a better place

honeymoon stage
obsessed with school
he loses his true love

warm spring day
picking flowers for love
bees buzzing around

early morning
sweeping dust covers the gym
college game day arrives

friends gather around the grave
her mother
a breeze

Uriah Walker (5)

stormy winter break
dark shadowy sorrows
warmth from the wise man

on horseback
I forget
that I cannot fly

entwined strands of corn
small hands mimic
the big hands before her

mother in law
I am the opposite
of grandiose

Grandma takes my hand
we leave footprints in the sand
as we go

Alizarin Salmi (2)

I like this poem because it takes me back to my childhood when our family used to visit my grandmother in New Jersey and visit the beach. She used to take my hand and take me for walks on the beach and I remember always looking back at our footprints. I like how the last line, “as we go,” lightens the mood of the poem, not really saying where they are going or how far they are going. I like how the first two lines, “Grandma takes my hand” and “we leave footprints in the sand,” rhyme and kind of make me pause after. I think that helps the haiku flow better. Emily

after the cancer
missing him in the garden
He is alive

Kailey Hurst (2)

floating on the water . . .
ready to move
the paddle breaks the water’s surface