Global Haiku • January 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

Late Bloomer

by
Mira Burens

Nostaligia was a feeling expressed in many of my haiku. This shared emotion is what made me choose these for my collection. I wrote about many of my childhood experiences, hoping to share a pice of myself through poetry. While doing this I also tried to keep my experiences and emotionals relatable, taking the reader back to their own childhood. The title "Late Bloomer" ties into this theme of childhood and nostalgia. I always felt as if I was behind my friends and classmates, they were all having these new experiences and I was stuck, a boring little me. I felt like a tadpole, alone among frogs, underdeveloped and boring.

To my younger self.

passing notes
education disrupted
by a highway of hand

indoor recess
a paper fortune teller
says I'll die alone

stuffed animal
on the floor
sincere apologies

jump rose contest
my feet land
in the nurse's office

growing up together
how did we end up
so different

morning sun
through the neighborhood
the bus pulls away

winter fruit
pomegranate seeds
bring color to my lips

socks on the carpet
lightning touch
dr. frankenstein

paper snowflake
falling gracefully
in the recycling bin

a single tadpole amonst the frogs
I scooop him up into a jar
late bloomer

my father
tucks the dog in
like his third child

The concept of a “haiku moment” has also really stuck with me. It has made me more aware of my surroundings and the little moments I would have normally overlooked. Not only has it made me more aware of these moments it has made me value them and find the beauty in every situation. There is also value for my professional life as well. I think these skills will greatly benefit me as someone who is going into the art field. Specifically. I am going into costume design and being more aware of everything around me will allow me to grow a larger reference library. My new knowledge also allows me to relate more deeply to one of my good friends back at home, she frequently writes haiku and has even had them published before.