Global Haiku • January 2022
Dr. Randy Brooks

The Right Answer

by
Jessica Sheeler

Before taking this class, I was absolutely certain that I hated poetry and everything it had to offer. I know this seems harsh, but through all my years of English class I never understood the purpose and was never able to get the interpretations right. This all changed after I took this haiku class. I loved the fact that we are able to interpret what these haiku meant to us and didn’t have to conform our thinking to “the right answer”.  Therefore, my collection is called The Right Answer, because how I interpret and write haikus is correct even if I am the only one that sees it that way.

My goal for my haikus were to capture true inner feelings and thoughts by relating it back to some of my core memories. I have always been someone that holds memories very close to their heart and usually do everything I can to share them. Writing these haiku made this possible, not only so I could share but so other people could relate and remember their own core memories. This collection presents some of my favorite and best received haiku thus far. I hope that you will unlock some of those memories that are quick to be forgotten.

the playground is quiet
dirt from head to toe
dinner time

queen bed
two kids
jumping to touch the sky

Sunday morning
cuddling with my dog
smell of Fritos

bright white snow
neighborhood overcome with silence
twig snaps

if she wears baggy clothes
no one can see her
not yet

I can’t breathe
face is flushed
20 more

I breathe in
to let out
       everything else

twin flames
soulmates
         my other half

eyes swell
I dart into the bathroom
so no one sees

coffee shop
the smell of
         a rush

early morning
well spent
with a cup of Joe

broken pair
missing button
only 99 cents