Global Haiku • June 2020
Dr. Randy Brooks

Notes in My Lunch

haiku by
Ally Banks

Notes in my Lunch is a collection of haiku written during the Summer of 2020. This collection is comprised of haiku from various areas of my life, experience, and imagination. I focus on nostalgia, my relationship with my sister, love, my experiences as a college student, and things purely from my imagination. My title comes from a haiku about my transition from childhood into adulthood. Growing up, my mother would write me a note in my lunchbox every day. When I went off to college this tradition obviously stopped and I became more responsible for taking charge and creating a positive mindset in my life. I like to think of my haiku like the notes in my lunch. They are short, take inspiration over a long period of time, and many make me think of the love in my family. I have chosen some of my favorite haiku I’ve written to include in this little “note-book” and I hope readers can relate to the nostalgia, imagination, heartache, and joy inside these pages.

new refrigerator
a spaceship or castle
taking us on an adventure

a rusty old ladder
the perfect stage
for a driveway play

a biycycle
can be tandem
with enough duct tape

hopping between couches
the floor is
lava

a broken fence
opens the door
to wonderland

braids loosen
playing hopscotch
through constellations

head to toe
they lie
whispering to the stars

pizza pringle fingers
they lie on the boat laughing
together

children laughing
when did the trees . . .
grow

birds perched
on the telephone line
chat like old friends

when you wish upon
a streetlight
the city of dreams

radio static
their living room
becomes the dancefloor

swiping left
The Office
is not a personality trait

the little man jumps
in her tummy
. . . hiccup!

the car is packed
no more
notes in my lunch

late night text
we journey
to get ice cream

sisterhood
the arrow in my heart
not left by cupid

slowing to a stop
the trophy case
full of my ghosts

in the graveyard
flower vases
empty

worn leather hands
gently stroking
the newborn’s head