The title of this collection was inspired by my wonderful experience in the haiku class at Millikin University in the spring of 2004. With wonderful instruction, classmates and especially my fantastic group members, I truly had not only an educational experience, but was entertained every class period. Writing, reading, and experiencing haiku is something that I hope to continue throughout my life.
This collection of haiku poems was selected from a pool of work completed throughout the course. With inspiration from friends, past experiences, childhood, love, and nature, this collection travels throughout the time period of a year. While many of the poems have been edited by myself or as a collaboration with others, these haiku are original, and waiting to be born. I hope that you enjoy Hand in Hand . . .
Throughout my experience this semester writing haiku, I (along with my classmates) had the pleasure of learning from and working with Dr. Randy Brooks. His love and appreciation for the history of the art of haiku—the form and sensory appeal along with the imagery and structure is present in every class through his energy and obvious enjoyment in the material. We as a class have much to thank him for, for he has opened our minds, emotions and senses to haiku.
Lighting the spark within us, we as students are then left to mature into our own style. Despite my early attempts to continually follow the 5-7-5 syllable form, I found breaking free of set limitations and focusing on content to be much more satisfying. Whereas in my first attempts to write haiku, I knew exactly what moment I was attempting to portray, looking back now I see the need for clarification and editing. It is much easier now that I have an entire collection of over 40 haiku to see which poems are working, which are not, and why. Reading past work, I often find myself wondering "what was I talking about"?
I have been very lucky to have the assistance throughout this semester of friends, some who have taken the Global Haiku class and some who have not. They have been willing to not only listen to my rough efforts, but also to help me in the revision process. In this collection, many of the haiku contain lines that were edited or inspired by members of my group in class, my friend Paul Scherschel, and various residents of New Hall 2 at Millikin. I appreciate their comments, criticisms and their willingness to share.
Below are favorite picks from this collection as reviewed by friends, colleagues, haiku class group members all who were often inspirations for the colletion.
