Global Haiku • Spring 2016
Dr. Randy Brooks

The Learning Process

by
Emilio Tajada

For my Haiku collection I have chosen to include a wide variety of haiku, haibun, and renga that I enjoyed the most throughout this course. The way I was able to accumulate some of my most favorite haiku was from looking back at all of the work that I have done and taken bits and pieces of my favorite haiku from each assignment. I also had the opportunity to include a couple of my favorite haibun with my story as well as some renga that I did with friends. More specifically having the opportunity to do plenty of open topic haiku at the end of each assignment gave me the opportunity to pick some of my favorites. In addition, I picked out some of my favorite haiku from our kukai in class.

As far as my title, the reason why I picked, "The Learning Process" is because that is how this course was. This course gave me the opportunity to learn about a different form of art that I didn't know about prior to entering this class. Although I did have some knowledge of haiku in the past, I didn't really have the opportunity to spend the time to enjoy writing and reading about haiku. Also, taking this class helped clear up the assumption that all haiku must be written in 5,7,5 verse. So all along I was writing my haiku this way and I felt so restricted to the rule that it wasn't enjoyable to me. When I found out later that there really wasn't any rule to writing haiku, it gave me more freedom to write what I wish, which as a result made the experience more positive.

When looking at most of my haiku you will notice that a lot of them really just depict everyday life. I try to include the everyday struggle that we encounter in our day to day job etc. most importantly for me I wanted to include not just one type of haiku but a wide variety that spoke to many different people instead of a certain group. I have included many haiku about nature and the outdoor life because I enjoy those the most. In addition, I play tennis, so many of the haiku talk about thoughts and feelings that an athlete might feel during those pressure moments. With the sport haiku I tried to capture that zone like experience where nothing else matters at the moment, and the individual is just focused. I also included some random haiku with a funny element to them as well as those family moments that we cherish most. Some of the haiku have that competitive edge to them which gives the reader the feeling of a go-getter attitude. The haibun that I did related to nature because being outdoors really is the ultimate experience instead of staying indoors watching TV etc. Having the chance to capture my thoughts and feelings along with any details was crucial to creating that story. Sometimes my haiku are random in which it wont make sense what is going on but I feel like that is important simply because it gives the reader the chance to respond how they wish and for it to be open to multiple interpretations.

About the Author

I was born in San Jose, California and grew up in the district of Santa Clara. My father is a teacher at a high school in Saratoga and my mother is a nurse. I have two sisters and a brother, which are all older than me. Right know I am currently studying business where my specific area of business that I want to study is undecided. As time has gone on I suspect that I will be majoring in Business Management with a possible minor in finance. Just recently me and my group won the Freshman Business Creation competition so I received an award demonstrating the hard work that we did to achieve our goal as winners. As far as my hobbies and interests, I play tennis here at Millikin university where I have a pretty good record in the season as far as match wins. In addition, I like to play many other sports on my free time like soccer and baseball. Throughout this course I have really learned to value reading and writing haiku.

positive thoughts
through the valley
I stride

low tide
honestly calm
shifts to the right

chrome rims
LED lights
showtime

the tree sways
in the cool wind
side to side

skyscrapers
coolness up above
untouchable

baseball boy
swings his racket
ball flies

rusty hub caps
shine bright
a beauty

tablecloth
smooth as my suit
wrinkle free

I stand motionless
my dream car
passes by

waves of jelly
in the museum
box of lizards

earthquake
watching it scale
up and down

in the car
the kid rushes to get ready
just in time

sneezing
on the broomstick
two broken teeth