Global Haiku • Spring 2016
Dr. Randy Brooks

Down Country Roads

by
Taryn Pepping

To me, haiku is a way to document my every day experiences. I don't wait for a profound moment of insight, I just let what goes on around me write the haiku for itself. Moments like impromptu spring drives or conversations with loved ones really influence my haiku, and tend to hold onto my heart the tightest. From this, "Down Country Roads" evolved. This book, then, is very much like a journal of these various moments. It captures different experiences of my semester and memories, so from mundane coffee mugs to larger-than-life wishes and dreams, my haiku tell my story after it has traveled through my heart.

About the Author

Taryn Pepping is a sophomore Art Therapy major from Eldridge, IA. Her creative interests include painting and ceramics, although this semester haiku snuck into her repertoire. Finding inspiration in the every-day things, her haiku focus on instances that work through her heart, for no other reason than that they want to. 

the outside cat
limps
inside

late for a meeting
I reach up to touch
the pine needles

dinner talk:
what will we look like
in heaven?

outside the cancer clinic
she smiles
at a thundercloud

her smoke break
in the rain
lacking a cigarette

love song on the radio
his stooped shoulders
between graves

spring day
out of the shadows
he stops at a headstone

second hand keeping time
her sigh
and the wind’s song

on Thursdays
we share memories
and crackers

paper crane
asleep in the window
folded up prayers

stealing kisses
at stop sings
deserted country roads

limited minutes
she calls
just for fun

little artist
drawing in the dust
a home run missed

waking up
can’t remember putting on
(t)his shirt

hungover
I tell my parents
I have the flu

I hold the coffee cup
on my belly
warming both sides

twenty years old
mom drops me off
at the dentist

fireworks
his hand on my waist
summer stars fall

a single purple weed
hand-picked
for me

barefoot in the grass
three two
one last kiss

a pen standing up
my cup
full of sea glass

the car stops
across the river:
Pelicans!

far off dreams
she holds them
between her ribs        tight