Global Haiku • Spring 2021
Dr. Randy Brooks

Hills and Rivers

by
Elliot Mahon

This class has found me at a very difficult time in my personal journey. The entire framework of my reality and everything I thought I needed completely shifted in directions I never would have guessed. The words that follow are a collection of moments in my experience, the varying highs and lows. While self-focused and introspective, I began to find that the moments that mattered the most were the ones where I looked outside of myself. The people around me mean more to me than anything I've ever known.

I think the ultimate art this class has showed me is finding the joy in those small moments of perspective. Every tender moment is beautiful. Every shift of perspective is beautiful, Even every bitter disagreement is beautiful. I have never been someone who is able to openly communicate with others very well. I have kept to myself out of a mixture of shame and pride. This class has forced me to face some of the things I would never say to myself and recontextualize some of my worst moments into something worthy of further observation. I haven’t reinvented the concept of haiku, but haiku have helped to reinvent me. I am a new person at the end of this experience, and the things I have written will remain with me as I go forward. I might even keep writing them. But probably for no one other than those I really love.

missing old days
sad,
but somewhere else

food market
your hand
brushes mine

gruop bonfire
I see the moon
through your eyes

winter's end
we meet
under the new sun

lovers at the riverside
she pokes him
with twigs

zoo day
your smile
outshines the rain

one cheetah
grooms another
that's worth the 8 dollars

monkey fight
we become
the referees