PACE Global Haiku • Fall 2008
Dr. Randy Brooks

Muddy Creek

by
Aubrie Cox

Author's Introduction

Coming back to this again--an author's introduction, another semester of haiku class--is an odd experience for me. It's almost like coming full circle after this year-long adventure. I started haiku in January 2008, and now here I am at the end of the year in December. Reflecting back, its mind boggling how far I've journeyed--from knowing nothing of haiku, to working at a haiku magazine and joining Haiku Society of America (HSA). When I started, I had no idea that the art form would capture my attention so thoroughly, nor that I would embrace it so tightly to hunker down for the long run. I feel as though the haiku community is a place that I've found a comfortable niche. It's a little difficult to wrap my head around.

All the haiku included in this little collection are a part of a larger collection I recently put together called "Crumpled Blossoms."

rainy day
she thumbs through
the yellowed pages

my father's repainted car
empty on the roadside—
I keep driving

pregnant bride-to-be
her father judges me
by my music

wobbly log
my face
in the muddy creek bed

squirrel's nut
in the box
out of the box

October chill up my legs
I don't look...
in the casket

grade school playground—
the boys help me look
for my earring

every place taken
on the finch feeder
September rain

moonlit shadows on the water
the girl slips in
in her white dress

old pond;
on a rock I
wait for the frog

next to last page
of the notebook
snowfall

insomnia--
the dog at my feet
snores

lost sight of the shore
the rock of the boat
lulls me to sleep

wedding band
glints in the sun—
one stone missing

three bells
firefighter 5
will not be responding

unable to lift
my head from the pillow
early frost

footprints in the snow
monkey's mask
cast aside