Samantha Parks

Global Haiku • Fall 2010
Dr. Randy Brooks

Samantha Parks

Samantha Parks is a sophomore Chemisry major from Steward, Il. Sam loves to read, write, and draw. According to her, her haiku are often meant to reflect the feelings and issues that people attempt to mask from the world. Sam likes to play with form and aesthetic when writing haiku and claims to think of her best ideas while on walks or in the shower. Inspiration for her haiku include personal feelings and experiences and the struggles she has witnessed friends and family endure.

Biting Winds and Sunshine
a kasen renga

sumi-e haiga attempts

essay on
Emotion Reflected in Haiku Form

skins

. . . skins

by
Samantha Parks

Author's Introduction

As a student, a writer, and an artist I have often been captivated by the masks people wear. To quote a haiku by Basho:

year after year
On the monkey's face
a monkey's mask.

~Matsuo Basho, 60

Thus, my haiku focus on what's behind the smiles that people wear in the world's gaze. Here, I have tried to capture a glimpse of the truth behind theses masks; masks I offer strangers, masks friends and family members have offered me. I chose the title skins because of its dual meaning.

In some ways, being bare, wearing only your skin, is the most honest and vulnerable a person can be. On the other hand, to only look skin deep is to see only the shallow ghost of a person's true beauty—plus, I think of my best haiku in the shower and love to play with the visual aesthetic of my work.

~Samantha Parks

no more white
. . . clouds
labor day passes

the shutter flashes
i see you materialize
like a dream

. . . skins
testing friendship
with each new bruise

condolences
a wafting breeze
of fleeting strangers

little girl
stepping
on every single crack

pausing to smile
at a tiny handprint on the fridge
. . . homemade turkey

warm pumpkin pie
mom lets loose
the drooling hounds

standing in a circle
three boys, a white rabbit
. . . and a rock

Against the biting winds
a single goose

tarnished earrings
nestled inside their velvet case, waiting

midnight fog,
stripping away the guilt
. . . I lay bare beside you

goodbye . . .
laughter as i sob
into your kiss

not enough duct tape
to hold them
to gether