Global Haiku • Fall 2013
Dr. Randy Brooks

What Nature Hides

by
Mark Gehlbach

My family has always been about health and fitness. This is not to say we are uncultured or ignorant of the arts, but we put little value into them. I was unmotivated and hesitant to try my pen at anything poetry. Beginning my journey into haiku was not easy. Writing only a few would take extended periods of time. I felt like I had nothing important to say. Then, I learned haiku isn't about saying important things simply . . . but rather saying simple things importantly. I hope you will enjoy this short collection of haiku and perhaps pick up on a few of the things I learned along the way.

forgotten
nature hides
little wooden graves

cherry blossoms
mother and daughter
departing geese

yoga pants
the second best thing
about yoga

the crunch of leaves,
her laugh
a reason for love

speaking his name
for the last time—
now truly dead

blue sea beckons
a whale erupts her spray
life blows

jovial laughter
a guilty pause
beside the beggar

leaping into my lap
she misses me most
the cat

comfortable silence
one more round
with the boys

honey whiskey
we tighten
the last few bolts