1 Matching Contest Favorites - Freedom - Fall 2018 • Millikin University

open road, no destination
music up
windows down

Daria Koon

rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

Isabella Spiritoso

home alone
nowhere to be
what to do

Haley Vemmer

smell of fresh paint
I open the first box
and start a new life

Sophie Kibiger

arrow down

rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

arrow down

smell of fresh paint
I open the first box
and start a new life

 

arrow down

rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

top quarter champion

 

TOP half Chamption

rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

 

bottom quarter champion

twenty-one shots
the soldier presents
your son your flag

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trumpets
weary soldiers
march home

arrow up

twenty-one shots
the soldier presents
your son your flag

arrow up

trumpets
weary soldiers
march home

Emily Sullins

fox cub
retreats back home
bloody paw

Hannah Ottenfeld

twenty-one shots
the soldier presents
your son your flag

Haley Vemmer

white cross headstones
a young boy asks mom
why tears are in her eyes

Logan Bader

 

TOP half champion

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rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

 

 

CHAMPION
 

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

 

 

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

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BOTTOM half champion

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

Mary Callaghan

neon posterboards
dance in a circle
the sound of shouted pleas

Alissa Kanturek

her key found
tweeting and chirping
Maya's caged bird soars

Jenesi Moore

shiny black wings
spread to freedom—
a nest in the tree

Logan Bader

arrow down

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

arrow down

her key found
tweeting and chirping
Maya's caged bird soars

 

arrow down

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

top quarter champion

 

BOTTOM half champion

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

 

bottom quarter champion

pine needles
pierce the cool mountain air
I can finally breathe

arrow up

 

arrow up

grocery store
mom's shopping cart
my scooter

arrow up

pine needles
pierce the cool mountain air
I can finally breathe

Isabella Spiritoso

screech
from high above
wings spread wide

Zachary McReynolds

an afternoon walk
in the empty park
leaves flutter in the rain

Daria Koon

grocery store
mom's shopping cart
my scooter

Isabella Loutfi

© 2018, Randy Brooks • Millikin University. All rights returned to authors upon publication.

open road, no destination
music up
windows down

Daria Koon

rain pouring
through our sun roof
we throw our heads back with laughter

Isabella Spiritoso

home alone
nowhere to be
what to do

Haley Vemmer

smell of fresh paint
I open the first box
and start a new life

Sophie Kibiger

I absolutely love these two haiku. They give me such a warm feeling, and I love the images they give me. Road trips are exciting and calming to me. They are a time to explore with my family and friends. Seeing new sights and traveling are huge passions of mine, so I see myself in these two haiku. In the first haiku, I see a long, country road ahead. The sky is bright blue and cloudy, and it is a hot summer day. In the second haiku, obviously it is rainy. But, the rain is a light drizzle, not a downpour. It is that peaceful rain that you know will bring sunshine and a rainbow in a short while. Emily Sullins, Fall 2018

I thought both of these poems were matched up really well. Both convey an "open road, no worries" feeling of freedom. You can feel the wind blowing in from the road and your favorite songs playing. I imagined a group of friends on an open 2 lane highway road somewhere in a Arizona (don't ask why I chose Arizona, it was just the first imagine that popped in my head J). However the first poem of the rain pouring made me laugh. Thinking about driving with the roof down and suddenly it starts to pour on you while you're with people you love sounds like a blast. The imagery of the heads being thrown back with laughter really gives the haiku the expression of pure freedom. Sydney Rudny, Fall 2018

This haiku can be taken in both a literal and figurative sense. The literal being that when you are on a top bunk of a bed it does get hot especially because of how close you are to the light. The figurative meaning that there are often spats between roommates that can cause tension and awkward silence. I imagined someone not having anywhere else to go that was private away from their roomate other than their top bunk. The heat rising is the anger bubbling up between the two of them but not wanting to cause a commotion or confrontation since they are roommates. The use of the comma breaks up the haiku shows the tension since they are uncommon in haiku and show a large silence, which is felt in the imagined room between the roommates. Mary Callaghan, Fall 2018

 

 

 

This poem was also one of my favorites, and it was UNDERRATED. When I read this I could actually smell the fresh paint emanating from the walls of a new house. I picture someone sitting in an empty house, and she takes a breath before opening this first box. I wonder what situation this person is coming from. Maybe this person has moved away from home for the first time. Maybe this person is divorced, or is coming out of an extremely toxic relationship. I think there is beauty in the unknown of this poem. Jordan Niebuhr, Fall 2018

trumpets
weary soldiers
march home

Emily Sullins

fox cub
retreats back home
bloody paw

Hannah Ottenfeld

twenty-one shots
the soldier presents
your son your flag

Haley Vemmer

white cross headstones
a young boy asks mom
why tears are in her eyes

Logan Bader

I really liked this match for my haiku. Although mine is much more metaphorical and the other is more literal, I think the tone is similar and we used very similar words which I find very interesting. The idea of retreating back home seems sort of like giving up in each of these, like "with their tail between their legs." Usually going home is a joyous thing and while we still get some of that feeling, I still get a feeling of disappointment from both. Hannah Ottenfeld, Fall 2018

I enjoyed this matched pair because they are essentially about the same thing, but on two very different scales. The one on the left is one about war between countries and the terrors our soldiers go through, but the one on the right is more individualistic and almost metaphorical. I really enjoyed being able to see the parallels between the two haiku. I really enjoyed the one on the right as it can be more versatile in its meaning depending on what the reader is thinking about or going through. Zachary McReynolds, Fall 2018

Both of these haiku represent that someone has made the ultimate sacrifice. However, the poems appeal to different senses to grab the reader’s attention. The first poem presents a visual where the reader can see rows and rows off white headstones, personally the image of Arlington National Cemetery comes to mind. The second poem starts with sound, where the reader can hear the 21-gun salute at the funeral of a soldier or veteran. Both haikus elicit a tear-jerk reaction. The first poem displays a soldier’s son who doesn’t understand what has happened or the sacrifice his father has made. The second poem displays a son who probably understands exactly what has happened and the sacrifice that his father has made. Haley Vemmer, Fall 2018

 

 

 

 

children rise
a chant
to a broken nation's flag

Mary Callaghan

neon posterboards
dance in a circle
the sound of shouted pleas

Alissa Kanturek

her key found
tweeting and chirping
Maya's caged bird soars

Jenesi Moore

shiny black wings
spread to freedom—
a nest in the tree

Logan Bader

I am hesitant to write about this match because mine is included, but I wanted to discuss how much Mary’s haiku really changed the perspective with which I looked at my own haiku. Mary’s haiku is masterfully written (which is why it won) and describes for me a scene I am very familiar with. Every day, we said the pledge of allegiance and I assumed that our country was really great and ran very smoothly. My life was good, and that must have been true for everyone else as well. Meanwhile, in the background, corruption runs rampant and hate lives on. When paired with my haiku, a story of disillusionment is told. Those kids, like me, grew up and realized that instead of running like a well-oiled machine, our nation runs on the persecution of many of its citizens, and there is much change to be had before we can be a great nation. Alissa Kanturek, Fall 2018

This was my favorite matched pair of our freedom poems. These poems incite a feeling of passion and rebellion in me. One poem highlights the issues in our country, while the other fights for a change. I feel like the first poem alone would feel pessimistic, but when paired with the second one, it gives a feeling of hope. Both poems heavily use auditory and visual senses, which also matches them together well. Isabella Spiritoso, Fall 2018

I really liked this matching because they both gave a sense of driving toward freedom and activism. With the first haiku, the first image that came to mind was the March for our Lives protests, specifically the ones that took place in Parkland, Florida after the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School. There are so many issues going on in the US right now with gun control and gun rights and children are literally having to plea (plea is in the other poem too) for their safety because gun control laws are not strict enough for those that have been considered mentally ill. This was my initial view on the first one. My secondary view actually came from the discussion in class. In the haiku, ‘children rise’ is actually referring to children standing for the Pledge of Allegiance, which is the chant referred to in the haiku. Then the line, ‘to a broken nation’s flag’ is stating that these children are pledging their loyalty to a United States that isn’t actually United right now, with all of the controversial and harmful occurrences happening in the everyday news of our country. The first (initial) view that I have matches better with the other haiku but I thought that idea was worth mentioning so I mentioned it. As for the second haiku, it ties in very nicely with the first as many protestors at the March for our Lives rallies across the US would use signs and picket posts and neon posterboards to get their message across. The second haiku could almost be setting a scene inside of the scene of the first haiku if we think of it in the first view sense. Jenesi Moore, Fall 2018

I enjoy this pairing because they give a similar message, but with juxtaposing images. In Mary's haiku, we have the image of children reciting the pledge of allegiance, likely in school, likely by force. She notes that is a broken nation, which gives the idea that the children are being brainwashed to support a corrupt, backwards government. The children don't know any better, they are simply doing what they are taught. Alyssa's haiku, on the other hand, gives the image of a protest and rebellion against the government. I like the idea that the brainwashed children in Mary's poem have grown up and are learning and deciding for themselves what that want to believe in. Melanie Wilson, Fall 2018

I liked this match a lot because they had such different messages of freedom. The first was about the lack of freedom, and the irony of being called ‘the land of the free’, while the second was about Maya Angelou’s voice being heard and freed. It was really hard to decide which one I liked better, since they both had such strong messages. I liked these two the best because they didn’t have the typical message of freedom (soldiers, patriotism, etc). They showed two different sides of freedom in distinct ways, and that’s what made them so powerful. Sophie Kibiger, Fall 2018

I thought the comparison between these haiku was extremely ironic, in that freedom is thought of in the sense of nature’s freedom. There are many ways to interpret freedom as the activity demonstrated, and I thought it was interesting that myself and Jenesi, two biology/pre-professional school majors, viewed the broad aspect of freedom as it applies to a subject that we are constantly observing and studying. I also enjoyed the similarity in the verb usage, the idea of the birds “soaring” and the wings “spreading” to freedom. Logan Bader, Fall 2018

This haiku is very powerful. I think especially of the march for our lives when I read it. I think about how much our country is in distress right now, and how there are so many reasons not to respect it, but how we have to anyway. I also think of what’s happening at our borders and the ICE. We really are a broken nation. I picture a classroom of first graders standing in front of their desks with their hands over their hearts, reciting the pledge of allegiance, but the flag they are looking at is torn or upside down or just in some way not right. This haiku is painful, but sends an important message. Isabella Loutfi, Fall 2018

When I first read this, I pictured children protesting in the streets. Then when Mary clarified that this was supposed to represent children saying the Pledge of Allegiance, it made a lot more sense than my initial interpretation. Before we decided on this poem winning, I had already decided that this was my favorite poem in the matching. I think it was extremely powerful to focus on the children, as they are typically innocent and ignorant to what is happening in our country today. When I think back to being a kid, the schools would make us all stand up and recite the pledge--this was a daily occurrence. Now that the country is so, as she puts it, "broken," it's so crazy to think that our children just don't know what is going on in the world. Also it's sad that our country is so broken. Jordan Niebuhr, Fall 2018

 

 

 

pine needles
pierce the cool mountain air
I can finally breathe

Isabella Spiritoso

screech
from high above
wings spread wide

Zachary McReynolds

an afternoon walk
in the empty park
leaves flutter in the rain

Daria Koon

grocery store
mom's shopping cart
my scooter

Isabella Loutfi