Global Haiku • Fall 2020
Dr. Randy Brooks

Stretching Skyward

by
Stark Winter

Stretching Skyward is a collection of haiku that I believe represent my best work, as well as showing the breadth of existence. Here there are haiku about nature and people, joy and darkness, youth and age, love and regret. Some haiku are paired for duality, some so that they may echo each other. Some stand alone, so the reader may experience an emotion more fully. The title of this collection was chosen because many of the haiku within have some connection to the beyond, be it a natural connection, or a spiritual bond. The transience and yearning of other poems connects them to the sky and beyond as well, giving the entire collection a feeling of stretching skyward. When writing haiku, I do not generally seek a specific event, focusing instead on the emotion, be it nostalgia, love, or loneliness. From there, I find recent situations, or deep-set memories that echo the same feeling, and find a way to adapt them. Some of my haiku are written in the moment, on walks or hikes, but even they are written to capture the essence of that moment. My haiku are written to show a moment, but more than that, they are meant to show the emotion of it all.

bubblegum pink
her hair whips
with the bright wind

open prairie
tall grasses waiting
for the first drop of sunlight

tarnished bridge
we run our hands
along the rails

pine snapped in two
I see the lake
where I couldn't before

baker's son
looks left, looks right
sneaks a taste

little creatures
living in the creek
borrowed for a while

circle of mushrooms
in the soccer field
here there be fairies

ancient pines
strectching skyward
I read amongst their roots

suddenly darkened day
the rain sizzles
as it hits

I splash through puddles
where once
an oak stood