Global Haiku • Fall 2025 |
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Flower in the Storm by As I have grown older, I notice that I often internalize the “storms” of the day; the mistakes that I made or the things that have gone wrong. In one of my darkest times, one of my mentors told me that it’s harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re stuck in the thick of it, but that does not mean the light at the end of the tunnel is not there. Bad things come and they go just like storms do, but we cannot let ourselves forget that there will always be good that follows. The haiku I wrote for this class originally became my outlet for all the storms I internalized through the semester. It became the way I processed my childhood dog passing and my seemingly endless piles of homework that I could never get myself to do. It was not until almost the end of the semester that I realized very few of my haiku are happy, which is very contrary to how I present myself outwardly and how I was growing up. My friends know me as outgoing, energetic, silly, and unapologetically myself. It honestly made me miss how I used to be. So, I thought about how I could reframe my thinking from always focusing on the stressful and dark things I experience to also appreciate the small things that make me happy. If I could even shift my focus a little bit from all the dark, maybe it would help me see all the light in my life. The haiku in the collection is about holding space for both the dark and the light, and appreciating that we are lucky enough to get to live through both. |
nighttime chores |
a thrifted skirt |
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messy room I really like this haiku because it has really represented my life this semester. There are always things I can do or should do, but all I have wanted to do these past couple of months is take a nap. I feel like as soon as I knock out all my homework, it always seems like my homework comes back tenfold, and I always dread doing it no matter how easy the assignments are. However, when I wake up from that nap, the homework or mess is still going to be there no matter what. A big lesson that I have learned this semester is to just do it anyway no matter if you want to or not. Half the time if you just promise to do a task for five minutes, you will end up working on it longer anyway, and you will feel so much better afterwards. |
empty bedroom During the summer, when I was on my lunch break, I would lay down in my bed and take a 30 min nap because I always ate my lunch during later meetings anyway. It became such a habit that my cat would join me everyday and curl up next to my head. When I left for school, there were still a couple of weeks where around lunch time, my cat would curl up on the pillow I would lay on even when I wasn’t there. Every once in a while, my dad would text me that she was asleep on my pillow during lunch time, and it really warmed my heart to know that she still kept that routine without me there. |
spring showers I really like this haiku because I think it’s so fun that a creature as small as a field mouse views flowers in a similar vein as the way humans view trees. They are able to sit under a flower and somewhat be able to get shelter from the rain just as we would be able to do for a tree. This haiku also reminds me of Tinkerbell. I used to be so obsessed with those movies growing up because I love the way their world looks. All of the objects that are small to us, like buttons, are absolutely massive for them. It makes me wonder what it would be like to be that small and how I would use items differently. |
dive bar burger This is the pinnacle of my senior year experience so far. I have a class that runs from 2-5pm on Wednesdays. After the class, me and a couple of my friends walk over to The Winery, get a burger and some drinks and talk about our week or whatever is on our minds. I genuinely look forward to this time with my friends every week because I have made the best memories sitting in a Winery booth with them. |
proudly holding out cash I absolutely love this haiku because it fills me with such accomplishment and gratitude. My parents do so much for me, and when I get to return the favor, even if it’s really small, I feel immensely accomplished. I’ll never truly be able to repay my parents for all the things that they have done for me, but the least I can do is buy them their favorite snack or soda every once in a while. Also, when I was younger and had no other financial responsibilities, I would make it a point to save all my money throughout the year so that I could spend it on my family for the holidays. I receive so much more joy giving presents than I do receiving presents. Hannah Swan, Fall 2025 |
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© 2025, Randy Brooks • Millikin University
All rights returned to authors upon publication.