Global Haiku • July 2018
Dr. Randy Brooks

DIY Haiku

by
JR Baird

Dedicated to my son, Liam.
You are my inspiration for doing better everyday.

Many of my haiku are based around memories made with my son and memories I have from my own childhood. I grew up in a small, rural community with a very tight niche of friends and family. There was a lot of scraped knees, muddy clothes, and outside adventures in my youth. In an age heavily rooted in technology, I am striving to offer my four year old son some of the adventures and imagination I was fortunate enough to have at his age. Most of my haiku revolve around family events, being outdoors, and playing with my son. He is young, full of life, and still thinks I’m a pretty cool guy. I want as many memories of this time as I can document, because I know they will quickly diminish in frequency as we both get older. I will remember “a walk in the park” forever, the title of this collection and a ginko he helped me write while we hiked through Spitler Woods together recently. He has likely already forgotten most of our great adventure.

Please enjoy this collection of my haiku.

DIY floors
makes me smile
at my black thumbnail

kids splashing
in the shade of a bridge
chasing crawdads

sun ripples
the warm pond's surface
cold mud between my toes

hearing the rumble
of his first pickup truck
dust falls from the visor

unable to see
what makes a crab apple
angry

This one is just a fun haiku for me, and it was inspired by my son. The perspective of a four year old can sometimes make you step back and really reevaluate life. I have no idea why someone would call it a crab apple. It looks more like an orange than an apple to me in the first place. First, he asked me what it was. After I gave him the answer, he followed up with “It doesn’t look angry,” shrugged it off, and went right back to exploring the park. I couldn’t help but laugh at his innocent and literal reaction to something I had never given another thought to.

miles of trails—
the little boy
just wants to slide

a father remembers.
the child forgets
a walk in the park.

This haiku is one of my favorites because it means the most to me from a sentimental perspective. This really encompasses fatherhood to me. I try to remind myself during even the most frustrating moments of being a parent to a young boy that one day, I’ll wish I could have this moment back. I hope I never forget a minute of it. I also realize some of the most powerful moments for me raising him won’t even register in his memory bank when he’s an adult.