Global Haiku • June 2025
Dr. Randy Brooks

Small Moments

by
Sam Dalton

Before this class, I thought haiku was mostly about counting syllables. Now I see it’s really about noticing a single moment and letting it speak for itself. Writing haiku taught me to pay attention to simple things, a sound, a breath, or a small feeling I might have ignored. I liked writing haiku that hint at a mood without having to explain it. Sometimes the smallest moments carry the most meaning. The poems in this collection are the ones that felt the most real to me when I wrote them. Some are about movement, some about stillness, and some about noticing the world around me.

first date nerves
we laugh too loud
over cheap coffee

your old hoodie
still folded neatly
on my chair

train whistle fades
I count the steps
toward tomorrow

blind date pause
her smile softer
than her photo

early morning run
the fog clears
with each breath

porch swing creaks
the cat watching
nothing at all

backroad silence
broken by
a single crow