Jill Friesner

PACE Global Haiku • January 2006
Dr. Randy Brooks

Jill Friesner

Memories
Selected Haiku

by
Jill Friesner

I have chosen the title Memories for my collection of haiku because that is where they all have came from. I really enjoyed writing these haiku and I have discovered that the key to writing them is to keep the writing part of it easy. When I first began, I was thinking too hard. I found if I were to think all the way through a memory or a certain part of a memory, writing the haiku was much easier when keeping the words in it simple. The following haiku you are about to read stem from my childhood to the present and they describe some of my most valuable memories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

stormy night
mother patting the backs
of two small children

frightened sisters
twin beds
pushed together

summer vacation
a million stars
listening to crashing waves

walking down the aisle
he tightly squeezes my hand
I love you too, daddy

spring showers
day after day after day
longing for sunshine

fading ink
on withered pages
our first love letter

slightly limping
but running again
three-legged dog

the candle flickers
as the wick
burns out

all alone
after the storm

fearful of the unknown
I bury myself
under the blankets

shining stars
trying to peek
out from the clouds

the moon is smiling
down on me

fast asleep
peacefully dreaming
I’m still alive

Jill Friesner & Lisa Wilder

© 2006, Randy Brooks • Millikin University
All rights returned to authors upon publication.