PACE Global Haiku • PACE July 2013
Dr. Randy Brooks

Grandfather’s Old Ships

by
Joren Martin

Haiku creates a connection between now and then. It transports the reader to a place and time. That setting can be loaded with emotions, senses, pictures, memories, and people. It can cause the imagination to ignite, or a memory to come alive.
Haiku creates a connection between the writer’s life and the readers. It can open a window to the heart of another, or reveal an entire culture. It provides insight into the author’s world, while evoking memories of the reader’s as well.

As I write, I think about these connections. I hope to find a way to let you, the reader, into my own mind so you can see the world through another’s eyes. As well, I attempt to take you back into your own life in the hope that you might remember. Whether those memories are good or bad, funny or romantic, nostalgic or erotic, is caught up in who you are. What I write is caught up in who I am. Together, we may give birth to a haiku that brings us together in this wonderful art that moves those who love it.

hotdogs sweat
over the fire
children wearing hoodies

one-eyed elmo
a shaggy paw
pulls him closer

cousins in the attic
grandpa’s sail boats
drift into my box

autumn wind blows the corn
i steal my first
beneath the harvest moon

dad’s favorite scotch
poured in my glass
twenty-first birthday

two one-legged men
swap stories with their wives
just one pair for both

tattered sails on
Grandfather’s old ships
my mind sails them still

ancient wooden pews
the best eulogy
from the youngest granddaughter