Global Haiku • Spring 2012
Dr. Randy Brooks

The Spinning Dress

by
Courtney Gerk

dedicated to Mom

Author's Introduction: Going to college is a big transition. It's a world without parents! In high-school, this seems ideal. You want nothing more than what you consider freedom. Then it hits you that in a world without parents, you are the adult and need to be responsible. You realize that you had freedom all along- to explore, play, and imagine. I named this book "The Spinning Dress" in honor of those memories I have of being a kid. My mom made a dress up box for my three sisters and I and filled it with her old dresses. Our favorites were the ones that bloomed when we twirled. And we called this phenomenon—The Spinning Dress. —Courtney Gerk

Courtney Gerk is a nursing major and in the Honor's Program at Millikin. Once she becomes a nurse, she hopes to work in the labor and delivery floor at a hospital.

"When I enrolled in Global Haiku last semester, I had no prior knowledge about haiku, other than it was Japanese poetry. After taking a semester of it, I have grown fond of reading haiku and am glad I have taken it."

tripping over the dress
she smiles
in the mirror

summer breeze
the sky God's paintbox
over my front porch

recess time
he wrote in crayon
I love you

sparkling shoes
Daddy Daughter
date night

pumping air in the tires
like we never parted
old friends

hours of play
with porcelain dolls and
the wooden dollhouse

ragged pink satin
sisters take turns
in the spinning dress

six at the table
clinking clanking
laughter

memories of bedtime
stories
now on my own

home at last
greeted by a friendly face
wagging her tail

11 years old
grandpa gives me coffee
and tells me not to tell