Global Haiku • Spring 2013
Dr. Randy Brooks

With Eyes Wide Open

by
Therese O'Shaughnessy

This collection titled With Eyes Wide Open is an accumulation of my most inspired and substantial haiku from the spring semester 2013 of Honors Seminar: Global Haiku. Exploring the art of haiku and its lax restrictions on creativity, I became interested in the abundant ways haiku could be written and organized. I have chosen to title my booklet With Eyes Wide Open as the following haiku is a product of my curious, unbiased examination of the art form. My open-mindedness has allowed me to thoroughly appreciate haiku and through inspiration of other poets, I have tried my hand at diverse forms of haiku. The organization of With Eyes Wide Open follows the naivety and innocence I held dear as an adolescent, until reality caused a sudden loss of purity during my teenage years. However, the collection concludes with a refreshing haiku, meant to represent a current newfound hope in my own life.

cul-de-sac hairdo
little girl nuzzles to give
kisses on his head

cookie crumbs
on footie pajamas
—college

blooming chrysanthemum
tiny pink tongues lap
at milk in the saucer

white socks shuffle—
camel’s feet
beneath her kimono

muffled whimpering sounds
from down the stairs . . .
only the dogs

counseling at Starbucks
two days later
she dials his number

becoming a woman
in math class
my uterus cringes with me.

tang of sangria
tiptoeing
up the stairs

flopping and squirming
on my beach towel
dying fish

phantom scent
of a clove cigarette—
the park at dusk

over the sharp cliffs
of my dark mind—
I tumble

Sunday morning
her white hair gone
in a snowy gust

old bones, broken bones
toothy smile
eases the ache