Zen Haiku • Spring 2025
Dr. Randy Brooks

A Crow On My Forehead

by
Shaina Yumol

Haiku is a practice of attention. It is noticing, distilling, and honoring fleeting moments with clarity. Haiku has its traditional roots in Japanese poetry, and it invites the writer to experience life in three brief lines that often evoke nature, seasons, or sudden insight. The haiku shared in this collection balances observation with memory, humor, grief, and tenderness. Each poem asks us to pause and to feel deeper. Haiku is both quiet and loud, up to the discretion of the reader.

tried to leave
      the car seatbelt
                     still on

white button down
   spaghetti stain
               aw, man

fallen branch
taken into a room—
dangles a confused spider

open floor plan
all my memories
from the kitchen

caught you in the kitchen
looking for a snack
late night talk

mama tells her little girl
look at the tree
in your name
               titled Magnolia

serene waters
catching two dogs
misbeahving

family dog
how many lifetimes
has he chased sticks

a crow
lands on my forehead
leaving a shadow

betrayed by a friend
this ripe grapefruit
juicy, but sour

ink covers fingertips
i lather dawn and
use a toothbrush

my shadow hums
only crows can decode—
i dance anyway

last catch of the day
hooked a fish
right next to my keys

Final Course Reflection

This course taught me to be more present with myself and the world around me. I've become more appreciative of the tiny moments that were paid attention to in a few Zen tenets. Quietness can be quite loud. I've learned that haiku is a way of seeing. In elementary school, I was taught that haiku followed a 5-7-5 strict syllable rule, however, that is the way it is taught in the West. Haiku is three short lines, or a one-liner. Haiku has taught me to observe nature more closely, to notice small shifts in light, mood, or sound, and to distill experience into something essential. It’s an art of restraint and presence, mirroring Zen itself. In terms of how this course would help me develop a life of meaning and value, I find myself in moments of thought that “this moment can be turned into a haiku” or being able to turn a fleeting memory into words. A haiku can say so much in such few words. The reader can fill up the space and imagine the scene that is taking place with this haiku. Haiku can tell a story.