[edit: my friend Dan pointed out to me the other day that there are two #59 haiku, which technically means I wrote 101]
#1
I can write you a
haiku like nothing, nothing
else matters at all.
#2
It’s a dream and a show. Fall
Alice, down you go!
#3 (from Oat and Oak)
We must acknowledge
our freedom of thought, own it,
and breath slowly in.
#4 (from Oat and Oak)
A singular and
endlessly prolific chance…
The chance for power.
#5
You are the one girl
I’d fly across the country
to kiss and cuddle.
#6 (New Life)
There is no other
choice, when you have it in your
heart, something to do.
#7
Ha ha ha! I laughed.
The cat turned the corner and
walked away slowly.
#8
“Did you try that soul
chocolate?” she asked me, thinking
I knew what she meant.
#9
Gorgeous little things
staring out the window at
me and the whole world.
#10
Sitting on a child’s
bed, listening to his dad
read Shel Silverstein.
#11
Are you ticklish? asked
the little boy. I was and
I was grateful too.
#12
It’s not about the
mistake. He said it’s about
the recovery.
#13
A small child can
jump on the bed and show
you his pop-up book too.
#14
The taste of solid
ingredients in a good
dinner is divine.
#15
How many of these
can I write with one arm tied
behind my back, huh?
#16
You didn’t ask for
a hundred haikus today.
You’re just that lucky.
#17
Mary, Mary, quite
contrary, said everything
that started the fight.
#18
feel like a monster.
#19
Are intimacy
and vulnerability
some things that you want?
#20
I showed you my face
in the dark. You saw just my
glassy tearful eyes.
#21
The air was crisp. I
sang hymns and, as I did, a
bird chirped at a star.
#22
Just one star shown through
between two trees as the sun
was setting elsewhere.
#23
I walked to have a
meditation on just how
happy I am now.
#24
I went back inside
to watch the movie with them,
a secret inside.
#25
As the day went on
and on and on I worried I
would have too much fun.
#26
When you have played games
cooked grand food, watched movies and
read poetry. Wow.
#27
What a day. What a
day. If only it would go
on always this way.
#28
Well, I’m at twenty-
eight. I think it’s time to get
real devotional.
#29
Jodi Denton loves
her little girls. And doesn’t
take shit from no one.
#30
John Dillon sends me
Snapchats every single day.
I fucking love it.
#31
Jalen Young and I
once sat in my living room
watching music vids.
#32
Carie Binhammer
sunbathed with me outside the
pool. Cedar Rapids.
#33
Victoria, Queenie,
With the beautiful family
and brave mellow heart.
#34
Alison Darnell
helped a phoenix rise out of
my ribcage with ink.
#35
Brian Gaughan, tireless,
works for the causes he feels
are most important.
#36
I once saw Kevin
stop his car at a crash site
and run to save lives.
#37
One hundred haikus
is a lot more haikus than
I can make tonight.
#38
I think that it is
pretty impressive that I
got this far just now.
#40
That being said I
am going to sleep, gorgeous
sleep, until morning.
#41
I will dream now in
haikus I’m absolutely
sure that I will now.
#42
Remembering a
childhood memory all
of a sudden. Weird.
#43
Something that happened
on Halloween as a young
one. Other than treats.
#44
The longer I think
the less of anything comes
back to consciousness.
#45
I stayed up way too
late writing these haikus and
now I want to sleep in.
#46
I was going to
try to get a job before
work. A new job. More.
#47
I secretly hope
something good will just fall in
my lap like it should.
#48
I think with this kind
of creativity and
spontaneity.
#49
I’m not kidding I
have written this many in
not even an hour.
#50
Some are silly. Some
are nothing. And I know that
some of them will hurt.
#51
If I keep going
I will keep digging deeper
into what matters.
#52
David Welch’s class
started me on all this poem
writing years ago.
#53
Sam Bouman tells me
a story and I cannot
resist listening.
#54
James Phelps, man oh man
my counselor and teacher
in college. My friend.
#55
There’s a lot of name
dropping going on in here,
Stephanie Serrano.
#56
Amanda Lawrence my roommate
in Budapest way back when,
still sends me postcards.
#57
Haris Kovac makes
my little brother and I
laugh until we cry.
#58
Oh how everything
I ever really wanted.
I see inside now.
#59
I can grow old and
I can die. And I can be
unafraid of it.
#59
Sooner or later
We’re scared babies lying, eyes
wide open at night.
#60
I would have dropped a
name again but I swear that
David Luke said don’t.
#61
“I’ve got thick skin and
an elastic heart. But your blade
it might be too sharp.”
#62
“Screaming into the
canyon at the moment of
my death. The echo…”
#63
“Only one thing to do
and that’s be the way that I
am, then sink back in…”
#64
Take me. Take me there.
Here is fine too. Wherever.
Come on and let’s go.
#65
You said my skin felt
too sacred to touch and now
I really want you to.
#66
You opened your house
up to me, your love, family
friendship grown giant.
#67
I could sleep right now
I could sleep sleep sleep right now
or just keep writing.
#68
Is this tripping you
out? Reading these and feeling
like I’m with you now?
#69
Sssh… just don’t even
worry about your feelings now.
I’m right here, lovely.
#70
I’m holding you in
my arms while I’m holding my
own little self too.
#71
I’m learning from this.
A lot, but mostly that it
doesn’t require much.
#72
You can say so very
strongly everything you want
in only three lines.
#73
Five syllables go
before seven which then go
before five more. Words.
#74
The rules are simple.
It’s not about rules at all.
Eyelids, heavy head.
#75
My head sits on my
knee, my leg bent in front of
my chest, fingers tap.
#76
Please don’t leave, she said,
I’m aching to tell you some
thing so powerful.
#77
“You, you are the blood
flowing through my fingers all
through the soil and…”
#78
One day, when I was
way too old for it by then,
I climbed in dad’s lap.
#79
There was another
day sometime during sophomore
year, I didn’t speak.
#80
There was a time I
was looking for someone and
my heart beat so fast.
#81
He was somewhere in
the stacks at the library.
And I was in love.
#82
I tell you this now
because I trust you. And well,
I might love you too.
#83
Isn’t it funny
how these little poems can
open up so much?
#84
You want to see a
magic trick? I promise I
won’t give it away.
#85
I’m sorry it is
late and I probably tagged
you on facebook ugh.
#86
If I didn’t tag
you on Facebook and you read
all of these. Thank you.
#87
If I did tag you
on Facebook and you read all
of these. Thank you too.
#88
I think I still have
half a glass of wine I can
drink, to get more words.
#89
Some of these I wrote
tonight, some while walking to
the bus days ago.
#90
The one about us
being babies is the one
I wrote in my head.
#91
I wrote it and thought
I will remember that and
maybe write some more.
#92
Then some days came where
everyday I wrote a haiku
in my head for fun.
#93
But you really have
to be careful because it
is so addictive.
#94
Promise me you will
try it today, or maybe
tomorrow… Promise.
#95
Listen, I know you
are still reading because you
want to feel something.
#96
In my mind, I just
reached out my little finger
and touched your chest there.
#97
I lay in the bath
with the shower running and
go under water.
#98
It’s getting closer,
so close. Closer and closer.
Everyday. Right now.
#99
So what will you do
now? Please tell me because my
body is leaving.
#100
When it’s gone, I won’t
be on this earth except in
a hundred haiku.
