Global Haiku • Fall 2012
Dr. Randy Brooks

Author's Bio: Hannah Gifford is a Junior at Millikin University studying Human Services with a minor in Music. She is involved on campus with Alpha Phi Omega, Chamber Chorale, and InterVarsity. After Millikin, she hopes to pursue a career in non-profit work or school counseling.

Spark of the Heart

by
Hannah Gifford

Spark of the Heart is dedicated to the loved ones supporting me every day. These include my family who unconditionally love me, my friends who laugh with me, and my boyfriend who encourages me daily. I hope this work honors those who have raised me and my Father who I live for.

Author's Introduction:

I chose Spark of the Heart as my title, because it embodies the inspiration behind my haiku. I write about experiences, those I have been through or seen that touched my heart in some way, such as pain, love, and hope. The spark occurred when I found a form of poetic expression to a past moment. One haiku really expresses how I came to write my poetry.

past memories
recorded
spark of the heart

These chosen haiku were selected for the responses they evoke and how relatable the haiku are with each reader. My hope is that these specific poems would remind readers of an instance they treasured but may have forgotten by the wayside. A spark is what poetry is to me, a tiny inkling of a thought that turns into written beauty.

banana bread
a team effort
of aged and small hands

freckled girl
grape popsicle
down her shirt

lingering notes
struggling to make beauty
with a ticking time bomb

grandmother
cooking everyone's
favorite dish

brothers return home
fighting for our country
and mom's pie

ignoring
the label
cookie dough

single rose
with a lonely question
I check maybe

grocery store line
emotionless faces
hear the bell ringers

slow dancing
like grown-ups
in the backyard

innocent, young mind
staring at birthday candles
her first tight-eyed wish

family game night
gone for a second . . .
partnered with the crazy uncle

sleepover
building a fort
from memories

handing his old Pokemon cards
to my little cousin
I fall in love.

kitchen wall
little hands
leaving turkeys

borrowing my mom's
sweater
as a dress