My mother wakes me
In the middle of the day
She works hard for me
I am a woman
Of course I feel the water
Towards me I drown
Among her presence
The flower blooms and withers
When she walks by me
Little one she sees
Painted face rosy red cheeks
Orbs linger at dusk
I chose to do various haikus for my contribution to the magazine. A haiku is a type of poem consisting of 17 syllables, with five in the first line, seven in the second line, and another five in the third line. I chose the haiku because I like that it is succinct, but is able to portray deep messages.
The first haiku is about my mother, who is my role model. She is the first person I think of when I hear the word woman, as she is the first woman in my life. I wanted to dedicate this first haiku to her. She continues to work hard to provide for me, but now that she’s older, she has come to realize that she should also make time for her mental health and for herself. I am happy for her and wish her the best.
The next haiku highlights how I think it feels like to be a woman. Sometimes, I feel everything rushing at me at once, and I feel overwhelmed. Still, it doesn’t seem to stop me from spending my time near the ocean. This correlates with me doing things I know will make me overwhelmed, but I still do it because I feel like I have to. I feel like a lot of women relate to this as well, and we end up hurting or exhausting ourselves at the expense of others.
This haiku highlights a woman with flaws, as she is described as a flower who both withers and blooms. Despite these flaws, she is still a woman, and her rights should not be taken away from her.
This haiku describes a mother whose daughter is growing up, with a painted face and rosy cheeks, ready to walk out the door. However, the mother fears that as she grows up, her daughter will be faced with dangers from men, and she is scared she will not be able to protect her from the world.
