haiku

Randy Brooks

dishwater hands
fingering out a bridge
on her guitar

 

RANDY BROOKS is Professor of English Emeritus at Millikin University, where he teaches a haiku course. Randy and Shirley Brooks, are publishers of Brooks Books and co-editors of Mayfly haiku magazine. His most recent books include Walking the Fence: Selected Tanka and The Art of Reading and Writing Haiku.

Our summer issue can relate

JDP cover for issue 129 July 2025, in shades of tan: a human figure leans into a wall; their face has disappeared inside the wall and reappeared several feet away on the same wall

If you’ve ever helped someone find their way through a maze,

If you’ve ever been out of place or time,

If you’ve ever lost someone and made unusual choices,

If you’ve ever desperately wanted to be haunted,

If you’ve ever felt trapped,

If you’ve ever worked the night shift for minimum wage,

If you’ve ever been stuck in a wall . . .

This one’s for you.

Sleep Training the Minotaur

Sarp Sozdinler

We take turns reading to it.
Mostly cookbooks.
Or the instruction manual
for a dehumidifier.

It prefers
the parts in italics.

At night, it dreams
of a smaller labyrinth—
just a single hallway,
with no decisions.

Sometimes it calls out
for Ariadne.
Sometimes Ikea.

We do not correct it.

 

A Turkish writer & poet, SARP SOZDINLER has been published in Electric Literature, Kenyon Review, Masters Review, Trampset, Hobart, HAD, JMWW, and Normal School, among other journals. Their work has been selected or nominated for anthologies including the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Wigleaf Top 50. They are currently working on their first novel in Philadelphia and Amsterdam.