First, what’s up with the colors?
As an avid coffee lover, I’m using background colors akin to dark, medium, and light coffee roasts to indicate my perception of each haiku’s emotional intensity.

I wrote some of these months or years ago and others on the same day they were published. I hope you enjoy and are inspired to write and share haiku of your own!

Breonna Taylor,
I wish Kentucky’s AG
Cared about your life.

[BlackGirlHaiku0001/September 6, 2020]

My doctor postponed
My annual checkup which
Gives me more prep time

[BlackGirlHaiku0002/September 6, 2020]

The cranberry bogs
It takes a full year of work
For them to bear fruit

[BlackGirlHaiku0003/September 6, 2020]

These beautiful lakes
Ponds, streams and gorges take me
Back to my childhood

[BlackGirlHaiku0004/September 6, 2020]

Quarantine keeps me
In closer proximity
To my sense of self

[BlackGirlHaiku0005/September 6, 2020]

The heavy days are
When I get it wrong on the
Serenity prayer

[BlackGirlHaiku0006/September 13, 2020]

When the leaves do turn
Winter is not far behind
Each year a surprise

[BlackGirlHaiku0007/September 13, 2020]

Her potty training
Rick James, dirty boots, white couch
Both plots are the same

[BlackGirlHaiku0008/September 13, 2020]

Bill Barr called slavery
“A different kind of restraint”
Cruelty is the point

[BlackGirlHaiku0009/September 17, 2020]

“Obama Era”
Mastered white fragility
Retiring those skills

[BlackGirlHaiku0010/September 19, 2020]

What is the best way
To prepare Black children for
When their race triggers?

[BlackGirlHaiku0011/September 19, 2020]

First, identify
Your unmovable beliefs.
Next, see who they hurt.

[BlackGirlHaiku0012/September 19, 2020]

We must not accept
The normalization of
Cruelty to “others”

[BlackGirlHaiku0013/September 19, 2020]

Why is “Android Boy”
Asking these questions about
Our plan to AirDrop?

[BlackGirlHaiku0014/September 19, 2020]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg
The power of living life
Free from “woe is me”

[BlackGirlHaiku0015/September 20, 2020]

See cruelty then ask:
Am I capable of that?
Then explore the “yes”

[BlackGirlHaiku0016/September 20, 2020]

Valuing Black folks
Who gladly pay their “Black Tax”
Is not a good thing

[BlackGirlHaiku0017/September 20, 2020]

Woe is me refrain
Feel what happens when you take
Self-pity away

[BlackGirlHaiku0018/September 20, 2020]

So, Daniel Cameron
Had Mitch at his wedding. So,
It all makes sense now

[BlackGirlHaiku0019/September 23, 2020]

A scary motive
For latching onto “pro-life”
Carte blanche for cruelty

[BlackGirlHaiku0020/September 23, 2020]

RBG’s best trait:
She always used her privilege
To lift people up

[BlackGirlHaiku0021/September 23, 2020]

I respect your right
To judge my health decisions
But not to ban them

[BlackGirlHaiku0022/September 20, 2020]

You were improving
Until you were not and then
You were gone from us

[BlackGirlHaiku0023/October 2017]

Dad’s final moments
Peaceful transition beyond
My comprehension

[BlackGirlHaiku0024/October 2017]

When I see this phrase
“Notorious ACB“
It feels literal

[BlackGirlHaiku0025/September 27, 2020]

Life leaked out of them,
No medical aid given.
George, Breonna, more…

[BlackGirlHaiku0026/September 27, 2020]

I know my ego
Is separate from who I am.
My ego does not.

[BlackGirlHaiku0027/September 24, 2020]

Trump told the Proud Boys
To just “stand back and stand by”
Terror encouraged

[BlackGirlHaiku0028/September 30, 2020]

The Trump Family shows
Its arrogance by breathing
Without wearing masks

[BlackGirlHaiku0029/October 3, 2020]

“Da da da DAT da…”
Time for Hamiltons‘s King George
To mock us through song

[BlackGirlHaiku0030/October 10, 2020]

Kamala Harris
Your confidence mixed with joy
Are my new blueprint

[BlackGirlHaiku0031/November 8, 2020]

We all shouted “yeah!”
When Biden thanked Black people
For saving his ass!

[BlackGirlHaiku0032/November 8 2020]

They voted for Trump
A second term undeserved
Now they are proof points

[BlackGirlHaiku0033/November 8, 2020]

The “racist” label
Tends to distract from the acts
That prompt the label

[BlackGirlHaiku0034/Some date in 2018]

After time away
I can see I was being
Way too serious

[BlackGirlHaiku0035/Some date in 2018]

America blends
Beauty and brutality
“Strange Fruit” captures it

[BlackGirlHaiku0036/Some date in 2020]

Those Black “lesser-than’s”
May be fueling your self-worth
More than you realize

[BlackGirlHaiku0037/November 15, 2020]