Narrow Road to St.

Olaf
By Ashley Smith

My Haiku
A seed in the breeze

An iris among splayed leaves

The subtle wind grieves

Literary Explanation:
I decided to use the words leaves
and iris as my seasonal words.
Leaves bringing the imagery of
fall, and iris bringing the imagery
of spring. The seed that is
mentioned in the first line is an iris
seed that has grown among the
leaves. I specifically chose iris
because it is mentioned in a very
famous tanka poem in the Tale of
Ise called Kakitsubata.

Personal Explanation:
The breeze that carried the seed in this poem is my family. Without my family, there is
no way that I would have made it to St. Olaf. They encouraged to be a learn about
anything and supported me when I thought I wasnt worth the time, and theyve
been there to help my mother, my sister, and I when my mother was hospitalized
multiple times. No matter I wanted to do, they were there to help me find ways to
accomplish whatever it was. Theyre here for me now with my seemingly crazy idea
to go to both China and Japan even though its extremely hard for us. They planted
me in a place where I was to grow, and I did grow a lot here. As soon as I walked on
this campus, I was no longer shy and invisible, and I no longer wanted to be. I ended
up becoming a social butterfly. People still dont believe me when I say that I was the
quiet girl that nobody noticed in high school. An iris among the splayed leaves
symbolizes that I have bloomed during autumn. The last line is representing how hard
it was for my family to leave me in a place where we knew no one. The one who was
really upset was my sister because we had never been apart for longer than a week
and even then she was 30 minutes away. I was always there. If there was ever
anything she needed, I would find a way to get it for her. My grandmother was taking
one of her grandchildren to college for the first time and while that was exciting, she
was sad to leave me here and always worried. The same went for my mom. They had
never left me alone before, especially in another state.