WFH | Your work-from-home haiku submissions
Faculty and staff are continuing to find inspiration and tap into their creativity in this work-from-home environment – whether it's adapting to teaching classes online or finding some humor and levity in a complicated situation.
Just as you did when we asked for happy news [1], work-from-home tips [2] and pictures of your home offices [3], kids and pets [4], you came through when we asked you for haiku exploring Zooming, working from home and home schooling.
You'll see some familiar themes in these poems, along with a few new ones, including working in pajamas, finding balance through nature, and appreciating commute-free days.
Find your inner peace by reading dozens of submissions from your colleagues in all of their 17-syllable glory. And for more perspective on how people can turn a stay-at-home atmosphere into an opportunity for artistic creativity, read this UANews article [5].
Traffic Jam Again | At home challenges – | |
Four Adults, A Dog, All Home | Cats walking on the keyboard | |
Hallway – at Rush Hour! | When can we return? | |
Karena Nespoli | Home-schooling the kids | |
Human Resources Representative | I now see, teachers need more | |
Department of Medicine | Appreciation | |
Zoom meetings all day, | ||
Kids are arguing | Faces in boxes. Welcome | |
Dogs barking, husband on phone | To the Brady Bunch | |
Where are my headphones?! | ||
Feeling so alone | ||
Roll out of the bed | Co-workers are far away | |
Check the mirror, all OK | I miss Nerf gun wars | |
Time for my next Zoom! | ||
Walter Ries | ||
Lots of morning walks | IT Manager | |
Although life is disrupted | Office of Student Computing Resources | |
Good time together | ||
Debbie Claggett | Is your Zoom frozen? | |
Coordinator | Or is that a GIF of you | |
Interdisciplinary Capstone Program | Pretending to nod? | |
College of Engineering | ||
Nick Prevenas | ||
Senior News Writer/Media Relations Analyst | ||
Everyday I work | University Communications | |
At home until at least five | ||
And then I have wine | ||
Dining room office, | ||
Maya Patterson | extra bedroom workspace next, | |
Office Specialist, Senior | kind of miss downtown. | |
Arizona Institutes for Resilience: Solutions | ||
for the Environment and Society | Sacred library | |
in extra bedroom space is | ||
now the home office. | ||
Quarantine hair length | ||
Fostering insanity | My dogs sleep a lot, | |
Solution: No hair! | but are tied to the start of | |
each Zoom meeting, woof! | ||
Who are these children | ||
Running through my Zoom meeting? | Jennifer Priest Mitchell | |
Oh wait, they are mine | Faculty Coordinator | |
College of Medicine – Phoenix | ||
Our cats and our dogs | ||
Do not understand why they | ||
Cannot be on Zoom | Staff meeting on Zoom | |
My kids burst into the room | ||
I never would have | Thank heaven for mute | |
Believed how much it could mean | ||
Speaking face to face | Isaac Flater | |
Marketing Specialist | ||
Shana McClelland | SALT Center | |
Senior Research Administrator | ||
Research, Innovation & Impact | ||
My dress code is nice | ||
Because I’m working from home | ||
The dogs at my feet. | I’m not wearing pants. | |
Waiting for their entrance. Zoom! | ||
Meeting interrupted. | Ding! Buzz! Zoom! Ring! Beep! | |
Multi-tasking is my game. | ||
Alexandra Franz | How may I help you? | |
Administrative Assistant | ||
University Libraries | The phone does not ring. | |
There are no copies to make. | ||
I’m "working" from home. | ||
In PJs or sweats, | ||
A virtual Monet garden | I tried Zoom outdoors | |
Takes my kids to France | Incessant noise from neighbors | |
Now it is too hot | ||
In breakout rooms and | ||
Google docs and Padlet screens | Their school, my school, work. | |
Students still make friends | Brain is bouncing in my head. | |
Where is my coffee? | ||
Can you hear me now? | ||
Students close but far away. | Trying to teach them. | |
Black screens hide their face | I forgot math had letters, | |
But I can still spell. | ||
Heidi Quist | ||
Graduate Assistant | Helping with homework. | |
Department of French and Italian | Mom still rocks geometry. | |
Take that, teenage sons! | ||
Bloopers and hiccups | Lunching on my couch | |
Spotty video and sound | Dog waiting for tasty snacks | |
Just smile. It’s okay! | Drooling on my floor | |
Working from afar | Amy Warren | |
Our resilience is tested | Administrative Assistant | |
Yet we persevere! | Department of Spanish and Portuguese | |
Meg Cota | ||
Assistant Professor of Practice | DRIP DRIP COFFEE NOW | |
Educational Policy Studies and Practice | ZOOM ZOOMS ALL DAY LONG IT SEEMS | |
KIDS SCREAMING… HELP ME | ||
the daily commute | Megan Eagon | |
even that I seem to miss | Manager, Ticketing | |
but not enough though | Centennial Hall | UA Presents | |
focus through a new scope | ||
once was quite invisible | Plugged in life all day | |
is now obsession | Beep Ping Bubble Ding Ring Buzz | |
Technology Loop | ||
revolving seasons | ||
flipping through calendar days | Sam Eagon | |
time is now fluid | Technical Director | |
Centennial Hall | UA Presents | ||
springing from social | ||
to summertime distancing | ||
evolving in fall | Three months, hard pursuit. | |
No Suit. No Rest. And no Hair | ||
thousand one steps round | spring I won’t hold tight. | |
twelve hundred sixty one feet | ||
convenient comfort | Extrovert cooped up. | |
If retirement’s like this, | ||
Andrea Lawyer | Yep, I will be bored. | |
Coordinator, Employee Services | ||
Research, Innovation & Impact | Thomas O. McDonald | |
Chief of Staff | ||
Office of Business Affairs | ||
My kids redefine | ||
“lap-top,” Sorry my email | ||
Read: hhjj | Is this home schooling? | |
I think more like home zooing. | ||
Other essential | Ugh, pay teachers more. | |
Workers: Elmo, Peppa pig | ||
Working mom heroes | Write po-ems from home? | |
Well, only when it is dark. | ||
Leona Davis | My tears? Lyrical. | |
Events and Programs Coordinator | ||
Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry | Andy DuMont | |
Director of Communications | ||
Executive Office of the President | ||
Through the glass – a hawk | ||
Nature penetrates Zoom call | ||
A spray of feathers | I begin speaking | |
Everyone looks on, blankly | ||
Cheryl Gerken | Forgot to unmute | |
Educational Outreach Coordinator | ||
Arizona Public Media | LQP haiku | |
I try and try, but alas | ||
I’m out of syllab | ||
No alarms since March | ||
Hoping to eat out again soon | Andy Ober | |
I miss my coworkers | Assistant Director, News | |
University Communications | ||
Joy Caron | ||
Coordinator, Personnel and Faculty Status | ||
HR Generalist III | Aging parents: Fear | |
Mel and Enid Zuckerman | Silent, empty classrooms: Grief | |
College of Public Health | Hummingbirds: Delight | |
Brenae Bailey | ||
We are all in this | Lecturer | |
The commercials tell me so | Department of Mathematics | |
It's like cubicles | ||
Andy Lewis | isolation angst | |
Executive Assistant | never focused, always hungry | |
Financial Services | Administration | won't return to pants | |
Mikayla Mace | ||
cat sits on the table | Science Writer | |
zoom, write, cook, clean, sit, stand, again | University Communications | |
kitchen universe | ||
Lisa Falk | Alone at my desk | |
Head of Community Engagement and | Cicadas' voices are heard | |
Associate Curator of Education | Can they hear mine too?! | |
Arizona State Museum | ||
Teaching Associate, College of Education | Deborah S. Corcoran | |
Senior Auditor | ||
Internal Audit | ||
Working outdoors now | ||
Mosquitos in my “office” | ||
Getting hot today | it took me two months | |
and still found myself roaming | ||
Snacks in the kitchen | To get to work | |
Computer in the bedroom | ||
Where does my head go | the lost connection | |
Cat is smiling guiltily | ||
I have the best | zoom in and zoom out | |
Coworkers and office mates | ||
Two cats and a dog | Disturbing my writing | |
Someone tries to blind me | ||
Nancy Tepper | Sun at the horizon | |
Garden Kitchen Instructional Specialist | ||
Pima County Cooperative Extension | Ruslan Rafikov | |
Associate Professor of Medicine | ||
Department of Medicine | ||
What is happening? | ||
Learn, accept and find balance | ||
See the world anew | The cat at my feet. | |
The Rincons out my window. | ||
Erin K. Deely | Here I sit, working. | |
Director of Recruitment | ||
College of Science | Cassie Walker | |
Prospect Research Analyst | ||
Development Services | ||
I've always wondered, | ||
can meetings be an email? | ||
We're finding out now! | Gila Monster stroll | |
Love my Sonoran Desert | ||
Scott G. Skinner | Working-from-home views | |
Applications Systems Analyst | ||
Developer, Principal | Betsy Wilkening | |
University Information Technology Services | Education Outreach Coordinator | |
Water Resources Research Center | ||
Morning routine same | ||
Office has changed now | What happened to Spring? | |
Waiting for what's next | Wish it could begin again | |
With no Pandemic | ||
Margie Puerta Edson | ||
Senior Director of Development | Gazing at the door | |
and Alumni Relations | Not missing the morning rush | |
College of Engineering | But I do miss you | |
Nancy Rash | ||
Another day home | Financial Services Specialist | |
Discovering Great things | Financial Services | Payroll | |
I never had time for | ||
I don’t miss the ride. | Spring blossoms blister | |
No traffic is the best part | Electric breeze bears no scent | |
Saving stress and earth | A day without sun | |
When will it all end? | Imprint on closed eyes | |
We must return to normal | Light and dark urgent to-dos | |
Proceed with caution! | Orange cat purring | |
My grandson is here | Glowing faces watch | |
Working on studies and music | Bright song from sole cardinal | |
My home filled with joy | New industry glints | |
My dogs are so glad | Susanna Eden | |
I’m home every day to play | Assistant Director | |
The cat – not so much | Water Resources Research Center | |
Kindness and love abound | ||
Thinking of others is key | Sound is cutting out | |
We’ll all be stronger | Video is way too dark | |
Zoom is the new norm | ||
Tovi Ballesteros | ||
Associate Accountant | Dietlinde B. DuPlessis | |
Planning, Design and Construction | Communications Specialist | |
Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources | ||
Stay out of harm’s way | ||
Zoom is not the same for me | A full day of work | |
I miss my Wildcats | in my pajamas. How nice! | |
Less laundry to do. | ||
Amy Selegue | ||
Program Coordinator, Senior | Roy Goodman | |
University of Arizona Cancer Center | Administrative Associate | |
Student Behavioral Education | ||
Housing and Residential Life | ||
Forced working from home | ||
Was not in my arrangement | ||
But it is working | No quiero pensar | |
Ay, el virus, el virus | ||
Working in pjs | Déjame en paz! | |
Avoid the zoom camera | ||
No hair styling done | I don't want to think | |
Oh, the virus, the virus. | ||
Carol Stuehm | Get off my planet! | |
Clinical Research Coordinator | ||
Department of Medical Imaging | Quieres regresar | |
a la Universidad, | ||
Cuídate pues ya! | ||
Must work from home now | ||
But the fridge is so empty | You want to come back | |
Eating grilled cheese again | to the university | |
take care already! | ||
Kevin Ricotta | ||
Systems Administrator II | Arlene Islas | |
Office of Student Computing Resources | Video Communications Manager | |
University Communications | ||
Mailman strolls up walk | ||
Dog stirs, hackles rise – quick now! | My deadline is nigh | |
Where’s the mute button? | But the fridge, it is right there | |
Cold treats seduce me | ||
URL chains link | ||
colleagues meeting by meeting | Kyle Mittan | |
Through our Zoomiverse | Communications Specialist | |
University Communications | ||
Christine Seliga | ||
Library Operations Supervisor | ||
University Libraries |