feathers caught
in the chain link fence
another miscarriage

 

6 Responses

  1. Lucy Whitehead Says:

    There's something really visceral about this haiku for me, which makes it particularly powerful.

  2. Olivier Schopfer Says:

    recurrence…

    feathers caught

    on a barbed wire fence

    (Olivier Schopfer: Acorn No.37, Fall 2016)

  3. Alan Summers Says:

    Razor wire haiku!

    feathers caught
    in the chain link fence
    another miscarriage

    —MARY HANRAHAN

    That is a powerful pairing of images, and many of us have seen the softest of material, whether sheep's wool or bird's feathers, usually, thankfully, without blood or part of its body. The use of feathers makes the last line all the more powerful, as the life lost is still young, and softly vulnerable, as will be the mother.

    recurrence…
    feathers caught
    on a barbed wire fence

    Olivier Schopfer
    Acorn No.37, Fall 2016

    This is an incredible occurance, no pun intended, and coincidence. A powerful opening choice of word, because the word ‘recurrence’ can mean:

    recurrence
    /r??k?r?ns/
    noun: recurrence; plural noun: recurrences
    the fact of occurring again."a drug used to prevent the recurrence of breast cancer"

    Cancer has been said to be human cells seeking immortality, yet it kills or can kill the human.

    I've only used 'barbed wire' in two haiku (the other one being about pipe bombs) and an ekphastic haibun without mentioning barbed wire, but with its other name of 'devil's rope’.

    Here’s the haiku about barbed wire out in farmland:

    old concrete post
    threaded with lichen
    its new barbed wire

    Alan Summers
    haiku spirit #16, Eire (1999)

  4. Mary Hanrahan Says:

    I always learn so much from your comments Alan!

    Also, in my haiku,the chain link fence serves as an concrete image of a mother?s body after multiple miscarriages. We are minus a baby/bird yet we sometimes still feel the flutter of movement for weeks after. We are left with only the ?feathers? knowing the young chick isn?t really there. There is also the chain of circumstances, hormones, and diagnostics we go through after a miscarriage to determine the cause. Finding the link that might prevent another one etc.

    Thanks again for the insights… always amazes me !

  5. Alan Summers Says:

    Thanks Mary!

    Incredibly powerful work!

    warm regards,
    Alan

  6. Alan Says:

    brutally beautiful

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