The poem teases me with ambiguity. Is your mom dead or does she no longer need the meds? Are you giving her meds to others or perhaps to yourself? I love its suggestive richness.
Another sad, searing, captivating haiku from you. You have a way of writing about family that is uniquely powerful and affecting.
As a lyric response: a haiku from a haibun written in the year after my wife's death, published in the January, 2016 issue of Contemporary Haibun Online…
across the street, her pharmacy
I take
death daily
As someone who has written a lot about my mother in haiku, and in haibun, and never realised that I would, these poems are important. They do an awful lot of good whether someone is normally a poetry lover or not. They just connect.
Many thanks Roberta, and to Tinywords, for publishing this one.
warmest regards, hope to see you soon somewhere near in the South West of England! :-)
Thanks for these comments and thanks tinywords for publishing this one. This haiku was translated into Hebrew by poet Alex Ben-Ari and included in a ‘Zoom’ reading I did yesterday 23 April 2020 for Poetry Place International Festival.
January 1st, 2019 at 10:14 am
The poem teases me with ambiguity. Is your mom dead or does she no longer need the meds? Are you giving her meds to others or perhaps to yourself? I love its suggestive richness.
January 1st, 2019 at 11:07 am
she’s dead, Gaby. giving to others…
January 1st, 2019 at 11:53 am
Very moving, Roberta — always am touched by your poems
January 4th, 2019 at 3:19 pm
Another sad, searing, captivating haiku from you. You have a way of writing about family that is uniquely powerful and affecting.
As a lyric response: a haiku from a haibun written in the year after my wife's death, published in the January, 2016 issue of Contemporary Haibun Online…
across the street, her pharmacy
I take
death daily
January 7th, 2019 at 4:05 pm
As someone who has written a lot about my mother in haiku, and in haibun, and never realised that I would, these poems are important. They do an awful lot of good whether someone is normally a poetry lover or not. They just connect.
Many thanks Roberta, and to Tinywords, for publishing this one.
warmest regards, hope to see you soon somewhere near in the South West of England! :-)
Alan
January 28th, 2019 at 3:57 am
A quietly powerful poem, Roberta. Thanks for sharing.
marion
April 24th, 2020 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for these comments and thanks tinywords for publishing this one. This haiku was translated into Hebrew by poet Alex Ben-Ari and included in a ‘Zoom’ reading I did yesterday 23 April 2020 for Poetry Place International Festival.