her good days…
scattered sunlight
in the garden

 

Published by

Dan Curtis

Dan Curtis lives in Victoria, British Columbia. His work has appeared in many of the leading English language journals and magazines including Frogpond, Heron's Nest, and Modern Haiku. He is a member of Haiku Canada, the Haiku Society of America, and Haiku Arbutus.

13 thoughts on “”

  1. .
    her good days…
    scattered sunlight
    in the garden

    —DAN CURTIS

    My mom died peacefully not having to go to the next stage of morphine, so we had her company, until she made an excuse, and we left the room, and she died within the short time we in a lounge area.

    The two phrases are subtly paired, 'good days of focus and mood, and health' along with 'scattered sunlight' and scattered moments, while in a garden, it seems.

    My mom was too ill to go out, even with the garden right outside, she couldn't look out. That was very sad, as she loved designing the garden she finally got and deserved after working incredibly hard from the age of 14 years old. But we had a lot of laughs, and packed as many as we could, into that last year.

    Thank you for your haiku, deeply appreciated.

    .

    Now it's heading towards Christmas, not necessarily a time she was keenly interested in, for the last 30 years, but…

    mulled wine
    my mother's voices
    move within me
     
    Alan Summers
    Asahi Shimbun (Japan) 1st January 2016

    .

    1. Alan, thank you for taking the time to respond to my haiku. Your kind words and reflections on your mother's illness are much appreciated.

      I quite like your 'mulled wine'. The use of the 'm' sound adds to the warmth of the ku. I'm also intrigued by the use of 'voices'. I picture you hearing not only different ages but also different moods in her voice. Very effective!

      Thank you again.

      1. The use of alliteration does seem to have a profound, even if covert, emotional effect on many people, but I guess I couldn't avoid the alliteration, but do feel it works.

        One voice or two was carried forward as she used to race up the stairs and yell a lot if I was reading late at night. I did sometimes as a child read until 3am in the morning! :-)

        I feel our body is an instrument recording and retaining memories, and sounds. :-)

        Alan

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