the rattle
roberta beary, USA

another late night and here he comes
singing his way home
the rattle as i chain lock the door
he can sleep it off out back he won’t freeze
the singing louder now
it’s himself in the driveway with the garbage cans
dragging them one by one from the back to the front
even blotto he knows tomorrow is saturday
and saturday is garbage day
as certain as death and taxes
light in my hands is the weight of the chain undone

oxygen tube
the long pause
between breaths

Roberta Beary grew up in New York City and currently lives in Maryland.

"I feel a closeness to Japan since I lived in Tokyo for 5 years in the 1990s. While living in Japan, I discovered haiku. Today I am an active member of the towpath haiku group, which meets in the Washington, DC area.  We often get together to workshop our haiku and haibun.  One of the things I like to do is to look up other haiku poets when I travel.  I strongly believe in the power of haibun to tap one's most bittersweet memories."

Copyright 2005: Simply Haiku