Hank
Zane Parks
 

The last time I saw my cousin Hank, we were both young men. He was stocky. I could easily imagine him playing high school football; maybe a running back. In a flight of fancy, I saw him as a local hero. With his rugged good looks, the girls would've loved him. Those would have been his glory days. Barring some great good fortune, he'd have gone to work in the mines after graduation.

But Hank never spoke. It was softly said that perhaps the doctor had misapplied forceps to his skull at birth. In that time and place, doctors were gods. No one would have thought to make a claim against one.

in the road
dark skid marks
and fur darker still

Zane Parks lives in California with his wife Bridget and cats Buddy and Starbucks. He writes haiku, tanka, and related forms. Haibun is a recent interest. Some of his work can be viewed online at http://www.zaneparks.com/poetry.html.

Copyright 2006: Simply Haiku