10 Haikus

1. Break

Sometimes I could throw

A brick through your wake window

Shattering the pane.

2. Alarm

In the shower’s hiss

I hallucinate your cries

No one comes to help.

3. RSVP

I cannot tell you

How much I want to go. But

We are stuck like this.

4. Yawing

I’m her creaking ship

And she is my figurehead

Barnacle, treasure.

5. Love-Love

Tucked under my chin,

Your head, a warm tennis ball

Bouncing off sleep’s wall.

6. Nourish

Mid-feed, we lock eyes

You unlatch, a smile opens

Your mouth, and then mine.

7. Weaning

Things she will eat:

Paper, gravel, cat food, glue

But not vegetables.

8. Poor Sick Baby

Snot pours from your nose

Puddles in your eyes, leaks from

Your ears. Still you smile.

9. How it is meant to be

Grandmother, sister

Daughter, and me. Together.

Rock, water, wind, light.

10. Don’t Let it Fester

Write from the dark. Write

Haikus, lists, bullets, shrapnel

You must tweeze it out.