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Living Things

The weeping willow, despite its name, its curtain of low-sweeping boughs, does not weep over what is lost,does not grieve.

after her death
watching the rain
meeting the river

Beneath the bark, a layer of living cells divides and multiplies, expanding sapwood and heartwood, stretching the bark until it cracks and sheds to fit the new girth.

laughter lines—
the scar around my breast
faded now

Growth: out into the world, down into the dark earth, and up into the light.

Contemporary Haibun Volume 10
Red Moon Press 2009

Comments

  1. Emma Dalloway13 April 2009 at 10:58

    a beautiful haibun on death and renewal. you have such a delicate touch. I learn a great deal from writers such as yourself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lynne Rees13 April 2009 at 15:19

    Thank you, Dalloway. It means a lot to me to have feedback like this.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Area 1714 April 2009 at 07:56

    Very strong haiku.

    all my best,

    Alan

    ReplyDelete
  4. jem20 April 2009 at 15:15

    There is so much here, this really merits re-readings. You've singly encouraged me to take a closer look at haibun. I used to only give it a brief glance in the magazines I read, now I'm lingering.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lynne Rees20 April 2009 at 17:52

    Thank you Alan and Jem.

    This haibun emerged after I'd been struggling to contain what is now in the prose in a tanka!

    And it made me think even more about subject matter and form, and how the first often dictates the second.

    Lynne x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Area 1712 May 2009 at 18:43

    Reading this again, and this is a wow paragraph for me!

    Beneath the bark, a layer of living cells divides and multiplies, expanding sapwood and heartwood, stretching the bark until it cracks and sheds to fit the new girth.The whole haibun is wonderful and shows its strength through its "re-readibility".

    all my best,

    Alan
    The With Words Competition 2009.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lynne Rees13 May 2009 at 12:18

    Thanks so much for coming back to this, Alan. To know that someone has returned to read the work again is a wonderful thing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dave Serjeant7 August 2009 at 12:59

    excellent haibun. Love the rain on the river haiku and it's parallels

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lynne Rees7 August 2009 at 16:58

    Thank you, Dave. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

    ReplyDelete

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