Haiku and image by Dan Hardison
Haigaonline - Life Cycles Challenge
Vol, 20-2, Autumn 2019
January 13, 2020
December 13, 2019
Christmas Cat
Opening the door to a neighbor, a gray and white cat by his side stared up at me. The cat had appeared at his house just after Christmas and he was hoping to find her owner. When I arrived home the next day, the same gray and white cat greeted me. Afterwards, whenever we opened the door, she would be waiting. As nights got colder, I made her a makeshift bed on the porch. When the temperature threatened to drop to freezing, we let her stay in our sunroom. Her name is now CC – short for Christmas Cat.
breakfast table . . .
when I get up
CC takes my chair
August 30, 2019
Grade School Cafeteria
Our grade school cafeteria was a place of hot home-style meals. This was a meat and three cafeteria -- no vending machines here. The rules were strict: no horseplay, no swapping or disposing of food, no dessert unless everything on your plate was eaten, and no plate with food could be returned without first proving that you had at least tasted each unfinished item.
The cafeteria manager was an older woman with a slight limp, a seemingly perpetual frown, and a booming voice. To my fearful schoolmates she ruled the lunchroom, but for me she was Great Aunt Viola.
When my class entered the cafeteria, Aunt Viola would seek me out and with a broad smile give me a cheek-to-cheek hug. Even worse would be the occasions when my class was lined up to return to the classroom and she would amble over, hand me a paper bag of fresh baked cookies (not on the day’s menu), give me a hug and say, “take these home and share them with your brother.”
whistling
a hollow tune . . .
chill wind
August 3, 2019
May 2, 2019
The Glass Bottle
Stopping at a general store for refreshments, we walk past a tub filled with ice and soft drinks in glass bottles. Our young friend comments that she has never had a soft drink bottled in glass, only plastic or cans. We tell her that drinks from glass bottles always taste better, so she asks if she can have one.
We make our way to the front of the store and she sits her bottle on the counter. The woman behind the counter rings up the price and hands her the bottle. She stands staring at the bottle with its pressed-on metal cap and asks, “How do you open it.”
The woman behind the counter smiles and hands her a bottle opener that is lying beside the register. She looks from the bottle to the opener and now asks, “What do I do with it?” Now everyone around us is smiling and I show her how to use the opener to pry the cap off the bottle. She takes a drink and smiles, “Your right, this is better.”
silence broken
in a blossom of light . . .
fireworks
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