Taking Care
contemporary haibun online, issue 19.3
bellies
How they enjoy (the glee in the eyes of their children) watching ducks and ducklings dive for the crumbs.
drifting by
The lake is a morgue. Newspaper articles speak of “misunderstood animal love” that has led to the death of all the birds that live near the lake. Fed breadcrumbs, day in and day out. Thrown into the water. One day, foul gases rose from the bottom of the lake.
our daily bread
The Empress
MacQueen’s Quinterly, issue 21, published: 1 January 2024
all day spring rain
earthworms winding their way
the course of a vein
This time we take a little more time when the contractions start. No rupture of the membranes. We arrive at the hospital and the nurse explains (as she did last time) this may take a while, and why don’t we go home again. Instead, I grab my husband firmly by the arm and we walk in circles in the entrance hall. On the second round I have to pause, breathe, “Let’s go back.”
Waiting room. This may take a while. The nurse, on one of her brief visits, hands my husband a cloth bandage to pull over my belly for the contraction recorder and rushes out again, but I snatch it from his hand. It lands on the floor with a loud thud. “I do NOT need that!” She comes back and briefly looks me in the face. Then she leads me straight into the delivery room. Just like last time, it is quick, painfully quick. As soon as he is born, the midwife’s right arm makes two rapid movements. He’s crying, he’s healthy, I am in tears the whole time. Later my husband tells me the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around his neck.
still half asleep
the first sound
a redstart
pi & anne 