Green Peas at Stake

Emulation (Dew Drop 10)-haibun

Emulation haibun

I still don't know all the answers this late, and it is April once more. The earth heaves with life. White ibises, imitating catwalk models, stroll on their thin stilts, to feed on languid salamanders.

Circling round and round,
cannot come up dry for lunch
tall birds poised, intent.

Returning from the grocery store, I wave at my elderly neighbor outside, who stands still with the newspaper in his hand. He stares at the bushes, fascinated. Something in his stare makes me shudder. I walk up to him.

Brain, the dimming bulb,
threading on a string of years,
refuses amends.

Gesturing toward the bird, my neighbor whispers: "Hush! My wife is out to get them. Smart lizards are in hiding." His wife died last year.
I withdraw, walking backwards into the house, to hide from the dread of my own years lying in wait.

Hello and good-bye.
Can you leave anything here?
Just sweep up the dust.