Smoky: A Haibun

I am thrilled to say that a haibun of mine, Smoky, was published in Blithe Spirit. Haibun is a mixture of prose and haiku. Blithe Spirit is the journal of the British Haiku Society. Thanks to the editor of the BHS for selecting this haibun.

Smoky

peeking out

from the garden shrub

a pair of eyes

She used to belong to our neighbour, but he died suddenly and no one else would look after her. She looked like a bushel. Indoors was her natural domain and it protected her long Persian hair. She became brave enough to enter my sister’s house and jumped over the metal grate at the back door and I laughed seeing her determined to come in. We thought that she was fat so we limited her food supply and she never meowed for more. Eventually, her hair became so matted that my sister took her to the groomer, who shaved it off, leaving only the hair on her tail and head with her pink skin showing. When her hair grew back my sister got a set of brushes and I brushed her most days. Smoky glided under a brush, purring and I enjoyed taking out the brushes after a day’s work and sensing her brush up against me.

Then she stopped moving and threw up her food. I took her to the vet worried that she might have a disease. She screeched the whole ten minutes it took me to get there. The vet did tests and X-rays.  Wiping his hands on a cloth, he announced that she had cancer and that I should put her down. I took her away but I had forgotten where I parked my car, while she caterwauled in the carrier. On the street, people gave me funny looks. A few days later my sister found her still body lying on her favourite cushion.

through the window

sunlight shines

on her box

Diarmuid Fitzgerald