A senryu, haibun and haiga shown below are accepted for the May edition of Failed Haiku.  

bright orange hair

the nursing staff applauds

her hundredth

Sail Away

 

He wanders down to the dock where we’ve tied up for two days in Little Adventure to more easily do our laundry and stock up on supplies before sailing further south. His eyes are filled with longing. ’I wish I could do what you’re doing,’ he says.

‘You can’, we tell him, but he’s already listing the reasons he’s tethered to shore - his mortgage, his kids can’t travel in a boat... he’s never gone sailing with his wife. Maybe she won’t like it. Too many reasons to remember. We’ve seen men like him all down the coast, men longing to fill their lives with adventure, but won’t try. Men who will likely stay rooted in sameness until weeds grow around their feet.

He comes the next day for one last look at his future disappearing before him, then heads with his briefcase to work. We cast off at dusk.

 

turn around —

a shooting star lights

the horizon

 

HAIGA: sunrise

 

Pris Cambell

Thanks for making my month at Failed Haiku a success :))

warmly, 

 

_kala