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Michele Root-Bernstein

AWOL

Without telling, I like to climb the chain-link fence at the back of my yard to get to Robin’s house. Robin is my friend, most of the time. Her mother wears muu-muus and curlers all day long and when I’m lucky she isn’t scolding us or making me taste gefilte fish. Instead, she is sitting down at the piano in the living room, lifting her hands to the keys

grace note
I scoop up all the jacks
in one bounce

and making music into a place to go.

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About the Author

Michele Root-Bernstein devotes herself to haiku, haibun, and haiga. She is currently book editor of Modern Haiku and facilitator of Evergreen Haiku in mid-Michigan.