Roberta Beary
Cry Me a River
threading the web slanted strips of sunlight
the time he asked me for a few hundred for the rent the time the bill collector called looking and i said i have no idea the time he led his young wife and her kids out the basement window with suitcases at midnight the time the landlord rang and said your father seemed so nice how could he the time his girlfriend the one he lived with but didn’t marry said she cured his gambling the time my mother said she cured his gambling the time his friend swore your dad doesn’t gamble anymore the time his latest girlfriend said he’s so good he doesn’t have any bad habits and i didn’t say anything not then not even when she lost the house the time he called and called and i didn’t pick up the time i erased his contact info the time his buddies from belmont crowded the casket while the pipes played danny boy and the priest asked for a donation a few hundred to cover it and that was the last time.
splitting open the empty nest blackbird song
About the Author
Roberta Beary is the haibun editor of Modern Haiku. She lives in the west of Ireland with her husband, Frank Stella.
I find the first haiku has a strong metaphorical link with the threads of a web telling stories. The word “slanted” gives me a hint of a kind of disturbance that is to come in the prose and/or holes in the stories. I think the repetition and lowercase prose with no punctuation adds a strong effect to the mood of the haibun. I find the last haiku is a strong link-and-shift with the prose. I feel melancholy, and also a perplexing feeling about the man in the prose. A well-written haibun.
Thanks for your insights into my haibun, Jacob! I appreciate your taking the time to do a close read of *Cry Me a River*..
We watched The Days of Wine and Roses last night. Addiction to booze, gambling, etc. is sheer insanity like being locked in a mental ward with no way out.
Thanks, Alexis. Your comment brought me back to another read of the 1896 poem “Vitae Summa Brevis” by Ernest Dowson.
The film was a favorite at my parents’ home. And who can forget the theme 🎵 song?
Such a strong statement on the hopelessness of addiction. The haiku rounds it out perfectly.
TY, Pris! You are so right, hopeless, yet still we hope.
The title, prose & both ku are powerful and the link and shift are astonishing!
So well written dear Roberta…the helplessness, the pain, the agony, the hope all are in there. Ah! The power of words & style! You are a master of this art.
🙏 for your kind words, Neena!