Cherie Hunter Day

White Pines

I sought their company, and they took root in me as a whisper. They were planted close enough to offer year-round shade. That closeness prolonged the patches of sugary snow in spring and provided a haven from the cow pasture when it was loud and hot with summer. I memorized their struggle to set down roots in clay and cinder. I learned that damages bleed pitch, which rarely hardens enough to handle. While they tutored me in confidence, they asked little of me. Come as you are. We honor the slack in conversation. It’s okay to be quiet. And I did rest in their presence. I played for hours on their auburn needles and soaked in their piney fragrance.

dark woods
no one wishes
for sorrow

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About the Author

Cherie Hunter Day has written and published haibun since 2000. Her haibun “In Rumble Dark” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. Recent collections include Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (Backbone Press, 2022), which won the 2021 Backbone Press Haiku Book Contest, and an e-chapbook of tanka, A Color for Leaving (Snapshot Press, 2017). She lives in northern California among some thirsty redwoods.