Susan Beth Furst

Anne’s Lace

She died unexpectedly. I got the text from her husband, John. They say timing is everything.

amidst
the fallen trees
a pink lady slipper

Ann let me teach her to write haiku. It was more for me than herself, I think. But that’s how Ann was, unless she didn’t like you.

Halloween
up and down the sidewalk
kids kids kids

Ann loved plants and critters. She carried an abandoned baby squirrel in her bra for a week, a sort of papoose. I don’t remember if he made it.

gourds
hanging from a fence
nests for the birds

Ann, I’m writing this haibun for you. It would have been longer, but I ran out of haiku. These were the only three that you wrote. . .

ghostwriter
my paper full
of empty space

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About the Author

Susan Beth Furst is an award-winning Japanese short-form poet and children’s picture book author. Her haibun appear in several anthologies, including Old Song: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (2017). Road To Utopia was published as a mini e-chapbook by Yavanika Press (2019). Susan’s picture books include The Amazing Glass House and The Hole In My Haiku.