Iliyana Stoyanova
In a Heartbeat
Finally, the rain stopped. I decide to distract myself from the gloomy thoughts and go out into the garden. The grass is still pretty wet and I won’t be able to cut it. The roses are late this year, but the garden is full of poppies and birdsong. Somehow the bird trills match my mood—anxious, broken … And then I notice the fallen bird. I take it in my hands and for a moment it feels like it’s breathing. However, its little body is cold and lifeless. Similarly, I had a hard time accepting my mum was gone. Looking at her white coffin I was convinced she was breathing and just quietly sleeping under the blanket of flowers.
the scent of spring
neither here
nor there
drinking sorrow
from my cupped hands
About the Author
Iliyana Stoyanova is a poet, editor, and translator. She has been writing haiku for nearly twenty years, and her haibun and tanka prose have been published in Blithe Spirit, cattails, Haibun Today, Ribbons, Skylark, Time Haiku, Under the Basho, and various anthologies.