How quickly

turning hawk
how quickly these tears
dry in the breeze

Kokako 20 (April 2014)

Mindful Writing Challenge – day 17

the tears come suddenly 
and itch on my cheeks as they dry


Find out more about the January Mindful Writing Challenge here.

hair ties

When I first returned home from the hospital, I didn't really notice them. They were just a part of the normal clutter of home. Not something that needed my attention. But as the days moved on and I sunk back into my life – half the old and half the new – I started seeing them everywhere, and it made me uneasy. Eventually the snippets of tension they were creating, the cracks they were prising open within my coping, meant they had to go.

I went around the house collecting them, one by one, and putting them in a clear plastic bag. How did I ever need so many? One on my desk, one on the coffee table, one in the bathroom, one on the dresser, one by my bedside, one in my handbag...

I put them away in the back of a cupboard. It would be a good 18 months before I'd need one again.

the rain quickens

i should have known

there'd be tears

Contemporary Haibun Online, January 2013, vol 8, no 4

First published in Kokako 17 (September 2012)

The Broken Latch: A Rengay with Aubrie Cox

The Broken Latch

Aubrie Cox & Kirsten Cliff

rain ripples

across my skin

fibromyalgia

finally home

I sink into tears

sunlight slips

between the bedroom

blind slats

no moon

my sleepless night

of silent prayers

thoughts tangled

in the thickening fog

lost butterfly

the broken latch

on this pill box

Published in Kokako 17 (September, 2012)

This rengay was written from our shared experience of living with the chronic illness Fibromyalgia.

Onion Tears

          blue moon...
          I hide behind these
          onion tears

Notes From the Gean, December 2011, 3:3

My new rural home is proving to be perfect for moon-viewing: what with no neighbours, being on a hill, panoramic views and no city lights, we really are getting some of the best night skies that New Zealand has to offer. Bring on the first New Year full moon!

Tears in Ice Diver

            tears
            the doctor shifts
            in his seat




Commended, New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Contest 2011
Appeared in Ice diver, New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology 2011