After You – a story in haiku

An eagle swooping,
All the little birds stand still.
Full moon comes tonight.

Wind in city trees,
An old woman stands watching.
Flower petals fall.

Storms chase passing ships,
A green wave and a blue one.
Shadows perch on limbs.

Paddles dip, circle.
I watched you cross the water.
Do you dream of waves?

Hawk’s calling wakes me,
Day unwraps with fearsome smile.
No room for cowards.

Green tree wings have flown
But the maple tree stands still.
Soon, I’ll let you go.

Look inside of me,
Find the things you left behind.
Leave me, new again.

Food won’t fill hunger.
I taste you when I’m dreaming.
Two years gone away.


Kristen.MacKenzie

Kristen MacKenzie lives on Vashon Island in a quiet cabin where the shelves are filled with herbs for medicine-making, the floor is open for dancing, and the table faces the ocean, waiting for a writer to pick up the pen.

 

 


 

Kristen MacKenzie
Kristen MacKenzie lives on Vashon Island in a quiet cabin where the shelves are filled with herbs for medicine-making, the floor is open for dancing, and the table faces the ocean, waiting for a writer to pick up the pen. Her work has appeared in Brevity, Rawboned, GALA, Extract(s) Daily Dose of Lit, Maudlin House, Blank Fiction, Cease, Cows; Crack the Spine, Eckleburg, Referential, Bluestockings, NAILED, Knee-Jerk, Minerva Rising, Mondegreen, Prick of the Spindle, Crab Fat, Wilderness House, Poydras Review and Diversity Rules. Her short story, Cold Comfort, placed in Honorable Mention in The Women's National Book Association's annual writing contest.