Ariel Lambert

waiting for you
by the fire hydrant
checking my watch
again…again…again…
I decide to walk alone

the reasons I
wanted you to stay
were easily counted
the reason you left
went with you…

your handwriting
in an old diary 
a young woman
I’ve never known
but would’ve loved

broken bricks
in a dusty pile
by the railroad tracks
downtown evacuated
like the monarch chrysalis

your last mother’s day
refusing to see us for lunch
lost in your mental illness
forgetting how much you
wanted to see us and we you

Ariel Lambert fell passionately in love with modern haiku in 2004, while enduring a long episode of chronic illness.  Unable to continue her freelance work and full-length poetry, Ariel discovered haiku, senryu, renku, tanka, and haibun.  She has had over 100 Japanese-form poems published in the last couple years while sneaking every moment to write throughout the day.  Ariel currently lives in Kansas with her husband and two children.

Copyright 2006: Simply Haiku