Facing the Facts
blue caps
everywhere I look
doctors
When I finally become aware of those around me, I hear someone crying who is in pain. Approaching from the side, a nurse comes to remove tubes, drains and dressings. I recognize the tangle my life is about to become – not realizing it will be five months before I’ll be able to use my hand again. My mouth forms sounds but not words as I try to express my desire for water. My arm moves of its own volition and I’m unable to control it. I’m caught between pain and its expression. I once thought of these scenes as hospital dramas seen on television but now they have become reality.
coming to admire
his handiwork
smiling surgeon
​
Haibun Today 7:4 December 2013
Fairy Falls
The sinuous trail winds between the river and the bush, a precarious aisle of mud and grass, where we stumble and trip over roots and rocks. The hungry swoop of a kingfisher startles us into laughter. It’s a trek, more of an obstacle course than a walk, as we move closer towards the sound of tumbling water, with the sunlight a funnelled glare through the trees. The path winds its way through rain-washed, listening greenery. We pass beneath kauri, rata and rimu arched and shining, towards the waterfall hanging majestically from the rocks, with a consciousness of muffled babbling striving to be heard from the whirlpool beneath. Sprayed by mist and drops of icy water, we sit on nearby rocks to bathe our feet in the cold water, while other braver people dive from the rocks into the pool that opens out below the falls.
tunnels in ivy
hold a mystery
a lone possum
A bower of fern and treetops reach for the fountainhead. In multi-shaded refuge from the glare, our eyes revive. The tumbling waters wash the topsides of rocks that offer edges to be polished. There’s a click of cameras as we try to capture nuances of haunting images.
defying the mist
a rainbow’s
spectrum
​
Contemporary Haibun Online 8:1 April 2012
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Patricia Prime’s writing has been widely published. Her poems are anthologized in Catching the Light, the shortcut home, and The World Poetry Anthology. She collaborated with other poets on a collection of haiku, Every Drop Stone Pebble and also published Sweet Penguins. She has written about women poets for Creative Forum (India). Patricia is the co-editor of the New Zealand haiku publication, Kokako.