The Gathering
It starts like this. The guests begin to gather. The gathering grows into a circle of well-wishers. Friends and strangers. Meeting. Greeting. One question leading to another. And another, as small talk swells into more small talk. After a while, someone speaks the name of a person from your past. A person you remember. Vaguely. Your childhood neighbor. A person who, you recall, had a father who occasionally strolled out into his back yard, across from your back yard, dressed only in an undershirt and boxer shorts. A chain link fence divided you from him.
And her. His daughter. The person you never took the time to know. The person who you discover, quite by chance, died some years ago. Suddenly.
bonfire flames curling into darkness
Contemporary Haibun Online, vol. 8, no. 4, January 2013
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About Margaret Dornaus
I’m a writer and a teacher, as well as a haiku-doodler. I live in a beautiful woodland setting, surrounded by native oak forests, that inspires me to record haiku snapshots of luna moths and our resident roadrunner, and even an occasional black bear as it hightails it across the top of my road, my mongrel dog barking at its heels as I watch with wonder.
My work as a travel writer has appeared in publications from The Dallas Morning News to the Robb Report. You can find examples of my travel writing–as well as excerpts from a travel memoir I’m working on–at my other WordPress site, Travelin’ On.
What more than that do you need to know? Only that I started this blog with an eye toward collaboration. Got a haiku? Send it my way. . . . I’m all about new visions & voices.
Best, Margaret
Haiku-doodle 
Nice!
Thank you, Sanjukta! And Happy New Year to you!
nice Margaret. I was reminded of James Joyce’s The Dead, not to put you in too exulted company. I meant to reread The Dead this Christmas season but it slipped by. One of my new year’s resolutions was to read something every quarter that was different and not what I usually choose. I am working on AHG22 (nice work) and trying to find a way to keep it from Google before March 1st – our old bugaboo. Best to you this year.
Sully
Thanks, Sully! So good to hear from you . . . The Dead . . . a lovely story, and a lovely film as well. Have you seen it?
What a great resolution, by the way! I still stop by your blog periodically to see when something new’s been posted . . . Best to you, as well, my friend. Happy New Year!