Baby's First December
Chris Bullock
 

It's a West Coast December morning, a few days before Christmas. Shining from behind clouds, the sun lights strips of salal and pine cones lying on the wet grass. We are taking our adopted daughter's baby back after caring for her overnight. Danielle is talking about moving back to her biological family in Texas. I put Kaylin in her car seat and carry seat and baby out to the car. She squirms in the seat, restless at the constriction, hungry too. I feed her some of her bottle; then it's time to go. I fear this will be the last overnight. Meanwhile, chickadees and Oregon juncos flit to and from the feeder on the smaller cherry tree. Beneath them, two California quail search for fallen seeds.

a woodpecker taps cedar;
even my tears
feed something.

Chris Bullock is a retired English Professor living in Ladysmith, British Columbia. He primarily writes free verse poetry, some of which can be found at: http://raysweb.net/ChrisBullockPoetry/. With his wife, Kay Stewart, he has just published his first fiction work, a mystery entitled A Deadly Little List.

Copyright 2006: Simply Haiku