November 10, 2006

Sickbed Haiku

The mold appears first
then sharp edges start to droop:
pumpkins, collapsing.


No one has told them

of their role in our lives. These

bugs are just hungry.

Spent the day at home today trying to ward off some mysterious low-grade fever-inducing bug. Managed to crawl grimly through a few errands in the middle of the day: root vegetables for a stew, taxes paid, bottle of urine to D's doctor (belated portion of his annual checkup... took me this long to overcome his reluctance at sharing something so intensely private). Feel vaguely like Gregor Samsa.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the haiku very much. But, I am confused by the Gregor Samsa reference. You mean Gregor Samsa from Kafka's The Metamorphosis, the man who turns into a giant roach? Eeek! I sure hope you feel better soon!

Shelley said...

Nancy, the Gregor Samsa reference does indeed refer to THAT Gregor Samsa, but has less to do with the haiku than it did with my relative unhealth. Feeling better (and possibly more coherent?) now.

Moved the illustration down to the bottom of the post so it's closer to the content to which it refers.