This haiku sequence first appeared in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society America, and was then selected for Telling the Bees, the Red Moon anthology of the finest English-language haiku published around the world in 2024.
more patch than road
Mom finally lets me
zip up her coat
untied shoelaces at her wit’s end
she requests
the thing with wheels
departing geese
her hearing aid lost afternoon
tangled DNA
all the diapers
she changed for me
Mom asks whether
she’s had dinner
lavender sunset
steeping tea
my shouted
small talk
how she lights up
when I make her laugh
wildflower honey
rice paper lamp
the water glass shaking
in her hand
she says she’s still
the same person inside
stars between clouds
holding her hand the length of a lifeline
night light glow
I sing her the lullaby
she once taught me
— Annette Makino, published in Frogpond, 47:3, Autumn 2024; and Telling the Bees: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2024, edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, Red Moon Press, 2025