Post in Haiku – yes, it’s real.

Last updated on February 17, 2021

Perhaps the format
might take the sting from the words
and bring clarity.

It was supposed to
be only five days – it turned
out to be two weeks.

Packing up was not
the worst of it. Cleaning up
roach feces is gross.

Do adults ever
live like this? Someone call the
health department now!

Insanity seems
to run in her family –
I will dodge that one!

Where is personal
responsibility when
it gets that bad? Gone!

I felt bad for not
working more at the house – how
messed up can I be?!?

A day off for girl
time, another day for
sleep and making calls.

I wasn’t finished.
I could have done more. There was
still the camp sites left…

But that was enough.
I cannot ride big horses
nor wear that armor.

I did my best, but
was it enough? Should I have
stayed another week?

Hell, no! Caroline
was visiting this week, and
I would not miss that!

Maybe that is a
little selfish, but I had
my fill of crazy.

Between my mother
and my alcoholic ex,
I have had enough.

And now, we unpack.
Boxes piled to the ceiling
of the truck are home.

Shelves, dressers, tables,
chairs, fabric, beads, books, letters,
photos, ancestry.

There’s no affection
to my extended clan-tribe
before now, this trip.

Now, I can see them,
those than came before, that were
the lead-up to me.

My heart feels weird, like
there is loss where there was none
before – empty rooms.

A sore back is not
a bad trade for heritage,
but it is still suck.

Tomorrow, more things
to unpack and find homes for
on the shelves and walls.

And Frau Mao-Mao is
making herself at home with
me, Joe, and Joseph.

She’ll join the rest of
the family when the stuff
is where it belongs.

And now, to sleep, since
the mead is working to help
me relax some more.