WHC New Year's Eve Haibun Kukai

WHC HAIBUN KUKAI
  FIRST PLACE
SECOND PLACE
THIRD PLACE
SPECIAL AWARD
HONORABLE MENTION 1
HONORABLE MENTION 2
HONORABLE MENTION 3

 

  HONORABLE MENTION 1

ACROSS WINTER'S SKY
Terrie Relf

It's around 4pm, and I realize it's New Year's Eve day. I've been sick with
the flu, and have been in bed since Thursday. I must admit to feeling a bit
sorry for myself, as I haven't been invited to any parties, those friends
who do celebrate all have plans, my son, Brandon, is celebrating with his
friends, and my daughter, WIllow, is with her dad. I'm too sick to go out
anyway...

end of year blues
invoking the past
alone in my bed

I still feel a bit dizzy, but decide to take a shower. Soap and water always cheer me up. I put clean sheets on my bed, fresh jammies on my body, and snuggle up in my new scrumptious pink-and-black-leopard-spotted bathrobe, to read Vernor Vinge's sci-fi saga, A Deepness in the Sky.

lightspeed journey
coffined cryosleep
new worlds emerge

Have I eaten yet today? I can't remember, so I make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea. Hoping there's something good on TV, I turn it on. Nothing. Why am I not surprised? I channel surf and snort in snobbish derision at all the junk that passes for programming. Finally, I see that there's a Danielle Steele movie version of her novel, Jewels. It won't be on until 7pm, so I check my e-mail. There's over a hundred messages from my writing friends.

New Year's vows--
celebration of words
connecting with others

The movie is on. I make myself another cup of tea, then pick up my crocheting bags. One project is an afghan for my son, the other, an afghan for my daughter. I decide to work on my daughter's first.

across winter's sky
a rainbow emerges
woman crocheting

My daughter's afghan is nearly finished. All it needs is a stripe of purple, which I will add as soon as I find where I put it. A friend's mother passed on recently, and he gave me a huge box of her yarn. Whenever I wrap the yarn around my crochet hook, I think of how this had been hers. When I'm through with my children's afghans, I'm going to crochet each of her grandchildren--and her son--an afghan, too. I think she'd like that.


chief's daughter
skyward journey
another walk

I hear fire crackers outside. It's nearly midnight. The bottle of champagne is calling to me from the refrigerator. I put down my crocheting, turn off the TV, then make my way into the kitchen. It takes me awhile to uncork it. Maybe I shouldn't open it after all. Determined, I press the cork sideways, and it finally pops. I choose one of my nicest goblets. It's crystal with lilies embossed along the side. I pour myself a full
glass, lift it, and toast the New Year!