hair
one thing ends. one starts.
the future requires a past.
freedom is not free.
These are not mysterious or coded words.
They mean that to have a truly honest, new bond,
the old one must be really finished.
You cannot be truly present in the “now”,
if you are still tangled up in the mess of the “then”.
And it isn’t always as easy as changing your mind, or your shoes, or your hair.
The cost of ending relationships that were long lasting, meaningful or complicated
can be great. It is sometimes measured in pain, or tears, or regret.
The bigger it was, the harder it is to clean away. Even bad relationships.
… especially bad ones.
That’s what baggage means. It’s not a box of happy memories.
It’s a trunk of pain, or a chest full of sorrow. (Both kinds)
But costly doesn’t mean overpriced. It just means that it doesn’t come cheaply.
To find new Love; one that is authentic, and real, and warm, and true, has no price at all.
It is un-countably rich, un-measurably sweet, and infinitely deep.
The aftertaste of a relationship that failed is more bitter than yucca leaves; harsher than horseradish roots.
You have to swallow it to make it go away for ever
and then, you have to clean your plate to get a new sweet dessert.
One of the unique aspects of the “haiku for…” project that I enjoyed was the writer’s use of the platform as a space for exploring their thoughts and feelings. The parameters imposed by the haiku form sometimes result in a poem that readers cannot feel an emotional connection to. However, the personal narrative that accompanied the haiku presented a very human response not constrained by syllable count. Which came first, the haiku or the journal entry, is something we’ll never know or need to know. š
