Crows snatch perlite from my potted succulents before visiting the neighbor’s yard for food scraps. The light grey pumice isn’t a palette cleanser but rather a poor substitute for teeth that must be replenished several times a day. Luckily my portable garden offers a steady supply of what they need. This morning’s crow is selective and in no rush. I recently lost a molar when it cracked in my jaw, so I too am seeking replacements. Some might say I’m meddlesome, or prone to clumsy familiarity when I ask the crow: What makes you eat that awkward stone? He cocks his head towards me then swallows another nugget. I’m left to imagine what it must be like to have that shredding action in my throat.

Cherie Hunter Day

lives in northern California among seventeen thirsty redwoods. Her haibun, short prose, and haiga have appeared in 100 Word Story, Contemporary Haibun Online, KYSO Flash, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Mid-American Review, Modern Haiku, Moon City Review, NOON: journal of the short poem, and Unbroken. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and widely anthologized. Recent anthologies include Nothing Short of 100 (Outpost 19, 2018), NOON: An Anthology of Short Poems (Isobar Press, 2019), and Contemporary Haibun 18 (Red Moon Press, 2023).

Her books include a prose poem e-chapbook, Qualia (White Knuckle Press, 2017), and an award-winning collection of short poetry, for Want (Ornithopter Press, 2017). Her latest collection of short poetry, Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (Backbone Press, 2022), won The Haiku Foundation’s 2022 Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books. And her online mini-chapbook, The Rattle Inside (Half Day Moon Press), was released on Earth Day 2023.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ 42R Mill Street, haibun by Cherie Hunter Day which was nominated by MacQ for the Red Moon Anthologies, and selected for publication in Contemporary Haibun 17 (Red Moon Press, 2022).

⚡ Crow Hat, ekphrastic prose poem by Cherie Hunter Day after a photograph by John Levy, in KYSO Flash (Issue 12, Summer 2019)