I don’t remember the name of the movie but I do remember its most famous line: “I see dead people.” Fortunately, I do not see dead people. I see faces. Just about everywhere—on a stone, a cracker, a ceiling tile, a mildew stain. Faces everywhere. Not famous faces, not cartoon character faces, and certainly not the face of Jesus. Just faces. The kind with two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Sometimes a frontal view and sometimes in profile. Smiling, yawning, sneering, crying, wrinkled or youthful. I read somewhere online that this qualifies me as neurotic. I don’t know about that, but the last face I saw—on the leaf of an artificial fig tree in my psychiatrist’s office—winked at me.

life drawing class
the model’s face
deadpan

—Published previously in Haibun Today (Volume 9, Number 4, December 2015); appears here with author’s permission

Terri L. French

is an author, editor, and haiku poet who lives on the road, with her husband and dog, in a home on wheels. She is on the Board of Directors of The Haiku Foundation and served as their Secretary. She is past Southeast Regional Coordinator for The Haiku Society of America and former editor of Prune Juice Journal of senryu and kyoka. Terri served as an editor of the online journal Haibun Today and recently joined the editorial team of Contemporary Haibun Online.

Author’s website: www.terrilfrench.com