Twist the gold leaves of memory into a circle. Wear it like a crown.

Then throw it onto the bonfire on the disputed patch of green.

The neighbour you don’t speak to stokes the boundary’s dark-eyed fire. An offering to a goddess he once worshipped. See him fall back to watch the fire burn. Now he stands beside you. A pulsing tangle of desire. When he invites you for a cup of tea, step into the warmth of his November. Let him unloosen your shawl. Let your hands tremble.

Roberta Beary

is the longtime haibun editor for Modern Haiku, and co-author of Haibun: A Writer’s Guide (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2023), as well as the author of three award-winning poetry collections. Individual writing awards include Bridport Prize for Poetry, Touchstone Award for Haibun, and Kusamakura Grand Prize for Haiku. Beary’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Rattle, Atticus Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and other publications. Beary identifies as gender-fluid and calls Washington, DC (USA) and County Mayo, Ireland home.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ New Book: Haibun: A Writer’s Guide by Roberta Beary, Lew Watts and Rich Youmans, an interview in Flash Frontier (July 2023)

⚡ Featured Guest: Roberta Beary on Rattlecast 133 hosted by Tim Green, editor of Rattle poetry journal (YouTube, 28 February 2022)

⚡ Featured Author: Roberta Beary in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 12, March 2022)

⚡ Tiny Love Stories in The New York Times (8 January 2019); scroll five stories down the page for Roberta Beary’s “Now It’s All Fresh Fish” and her photograph of lobster traps in Clew Bay, Ireland.

⚡ The art of brevity, an interview by Ciara Moynihan in Mayo News (22 January 2019)