I’m not sure where our grey parrot got her scandalous sense of humour, but I suspect my wife. I ask her, the parrot that is, if she’s a good girl, and she answers, “What do you think?” Much as when I tell my wife she’s lucky to have me, she answers, “I know how lucky I am.” Not giving anything away. And if I try to teach Dolly some expression by repeating it, she just gives me that look as if I am daft. Yet she picked up the noise the car alarm makes, oh yes—in no time at all. Also the sound of the cat throwing up on a rug, which got me needlessly rushing out of bed several times, to hear her laughing. It’s my wife’s laugh, of course.

The cat? Also female.

the day dawns fair 
I sniff the air 
and wonder where 
the cat has been... 
...her tray is clean 

Keith Evetts

is a retired British diplomat who lives in the UK. His earlier scientific papers are published in Nature and elsewhere; his long-form poetry in The Oxford Magazine and Linnet’s Wings; his cherita in The Cherita; and his haiku and related short forms in the leading journals, including Blithe Spirit, cattails, Cold Moon Journal, Failed Haiku, Heliosparrow Poetry Journal, Mamba: Journal of African Haiku, Presence Haiku Journal, Prune Juice Journal, The Asahi Shimbun, Wales Haiku Journal, and World Haiku Review, as well as at The Haiku Foundation. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Touchstone Awards, and anthologized in the Red Moon, Contemporary Haibun, Modern Haiku, and Dwarf Stars anthologies.

Evetts is listed among the European Top 100 Haiku Authors during the past three years. He is an administrator of Facebook’s largest haiku group and hosts the weekly haiku commentary feature at The Haiku Foundation. He’s married, with five children, a grey parrot, and a sense of humour.