haibun

By Karen Harvey

PROMPT—Never will I forget ...

Unsent Letters

letter posted

how I wish

I'd held back...

When I was introduced to the concept of unsent letters, it was too late. I'd already poked the hornet's nest. Sometimes, the truth hurts and her retaliation was vicious.

stung all over

the long recovery

journal therapy

:

Time Passes

echoes reverberate

inside my head

cous and contracous

:

Cicatrix

This wound runs deep

A tangle

of thick fibrous tissue

built up over the years

A keloid scar

Ugly but...

You can't see it on my face

It's buried in the Cellar

I try to ignore it

Cover up

I make believe

it doesn't exist

But carrying it around

Is exhausting

I just wanted to be

like the other kids...

Not afraid to go home

:

Rising sun

Rising sun

Viewed through the bars…

As I draw closer

I realise that the bars

that used to hold me back

Are wide enough

To slip through

Shrugging off the shackles

That restrained me for years

I step through, a brave new me

Reinventing myself

Who do I choose to be?

Choosing is easy

Implementing it

Is difficult

:

Scars

A painful reminder

A map of difficult beginnings

A series of false starts

But here I am

Rising sun

A brand new day

*haibun is Japanese style, straightforward prose interspersed with haiku/ senryū* or tanka. These refer to loss and estrangement.

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Karen Harvey came to writing later in life, when after going to counseling for some years to address early trauma, and feeling like she was going round in circles, she decided to write down how she felt. That was the turning point. Journalling with the support of a Journal Therapist helped her process things and it mostly came out as poetry. Karen went on many poetry retreats with contemporary poets and when she came across the writing for well-being movement, she found her niche. She is now a Writing for Wellbeing Practitioner. Karen writes from Wales, UK.