Haibun: My Girlfriend’s House

The first time I have dinner with her family, it’s chaos. She has too many brothers and I have none. Her father is a megaphone—blasting jokes, opinions, questions over beef stew. What do your parents do? What are young going to study in college? Play any sports? There are six of us at the table, everyone’s hands reaching and grabbing. You had two rolls already, that’s mine! Only her mother is calm, spooning stew into her mouth. She speaks underneath the noise: Why don’t you two go for a walk? The boys will clear up. The uproar! They’re still complaining as we slip out the door. There’s an abandoned house my girlfriend wants to show me. She takes my hand, leads me to twin tire tracks through the woods. The sun is setting on the mossy house. She points to the yellow paint and white curtains printed with flowers. Someone lived here, she says. Someone cared about this place. But to me, the house is like a pat of butter, melting, and the woods are hungry for something to tear apart.

Beware of Dog sign
fused to tree trunk’s thick bark
silent forest

Laura Shovan is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet and a middle grade novelist. Among her award-winning children’s books are The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools. She teaches at Vermont College of Fine Arts.