Behind discreet doors on The Plaza, a therapist treats clients who pay 
cash rates. After the breakdown, separated from my life in Japan, 
in culture shock stateside, caretaking a mother with dementia, 
in a midwestern town I’ve never lived in ... panic attacking... 
His first suggestion is, “Don’t tell anyone. 
You won’t get a job if you do.” 

   stuck in the craw—
   systems theory 
   for birdbrains 

An echo of her. Returning from college, I said, “Mom, I had a 
nervous breakdown.” She firmly replied, “No, you did not! 
Don’t ever say that again. You don’t want that on your record.” 

The way my ex left saying, 
“Sometimes, I really do think you’re crazy.” 
Nixed couple’s therapy. 

Never spoke to me again. 

Sherry Reniker

is a retired professor and editor who lives near Seattle. Though she has written poetry for many years, she began writing haiku in 2022 and haibun more recently. Her haiku have appeared in Asahi Haikuist Network (AHN is David McMurray’s column in The Asahi Shimbun newspaper); Chrysanthemum; Cold Moon Journal; Failed Haiku; Five Fleas Itchy Poetry; Glimmering Hour: Haiku Northwest 35th Anniversary Anthology (2024); Haiku Girl Summer; haikuKATHA; Kizuna (tan-ku magazine); Kokako (Issue 42, April 2025); Leaf: Journal of The Daily Haiku; Pan Haiku Review; Scarlet Dragonfly Journal; Shadow Pond Journal; smols poetry journal (spj features ultra-shorts, five words max!); The Solitary Daisy; tsuri-dōrō; and Under the Bashō.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Westminster Spinsters, haibun by Sherry Reniker in Drifting Sands Haibun (Issue 36, June 2026)

⚡ The Aphant in the House, haibun by Reniker in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 32, June 2026); this is the poet’s first published haibun and the first appearance of her work in MacQ.