morning sunlight-
mountain ash berries glow
blood red

On the radio, Louis Armstrong's raspy voice croons: "Leave your worries on the doorstep, life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street."

Downstairs, my daughter is caught up in a smoker's hacking cough.

"I just have a cold, dad," she said a week ago."

Louis sings on: "I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade ..."

It's a live recording, clapping in the background, the audience caught up in Louis' mellow mood.

a staccato burst
of coughing-
I switch to a blues station

Does she believe herself? HIV positive, the cigarettes lower her resistance, make an infection and AIDS response more likely.

my daughter's blood-
the sunny side of the street
for a virus

Ray Rasmussen is a photographer who lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He spends a good deal of his outdoor time in Canyonlands National Park, Utah and in one of Canada's most remote and untouched provincial parks, Willmore Wilderness just North of Jasper National Park. He writes haiku poetry and its related forms haibun [prose plus haiku]. He is also active in creating haiga [haiku plus images]. In a previous life he was a University Professor. See website.