Rohan Buettel

Aged Care

My father, not the sentimental kind,
within two days of leaving the family home
for respite care, said “I like it here,
I think I’ll stay” and so he did.
Different to my mother who insisted
“No way you’re dumping me in a nursing home.”
Stage four cancer, husband in hospital,
a broken arm from falling in the night
and there was no alternative.
Not the place they would have chosen,
not fancy, yet well-suited to their kind of living,
in adjacent brick veneer rooms
matching the style of their home,
a verandah to sit in the open air,
good care and meals and activities,
my father happy to be looked after,
comfortable in no time,
my mother had no time.

Rohan Buettel lives in Canberra, Australia. His haiku appear in various Australian and international journals (including Presence, Cattails and The Heron’s Nest). His longer poetry recently appears in The Goodlife Review, Rappahannock Review, Penumbra Literary and Art Journal, Mortal Magazine, Passengers Journal, Reed Magazine, Meniscus and Quadrant.