Short Poem Derived From a Haiku Attempt

[billy]

Cold Stew

Her reading light is still on
when he returns home at night
to cold stew longing at the dining table.
Like a worried dog, he sits.
Alone, he eats his stew
neglecting to warm it up.
His graceless slurping and shuffling loafers
are heard in their bedroom.
What he doesn’t tell her,
what she prefers to keep from herself
is scribbled on a bar receipt in his back pocket,
the smell on his neck - not his own.

*Here's the haiku I wrote that became this short poem.

"Her light is still on
when he returns home at night
to cold stew longing."

the haiku has more of a senryu feel
there doesn't seem to be a cut point in it

a suggestion would be

cold stew for dinner
or
cold stew for supper

there's nothing stopping you doing the haiku here and the longer poem in one of the other forums. with the haiku as the inspiration