Memorial Day
summer’s unofficial start
it’s been here for weeks
My mantra this year, “I hope we get rain. I hope it’s not dry like last year.” People from other parts of Florida look at me like I’m speaking gibberish. Most of the state had near-record rain. My part faced a drought. News outlets called it a tale of two states.
Florida shouldn’t be dry. It’s made of water. People who didn’t know better 100 years ago tried to drain it of water. Now people come here to play in the water. Will it rain here this year? shrug
While April showers bring May flowers elsewhere, when spring heralds in a time of renewal, fresh berries on bushes and color covering the ground, it’s dry season here. It’s “it’s already 97 degrees and it’s only May! Just wait till August” season. I hope we get rain. I hope it’s not dry like last year.
the daily rains failed
a young avocado tree
dropped its leaves, turned black
This week at d’Verse Poet’s Pub for Haibun Monday: This week, let’s imbue our haibun with mono no aware. Write on any topic that you like (although bonus points to any choosing one related to May) as long as your haibun embodies that wistful sadness marking the beauty of transience.
I’m not sure I hit wistful sadness. 🤷 New to haibun? The form consists of one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—that evoke an experience and are often non-fictional/autobiographical. They may be preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.
Did you know I’m on Instagram and Facebook? I am! Sometimes I’m on TikTok, too, though I don’t post there as often.
Lastly, if you love haiku, consider picking up your own copy of To Live Here: A Haiku Anthology. It’s beautifully edited, and one of my haiku is featured in it. All proceeds are donated to Salford Loaves and Fishes, a charity organization in the UK supporting adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The Scribbletorium 
8 responses to “A Tale of Two States”
Sad avocado tree!! I heard its hot as hell down there already and the ocean is too warm to swim in or to support life.
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It’s hot. The ocean and Gulf are always too hot for me to swim in the summer. It’s barely cooler than bath water. It’s still supporting life, but we have had coral bleaching and algae events, some related to the heat and some not.
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Hearing about drought in Florida is so strange to me… I heard that most of Florida is essentially a river. Hope you get rain.
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Hahaha! It’s definitely very wet. The swamp I refer to is The Everglades which is often called a “river of grass” as it’s a slow-moving sheet of water basically falling off the southern end of Florida. It’s an ecosystem found nowhere else in the world and, thankfully, now protected.
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I wish you rain – you can have some of ours, Cris, we seem to get so much. I couldn’t survive in those high temperatures, though, and feel so sorry for that poor avocado tree.
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That avocado tree made me so sad, too. I grew it from seed from an avocado from my dad’s tree. Our weather patterns have blown the blooms from the tree in the last two years (and again this year) before the fruit have set so we’ve been without avocados.
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Hope it rains soon, Cris, and hope it makes up for what’s been lost! Sad that the avocado tree didn’t make it. Beautifully written haibun, bringing to mind cycles repeating, the paradox of what’s expected and what is. How curious that they actually tried to drain water from the swamps there in the past! (smh)
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We’re still about 3 weeks away from the start of our rainy season so we’ll see. Fingers crossed!
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