there are days i can be in a haze. a daze. or a funk phase. i seem to be addicted to twenty-four-seven news. seams unravelling. politics, shootings, kapoho buried in lava. earth shudders, smolders in unrest. seems everywhere.
one day this week i should go cold turkey. weak? just do it. a day without news. without gnus. there are no gnus in boston. my phone as phone only. ear to the metal. eyes won’t smolder. just ears, if I get a hotty call.
nature irked, smolders
belches red, spills, spews lava
tourist season be damned
It’s Haibun Monday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. Jill asks us to try our hand at avant-garde poetry — to write an unventional haibun. Traditional Haibun: one or two paragraphs of tight prose followed by a haiku about nature that includes reference to a traditional season, IE spring, fall. So – capitalization be damned; and I’ve added a tourist season.
Photo: from art exhibit in NC: standing in front of what looks like a traditional mirror and somehow, the artist makes steam come out of your head in your reflected image! These days, that’s what the news does to me far too often.
IMPORTANT reference: We stayed at the beautiful Lagoon House on the Big Island in 2000, 2001, and 2005. See 2001 photo below and explanation beneath.
Lagoon House. I was in contact last week with the realtor who continues to offer rentals on the Big Island. He sadly told me the entire Kapoho area, including Lagoon House, is now under 30 feet of lava from the Kilauea eruption. It will literallly be hundreds of years before this area of the Big Island is inhabitable again.
lillian the home poet 
interesting haibun. Sad about the lava. Although I do not believe in fauxbun, this one is interesting without the capitalization. LOL> it is hard enough to get people to conform to proper forms and when you have someone touting faux forms, it makes it harder. Never thought I would say this about one of your poems Lillian, but…bah.
LikeLiked by 2 people
oh…..I knew it! I was really contemplating adding this note: “With apologies to Toni!”
You are the queen of the haibun in my eyes….and always will be. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the dropping of news… maybe we would even notice the season if we did… So sad about the lava… but nature has it’s ways…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pele, the goddess of volanos has definitely had her way this past month!
LikeLike
Lillian, sorry about your loss.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi Charley….actually this was a wonderful spot we just rented those three years. We do not own it. Never the less, we were so very sad to see this happen and our hearts go out to the folks who own homes in the Kapoho area….it has been completely consumed by Pele, the volcano goddess — her lava flows mightily.
LikeLike
Several years ago… more than a few… I was in a physical geography class at the U of MN. The professor showed us a long video presentation of homes being washed away in the Spring flood waters of the Mississippi and the Red River of the North. His rhetorical question: “Why do they think it’s called ‘a flood plain’?” I feel bad whenever I see something like the lava eating homes in Hawaii. I also think, do humans really have a learning curve?
I am truly sorry for your loss.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hi again, Charley. Oh how I understand your professor’s comment….before Boston, we lived in Iowa City, Iowa in an area locally known as “mosquito flats.” My husband is a geologist and before we bought our house, looked at the plat map of the area. Our house was the highest in that area…which was two blocks over from the Iowa River. We lived there many years before the “100 year flood” hit. We canoed into our neighborhood, but our house remained dry. About two years later, we moved out of that house and soon thereafter moved to Boston. Well, the area was hit by flooding twice after we left — so much for that having been a 100 year flood. Now that neighborhood has very few houses left in it….most torn down and the area never to be rebuilt again. You’re right though….in many places people just rebuild or build in a precarious place to begin with. With rising oceans, climate change etc….this just becomes more and more of a problem.
LikeLike
Love how you went unconventional with this! Thank you for sharing the photo; breaks my heart. My Mom was a travel agent for years and Hawaii was her specialty. She loved the Big Island.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I had a good time with it! 🙂 Yes — our hearts go out to the folks in the Kapoho area. It’s interesting – the Big Island is one of the Hawaian islands that has continued to grow since I think, 1983 when Kilauea began to erupt. It’s because the lava flows into the ocean and connects on to the land…increasing its size. But that area is not inhabitable for hundreds of years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting write! You really did stretch this one. I loved the “no gnus in Boston! Too bad we cant take the n out and make it true!!
Dwight
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you enjoyed! 🙂
LikeLike
What a shame. Enjoyed your take of this prompt. Can relate.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed this Lillian. Apt, and well said.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I wonder if I really could totally disconnect, unplug, for a day????
LikeLiked by 1 person
That would be difficult for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Just turn it off, Lillian!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hah! Well today, I’ve vowed not to look at CNN or FB or Washington Post online. I’ll do my crossword and enjoy dVerse (hosting today) but dVerse will be the only thing I’ll plug in to.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wrote a similar title, Lillian. I did a “screen-free” day and it was invigorating! Sorry to hear about the beautiful Lagoon House where you vacationed…sad mess on Hawaii.
LikeLiked by 2 people
A “screen-free day” — yep. That will be on the docket soon! Today I’m hosting dVerse Poetics….but I’ve vowed not to plug in to CNN or Washington Post (my two go-tos) or FB. So — at least that’s a partial! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay! FB can be addictive for me so I need to unplug sometimes 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes you can! totally unplug for a day. I just did it a couple of weeks ago for 10 days….phone line was cut by falling limbs and the phone company gave me a 8 day turnaround. LOL> It was a very peaceful time, and I read the books I have been putting off, spent time with my 4 dogs and 10 cats and 12 hens, and actually gardened. I, too, hate the morning news (gnus) here in Atlanta: the home invasions, the deaths, the shootings, the robberies, the pointless violence,…etc. I turned off the tv for most of that and I settled down. We are so impacted by media. It truly is a double edged sword. When I think of the time, hours I waste on tv (Law and Order binges, etc) and the computer….searching for what???? And all the life outside….I am ignoring and being ‘disconnected’. When I die I don’t think I will say: “I wish I had watched more tv and news”. LOL. Liked you haibun very much, Lillian. I believe that the best of poetry, in any form…is one that reached the heart of others….other’s experiences. Brava. I’m there with you.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh these are wise wise words. That’s what I love so much about vacations….especially IE on board ship where we can’t log into internet (unless for $$$$$) — or out hiking for a day just enjoying nature and no bars on our phone — only using mine as a camera! 🙂
LikeLike
This was such fun to read!
LikeLiked by 2 people
So glad you enjoyed, Jo! Hope to see you later today as I’ll be hosting Tuesday Poetics 🙂
LikeLike
I disagree with Toni–you rocked the prompt, and your message is so appropriate. Interesting how the media has not reported on Hawaii in a couple weeks; making it “non-news”. I visited the Big Island several years ago; rented a house above Hilo. When we visited the volcano,I could not get out of the car; the air was too toxic for me. My wife got out, and suffered a headache for it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Glenn. We really loved our three visits to the Big Island….always staying in Lagoon house in the Kapoho area…which is on the Hilo side. We loved a restaurant in Hilo — they had ponds surrounding the restaurant, where they raised the various kinds of fish they served. We also went to the Tsunami Museum there which we found fascinating. Ah yes…..Pele, goddess of volcanos has added much land to the Big Island….and sadly in doing so this time, has literally covered an entire area. I do recall the sulphuric (I think?) fumes there.
LikeLike
Nice switch with the tourist season for the kigo.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Frank. For some areas, it truly is a season!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aaah! The freedom of no capitalisation :). I think a dy without news would be good…only that it’ll all catch up with you in the end. The new is overwhelming …and I can’t imagine the destruction the lava caused.
By the way..those smouldering eyes are scary!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hah! Vivian, you’re the only one who commented on the smouldering eyes photo. I thought it was an amazing contemporary artwork…..and apropos to be looking IE at new on my cellphone and having the smoke steam out of my head! (in reality, I’m taking a photo of the mirror image of myself)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol! It really is amazing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I “unplug” every now and then ~ I think its good for the soul, smiles ~ No news may mean a big relief ~ Take care Lillian ~
LikeLiked by 2 people
That’s what I love about going out and hiking! Unplugged bliss 🙂
LikeLike
Loved the rhymes in here. Boston zoo has no gnus? 😦 Loved it. Go for disconnecting. I think it’s the best thing ever, especially with the current news.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad you enjoyed the rhyming……..dazed in the haze…..:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the internal rhyme in the prose part, Lill: ‘haze. a daze. or a funk phase’ – and the gnus. My husband likes to have the news on all the time but I find it so hard to cope with and prefer just the occasional bulletin on the BBC. I think I could definitely do without it.
What a shame about the lava, but that’s the nature of nature – she’s unstoppable!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Pelee is quite unstoppable now….actually she’s been erupting at Kileau since 1983 — just much more forcefully in the month of May.
I’ve taken to visiting our public library more this summer — and squirreling away on our deck or in my study’s rocking chair reading rather than watching the news. Quite nice to get lost in a book 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊📚
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, we can all stand to cool down a bit, to turn down and off the generating heat and friction that begins to fry our minds because really, what good is information when it ceases to serve, only inflame emotions?
LikeLiked by 1 person
An important reminder, lillian, on the necessity of unplugging. I turn off all of my major notifications except for the phone app itself on Sundays. A pity about Lagoon House, and my heart goes out to all of the property owners that lost everything in the eruptions.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Frank. GREAT idea for Sunday truly being a day of rest 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
UNPLUG from news. We have to give ourselves a break. Well done, Lillian, love the rhymes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is agony to watch the news. I pray for us to listen one another and to show respect and gentleness. I love my friends of differing opinions and try to eschew the hatred that is so prevalent.
I think it is so wise to turn off the news and research the facts on our own.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The thing about the news is, when observed from altitude, the more it appears to change, the more it stays the same. The 4 conerstones of the news: comflict, blame, deflection, and frustration… and none of that is healthy or treatable. Abstain Lillian, before there is permanent damage… :). Enjoyed your “Hey -bun”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Terrific — vibrant, energetic language, funny/serious. Excellent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Art of Science
Science of Art
iRoNic alReaDy
oppoSites
but wait!
that’s
the
next
Prompt
Already.. Hi Lillian..
it’s aMazing what Beauty
coMes when we don’t Plan
aT all..;)
Ps.. mY Fredku
was is at the top of
this Fredbun and Bottom too..
NoW2
it’s alMost Gym Time wHeRE
i Do FredFu KungFu too and
Tomorrow Night it will be the 218th
Dance Week Night with all the College
Age folks who pronounce my name too
As Dance Legend too.. Key is Escape now
even at age 58.. the Religion of Science and the Science of
Religion and the God of Money and just Do LiVELiFELoVEaRTH
inheriting
iT aLL
Free aS Such..:)
Have you ever noticed
the Poetry World is tilted
Mostly Female and introvert.. And sAdly2..
Statistically speaKing verily so much.. heHe..;)
yeah..
me2..;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the idea of a haibun with rhythm. The static is just right. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was thrilled navigating through your post…I had a thrilling tour! You are quite a great writer.
LikeLiked by 1 person