The summers of my privileged youth were filled with riding bicycles with my best friend, June; drinking from the garden hose; drawing hopscotch grids with colored chalk; climbing Mrs. Jester’s apple trees; running through sprinklers in the back yard; and fishing off the Lake Michigan pier with my dad. Once every summer, my mom bought a box of popsicles and doled them out to me and my friends. Everyone else fought over the red ones. I always had the yellow ones to myself. I guess nobody else liked banana.
hot city summer
steam hovers over pavement
tempers flare, guns pop
Frank is hosting haibun Monday at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets. Today he asks us to consider summer. Photos from my childhood, in the early 1950s. Pub opens at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us!
Haibun: one or two paragraphs of succinct prose, usually biographical in nature, followed by a haiku that amplifies the theme, but does not duplicate the prose.
lillian the home poet 
Lovely summer memories, Lill!
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Fabulous memories… the Lake Michigan pier resonated with me. I grew up in Milwaukee, WI. Going to the lakefront was a summer occupation! ❤
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What great memories! I loved popsicles. I used to save the coupon on the back of the sticky wrapper to send off for prizes… what were they thinking!!??
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Beautiful, yes, but I still find a touch of sadness or whimsy in thoughts of days long gone by..
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Such an enjoyable read Lil! And ha — I preferred the banana as well. Weren’t our friends foolish… 🙂
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So many memories. Thank you for sharing them, and the haiku, a firecracker in and of itself. Banana popsicles, what a memory. I agree, they were the best.
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I can relate! Why did we always fight for the red ones? Lovely memories Lillian ☺️💕
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Happy memories and fun photos ❤️
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Drinking from the garden hose… I can totally relate to that! We pool our money and go out to the local shops for cool drinks and ice creams(lemon soda is the rage here during summer). 🙂
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Wonderful memories, Lillian! Popsicles are still a favourite.
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I would have joined you in calling for the Banana popsicle!!!! A sweet summery Haibun, Ms. Lillian.
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Summer on the Great Lakes. Love it.
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Ah…we always begged our mom for the single popsicles but she always got the ones with two sticks and it was up to us to split them to share…never worked out equally.! Good memories now.
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Yep….we only had the double stick ones and had to share as well. But no one else liked the banana so I always got the whole thing! 🙂
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Good memories!
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