Schooldays, schooldays, good old golden rule days . . . familiar words from a song my mother sang to me as she tucked me into bed. Generations later, I sang these words at bedtime to our young children, and then again to their children.
As a septuagenarian, I’ve been entrenched in schooldays from when I went to kindergarten until I rejuvenated (never say retired) in December 2012. Schooldays were part of my life as a student, a parent of school-aged children, a teacher, and finally as a university administrator. Whether we lived in rural Iowa, or a city, August always signaled summer’s end. More importantly for me, it was the harbinger of schooldays to come. Depending on my age, it could mean cutting up brown paper grocery sacks to make textbook covers; or shopping for new crayons, knee socks for my uniform, #2 yellow pencils, new Bic pens and notebooks, or a new sweater set. Later it signaled filling out a new lesson plan book, or noting upcoming meetings in a day planner. At seventy-five, back-to-school ads on television bring back memories of August days gone by.
sweetcorn season done
seed corn soon to fill silos
school bells ring again
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today Sanaa is hosting and asks us to write about what August means to us. We can use any poetic form we choose. I decided to write a haibun.
Haibun: a poetic form that includes one or two succint paragraphs of prose followed by a haiku. The prose cannot be fiction. The haiku must include a seasonal reference.
Photo from Pixabay.com
lillian the home poet 
A brilliant haibun! Your Haiku knocked it “out of the park”! Thank-you for this.
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What an upbeat comment to read! Many thanks for making my day.
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This is incredibly tender and heartfelt, Lillian! I can picture those “textbook covers, new crayons, knee socks for uniform, #2 yellow pencils, new Bic pens and notebooks,”.. sigh.. it reminded me of my school days! Thank you so much for writing to the prompt ❤❤❤
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The haibun seemed the perfect choice for my reflecting here….a good prompt to get lots of individual and personal responses from! 🙂
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The end of summer and the beginning of a new school year – what a time period to enjoy August. It brings back happy memories.
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So so so many years August meant the coming school year for me! And in the winter, from the time I was 5 until I retired, if I woke up to snow….or if snow was forecast, I’d turn on the radio and listen eagerly for the “snow day” announcements, hoping my school would appear in the list as one that was closing that day! Even as an adult, a university administrator, I always LOVED snow days! 🙂
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That school rhythm never quite leaves the system, does it? Lovely haibun, Lillian.
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Exactly! Glad you enjoyed, Sarah.
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loved the haiku
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Straight from my Iowa days 🙂
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Oh, I remember that song well~~’you were my queen in calico’ my favorite words! I love your August Haibun.
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.”you were my queen in calico, I wrote on your slate, I love you Joe, When we were a couple of kids!” 🙂 The slate really tells how old the original song is! 🙂 Glad someone else remembers it! 🙂
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A wonderful haibun with a hint of wistfulness. This is writing that comes straight from the heart. I enjoyed reading this.
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Nice one. Our minds wavered in a similar way😊
Much💚love
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What lovely August memories. The haibun was a wise choice.
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Nice haibun! I can remember wrapping my textbooks in brown paper bags. I used to crumble them first because I wanted to be different from everyone else.
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Lovely haibun.
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Shared memories for all of us of a “certain age.” Brilliant evocation, Lill!
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Wow, you really took me back! I remember cutting up brown paper bags for textbook covers too! And the Bic pens (were there any other kind!), notebooks and #2 pencils…wow 🙂
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I forget your kids go back to school in August. It seems unnatural to us, but I suppose (as you imply in the haiku) that the main harvests are over and traditionally, child labour on the farms wouldn’t be needed any more. That was probably the idea behind those long summer school holidays, I imagine.
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What an evocative haibun, Lillian! Happy memories of schooldays came rushing back.
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Memories may fade, but those of our school days seem to be as fresh & clear as yesterday.
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I love your Iowa Haiku twist to your August Haibun! A place where corn grows eight feet tall and harvesting begins the end of August
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I bet you miss those days even though you may not of thought you would at times. Sweet haibun and haiku
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they are lovely memories to treasure all those years
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