The Smuggs Chronicle 2013, Part 2
Haibun Poetry
Second Day: August 19, 2013
I. Stowe Path
Walking the asphalt path
Wildflowers purple and orange
High grasses, blackberries
Sycamores and maples
Lining the sides
Past a bend
Top of a rise
Stalks of corn
Not yet fully grown
Crown a hill
Each step on Stowe Path
Dodging bicyclists
Picking berries
Checking Piecasso’s menu
Lounging every step
Ending where we began
Seated on a swing made
From a retired lift chair
Gazing at Yelp
For culinary enlightenment
II. Aquatic Anarchy
The hot tub’s 104-degree water relaxes my knotted thighs. I settle with my back against a jet. A handful of people gaze around. I promptly forget them.
Sterling Mountain
overlooking Courtside
another sigh
Our respite at Courtside ends when David convinces Frankie to go to the North Hill Water Park with him. Mira and I trudge after the sprinting kids. When we find Frankie, he’s sliding down a tube slide. But David is nowhere in sight.
Frankie’s smile
overpowering stench of
Chlorine
We return to Courtside for the DJ Block Party. Frankie and David win a Smuggs water bottle. Goodtime Charlie uses it as a marker for the cannonball contest. Every kid ignores it. Except Frankie, who keeps moving it.
laughter and cheers
the largest cannonball sprays
the spectators
read from the beginning: Pre-Smuggs Insomnia, the Prequel
more by FRANK J. TASSONE
photograph by Jeffrey Young
