Haiku Mondays: VACATION Winner

Here's what I loved about this week's contest: it brought out so many variations on the theme. There were trips down memory lane, both good (Karl, Fleur, Fishy) and bad (also Fleur and Fishy—we'd love to know what that phobia for life is!); stark admissions that for some of us, vacations are more work than play (Pam and Buzz); wistful imaginings (Troll/Secretariat's Ghost, Kym); vacations as altered reality (Czar); and sojourns that became paradigm-shifting experiences of a lifetime (Eggy). Then there was Aunty, who posited that perhaps the whole ding dang getaway thing is more hassle than it's really worth.

This contest was also rife with wonderful wordplay:

Czar's "spectral outliers," Troll's "warm turf under hoof" and "bitch-slapping mullahs," the cut-to-the-chase efficiency of Aunty's "girly goo" and "grope and grab." I also really liked how Karl's first two sentences mirrored each other with their rhythmic "bikes, babes, beer" and then "snow, rain, thunder." Nicely done.

In the end, though, I had to go with the haiku that, for me, best represented the idea of vacation as romantic ideal, as something both adventurous and escapist, whether real, or imagined.

For me, the several haiku that did that best were:

Fleur:

Best Vacation Ever, Summer of '73

Drive through the Badlands.
Steely Dan on 8-track tape.
Pop Rocks and Blowpops.


Kym:

My destination
Imagined and untitled
Anywhere but here

Which beautifully sums up our childlike belief in the transformative power of escape. Of vacation as a way to re-energize lives that at times become sodden with responsibility and routine. She doesn't know where she wants to go, she just knows she does . . . anywhere but here.


Troll's Trio:

The book, jug and loaf
but nobody beside me
in the wilderness.

The book, jug and loaf
but nobody beside me
yakking or singing.

The book, jug and loaf
but partner is not silent.
Shhhushhhhhh! Let nature sing!

Romantic he may not be, but, hey, what's the point of escaping to the wilderness if NOT for utter peace and quiet? Also, come on; how many of us don't secretly shudder when someone we know spontaneously bursts into song in front of us?


And the winner is: Fleur.

I couldn't get it out of my head, and not only because of its verbal bounce. It's also an exceptionally sensual haiku, evoking with sight, sound, and taste, the feel of a family summer road trip vacation at a specific time in history: the wide open country and its promise of discovery and adventure; the fact that gasoline was cheap enough to travel by car; the omnipresent musical accompaniment (and if you don't have an emotional response to at least one of Steely Dan's songs, then you either weren't alive in the 1970s or you don't like pop music, period), and finally, who doesn't remember the ridiculously simple pleasure of Pop Rocks and Blow Pops, the holy grail of candy for many a child of the '70's?

Congrats, Fleur. You win the Bill Bryson book; however, I think I deleted your address from the last time I sent you a prize, so please have Czar re-relate. You also get the pleasure of picking a theme and hosting next week's contest.

And thanks to everyone for participating, most especially Eggy, who doth protest too much that she's not "that kind of writer," which Czar always says as well, but look at the both of you. Haiku-ers for sure.