On Camping

I recently started to doing some contract work that requires me to have a gmail account. I already have two- one I've been using for years and has now become a clearing house for all things shopping, list serve, freebies (really anything not work related), and a second I use for things a little more important that I want to bring to immediate attention when it arrives. I decided to use the second one for this professional work to keep it separate from my full time job and my adjunct work.

Why did I explain this? I logged onto my MacBook this week and because I was logged into that gmail account, when I navigated to Blogger it brought me to a separate account from the one I usually use. It was an old Blogger account linked to this infrequently used gmail account. In fact, I didn't even realize I had another blog set up under this other username!

The last post there was from 2010- seven years ago! I must have established it while participating in the Invitational Summer Institute of the National Writing Project. It was a transformational experience and a phenomenal summer. I had been experimenting with writing series of Haiku, and this was a set I wrote after a sensory exercise leading me to thoughts and images of camping. My son was only 10 or 11. Now he's going of to college this fall. I'm going to delete that blog and I wanted to archive the poetry. So here it is.

On Camping:

Dancing campfire flames
Crackling in nature's silence,
Warming creekside friends.

Majestic old trees
Creekside canopy
Shelters nature's guests

Water meets fresh dirt
Where Florida's nature grows
Gators peering out

Wilderness night sky
Stars twinkling through tree tops limbs
At peace with the earth

Children climbing trees
Canoers along the creek
Blazing sun shines in the sky

Hiking through the woods
Enjoying nature's wonder
Father and his son

Pitching his own tent
Family right of passage
Young camper is born

Head down, damp pillow
Nothing but crickets chirping
Nature's lullaby

Thick layer of funk
Campfire soot, creek water, sweat
The shower can wait