Seventeen
In New Jersey, 2021 was the Summer of Love — for the 17-year cicada. ;- )
My wife Nancy Fischer Waters and I collaborated on a prose / poem piece that captures a moment from that crazy-short time when the air was abuzz with cicadas. Talk about speed dating!
(The prose part is by Nancy. I supplied the title and the tiny poem at the end.)
Seventeen
I really love the 17-year cicadas. After living all but a few weeks of their lives underground, they emerge to fly around like crazy in their frenzied efforts to find a mate and lay the foundation for the next generation. They are a memorable sight, zipping through the air wherever you look!
Another memorable sight from the Brood X “invasion” of 2021 was me: a middle-aged woman screaming, wiggling, and swinging my purse in the Whole Foods parking lot in an effort to escape the attentions of a cicada that had singled me out to become its new best friend. (And yes, it did land in my hair!)
nothing to lose! the way we danced when we were 17
Published in Drifting Sands Haibun (https://drifting-sands-haibun.org/09/2021/seventeen/), September 2021.
Bill Waters ~~ Haiku 