new wellies
Christopher Robin
tags along
Published by
Alan Summers
Alan Summers has been filmed by NHK Television (Japan) for the feature “Europe meets Japan - Alan's Haiku Journey.” He’s a Trailblazer Contest 2024 winner for an experimental haikai verse, and a winner of the Bournemouth Writing Festival 2024 (Poetry and Flash Fiction) for haibun. His current passion is retrospective recipes including 1970s France, Britain, and Italy. Alan is the founding editor of The Pan Haiku Review: https://www.callofthepage.org/the-pan-haiku-review/ View all posts by Alan Summers
Well done, Alan.
Published at Christmas, too.
All the joy of boyhood packed in
Jan
Yes, very Christmassy. It can be a magical time when even adults can peak through their veils of what is perceived as reality, and see something that only the youngest of children can see. :-)
__ Smiles_!
dry feet
this youngster trots to sgoil
old boots
_m
Thanks!
Ah, yes, children and their boots! Often heading for the muddiest puddles too!
Excellent Alan! A strong image of childhood.
Thanks Dave!
And of course now that Disney has produced childhood memories via Winnie the Pooh, and also showed Paddington Bear, the old BBC TV series (Britain), it is great that more and more people from outside the U.K. can share in the joy. :-)
Love it. A tenderly sweet poem full of innocence Alan.
How true that only the youngest of children can see. They are yet without a cloud of guile over theirs eyes, and free of acquired distortions.
Well captured!
Thanks!
Some writers and artists can keep in touch with what makes a person a human thank goodness. I am reminded of Wordsworth's Ode: Intimations of Immortality where when we are young enough we see through the film of what is pushed onto as the 'norm' of society.
Yes, beautifully evocative.
Thank you!
After being gifted wellies aka Wellington boots, for the first time in decades, I felt the presence of childhood characters and adventures. :-)
Lovely, Alan. It leads me to memories of childhood reading.
Yes, a few of my haiku have that transportation back to childhood. Often our strongest memories are those when we visualised fictional characters as real. :-)
Good one, Alan – and interesting to see CR tagging along instead of the other way round. :-)
Thanks Eric,
The actual author's son Christopher Robin died back in 1996. He lived for some years with myasthenia gravis and died in his sleep on 20 April 1996. He was seventy-five years old.
Wikipedia
So I merged both Christopher Robins, the son and the character and having been bought nice big wellington boots by friends in France, I immediately feel Christopher Robin is with me, and his fictional companions. :-)
Well done, as usual, Alan
What is memory, if not the storehouse of all that fantasy – you've tapped it well
Thank you! :-)
This is so magical, Alan – it immediately made me go 'awwwww!':)
marion
Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted! Sometimes we need our childhood books and their heroes and heroines, don't we? :-)
Alan
Congratulations, Alan!
Thank you. :-)
How strange, Alan. I typed a comment over the holiday season on this delightful haiku of yours, but it doesn't appear to be here (unless I posted it elsewhere by mistake – t'was the season to be merry after all!) I was just about to comment on Rachel Sutcliffe's blog how her hopscotch haiku reminded me of this one of yours and though I'd double check it so I quoted it correctly. Anyway, as a big fan of the books when I was little I love how this your haiku has brought me back to childhood – wellies and all! :)
marion
I think your comment flew back. See below. :-)
Adults are never really far from their childhood, sometimes innocently, sometimes never leaving the cruelty of the playground. Thankfully this poem is an innocent excitement of new groovey wellington boots from France (Britain don't do size 13s or 14s for men over six foot) and going on an adventure along the river in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England.
Thanks for catching the enthusiasm! :-)
warm regards,
Alan
I guess we can never have too many comments on our work, Alan :)
marion
Hi Marion! :-)
True.
I've also added this to a new category of senryu in the new online course that is starting very soon. The course sold out quickly but hope to run another one later in the year. :-)
warm regards,
Alan
I was just about to comment on Rachel Sutcliffe's blog how her hopscotch haiku reminded me of this one of yours. Thank post