Childhood memories are a curious thing. There are so many events that I recall, but often, only a few sepia-toned images, but rarely a whole movie. For example:
I remember wiping out on my bike when trying to turn too sharp on gravel. I remember the pain of skinning my knee, and even worse, my mom picking bits of gravel out of the wound. I don’t remember where the accident occurred.
I remember my first plane ride…a four-seater. I even remember the fear I felt as we took the first corner (I had no idea that a plane was supposed to tip that dramatically), but I don’t remember the take-off.
Those, and so many other memories of major events that I remember more as singular moments, that I wonder why the rest of the context has faded
Springtime river flows
as clear as liquid crystal –
Autumn: filled with silt
written for dVerse haibun prompt on childhood memories
I love the “Autumn filled with silt”… it ties to well to those disconnected pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle.. sometimes I even remember very trivial thing (or if I don’t remember them I might have built a story around a picture)… But I do remember putting my goose on the pillar.
I remember going on a bike ride before the plane ride…I even remember that I had a clip on my leg to keep my pant-leg from getting caught in the chain.
I was concerned you may be picking more out of your knee than gravel with that plane ride. Ha.
It was always fascinating the little indentions the embedded gravel made in your leg. I picked a few out in my day.
It is just as interesting the scenes, or bits of scenes that bubble up
when we stop to think about them.
Hey Brian! Are you blogging still? I tried looking for your site, but it seems to have disappeared.
Cornering was obviously traumatic! It is interesting how memory works, isn’t it? Your haiku is really really lovely, and so true.
It’s all in the details, they whole story is another thing. This is marvelous, Bryan….and brings back so many memories and explains the scars on my knees, too. Sepia – toned images indeed.
Great finishing line of your haiku!
That haiku is just so good and I like the way in your narrative how you tilt between what is remembered and what isn’t … such randomness of the brain eh?!
Can’t recall some of my growing up years but those scars I got, I remember them ~ Love your haiku, its a beauty ~ Thanks for joining us ~
I have a black and white picture of me at about 3 or 4 sleeping on my dad’s lap in a little 4 or 6 seater Cessna that belonged to a friend of his. But I don’t remember the actual flight at all or which friend owned the plane. I love your honest partial memories and the haiku is superb.
I relate to this Bryan, for me so much is clouded and not as clear as I’d like it to be…
I tend to have a fear of flying. A four-seater might just increase that terror for me.
Memory is often very sharp in isolated little scenes, but the whole context of how those scenes hang together… vanished!
Great haiku expresses the swift changing between fear and excitement and then a slipping of all the elements of the moment.
It is interesting what remains in our memories, standing the test of time, and what doesn’t. Sometimes it seems so random and bizarre. The contrast between your prose and poem is executed wonderfully.
A lovely haibun Bryan and it seems that the kinesthetic experiences have anchored the most powerful memories for you. The closing haiku is beautiful too.
Beautiful piece Bryan and I’m in the same boat, metaphorically, with memory. Bits n pieces and pretty random they are too.
This is like catching garden scents on a breeze – just bits and pieces and traces of what was there.
Spectacular haiku and an amazing haibun. I lovecthe partial memories. I too remember partial memories. Wonderful work here.