My old friend Alexandra Crampton (a former boarding school roommate and fellow native New Englander, now an anthropology professor newly arrived to the same Midwestern state I live in), posted the passage below on her Facebook page a few days ago. It’s so lyrical and has such a unique voice that I immediately screamed to myself “HAIBUN!” and offered to write a companion haiku for the piece and publish the whole thing here. She graciously accepted, although I’m not sure she quite understands yet what I’m up to. So herewith — a collaborative haibun:
Alex:
While reading on a hillside overlooking Lake Michigan, a sequence of sleek jets interrupt like pickups down a summer strip – Then, directly overhead, 2 more with US NAVY clearly stamped on each belly. Throughout the city, jets circle and peek between buildings, creating a surround sound of freaky so I bike down the coast in time to see how the world ends — not with a bang but something like synchronized swimming…
Melissa:
the apocalypse —
stage-managed by
blue angels
Red Dragonfly 
go team! so what does it mean if I am a category and a tag??? um, is this not what I’m supposed to do– should I respond with haiku?
LOL, Al — you can respond any way you want. 🙂 Hope the haiku works for you…
You’re a category and a tag because I am an obsessive-compulsive future librarian who is trying to index this site in far more detail than I ought to. I’m about ready to throw in the towel though and start doing it the way everyone else does …
Cool! This is great – a really complimentary haiku, Mel, and the ending of the prose part and the detail from Alex is great – puts me right in the city
Thanks, Ash! Yeah, I LOVE Alex’s piece. Just curious … did you get the reference to the Blue Angels? Do people in Australia know about them? Is that a stupid question? I’m only asking because I was wondering if this would make any sense to international readers …
Wow, no, I hadn’t picked up on that – and I should have, as I love reading about post-war times and I think the Blue Angels started around then?
Without the reference, it’s a great image, but having the background makes it even better, thanks!