Peter Newton
Hangtime
In the canyons of my sunset years, I find myself remembering this simple fact about growing up: every Saturday morning we worshipped in the Church of Looney Tunes. Brothers, sisters, sleep-over friends, all squandering our youth hopped-up on Sugar Smacks and Cap-N-Crunch cereal.
I can picture the image of Wile E. Coyote refusing to obey the laws of gravity. Every time he ran off a cliff he’d just bicycle-blur his legs, fighting the fact that his number was indeed up, again.
Maybe he’d hold up a little sign lamenting his past decisions. Only then did he wave politely, almost remorsefully, good-bye—his oddly human-shaped hand still there, waving while the rest of his suddenly elastic body plummeted to the canyon floor accompanied by that long diminishing whistle, the sound of a bomb being dropped.
That was just the ammunition I needed to drive my sister crazy—mimicking the whistle over and over until I ran out of air.
the beep-beep
of her heart monitor
laugh track on mute
About the Author
Peter Newton is the author of several books in the Japanese short form traditions of haiku, haibun, and tan renga. His newest book of haiku, Glide Path (Red Moon Press, 2022), won second place in the 2023 Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards. His most recent collection of haibun is Part-Time Gods (Snapshot Press, 2022).