Janice Doppler

Freedom

A mix of island residents and visitors, probably Americans, gather at Herring Cove to celebrate Canada Day. Most chat in pairs or small groups. Hands on hips, a half-dozen men discuss where to place fireworks then set to work. Tweens climb on rocks exposed by the falling tide. Girls and one boy create beach-pebble sand art. Squealing children run and wave sparklers. A double-crested cormorant dives and surfaces with a fish crosswise in its beak.

evening cool —
mosquito repellant
scents the air

A couple walking hand-in-hand pauses to inspect something at water’s edge. The man yells that a harbor seal pup needs help. The baby and a large piece of driftwood are entangled in thick nylon cord. The seal wails in protest as strangers collaborate to untangle the mess. Two men stand nearby and watch. As the seal swims away, one of them laughs derisively and says, “Landlubbers. It was only a seal.”

moonless night
bursting with color and
gunpowder smoke

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About the Author

Janice Doppler lives at the edge of a forest in Massachusetts in the USA. Her haiku and haibun have been published in frogpond, bottle rockets, The Haibun Journal, Cattails, and Drifting Sands. She enjoys tai chi, bird watching, and bird carving. She is a retired school teacher and administrator.