Ryan Jessup

More than the Sea More than the Light

when I think of those summer vacations from my youth at Carolina Beach what I remember most more than the sea more than the light were the priceless moments of leisure the white cinder block cottage with the coldest window-unit air conditioner ever made the peaceful sleeping and the easy waking day in and day out Dad saying no agenda the endless sandwiches snacks and sodas the snowy analog TV finishing cans of Beanee Weenees in the sand cleaning up and going out at night becoming the night Mom and Dad's tone of arguing about money and where to eat a family of three making and repeating the best of what they had before the wave-like future massively rose up out of the unknown and came crashing down washing all of it away never O never to be seen or had again

crumbling pier a pelican drifts toward the horizon

Note: the prose portion of this haibun originally appeared, in a different format, in Relief Journal, Fall 2009.