“The world is mud-luscious…
[and] puddle-wonderful”
e.e. cummings
My neighbor greeted me mournfully with these sad words: “Your house always has that large puddle in front of it,” and she pointed. Sure enough, I could have laid down in that puddle, and it would still have been longer than me and wider, too.
“That’s okay,” I responded with a smile. “I have two small boys who will love that puddle.” She looked taken aback, but I was the kind of mother to take my boys puddle-stomping on a whim. We named that puddle Alligator Pond. Many times, we stomped there, in water shoes and rain boots, and found ourselves anointed with the magic waters.
Now we can see all the world in a puddle, earth, sky, trees and ourselves.
Puddle splash laughter,
Muddy knees, arms windmilling,
rainwater in boots.
Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: If you like the haibun poetry style (prose followed by haiku), and want to dip a toe, you can find this week’s prompt at Ligo Haibun.
Further Note: The puddle in the photograph is not Alligator Pond, which is much dirtier and much closer to the sidewalk.
Thanks for the mention! I’ve enjoyed dipping my toes.
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My kind of mom 🙂
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Thanks!
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Just last week I slipped my feet in a puddle of water to wash away the mud after a downpour. And I felt so refreshed in the coolness of the puddle. Wonderful haibun 🙂
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Thanks! I’m glad to meet a fellow puddle-appreciator. 🙂
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it is always a joy when neighbors feel they must get into your business – oh, well, makes life exciting. i really enjoyed your haibun tale and great to hear about Alligator Pond. 🙂
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Ah well, perhaps she hoped I would call the local government and get them to resurface the road and remove the puddle, but I was not interested.
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This brought me back. I love it. So good to see people still enjoy such sweet endeavours!
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I’m a simple person at heart: love to laugh, love stories, love to have fun. I’m generally happy. I try to still that critical inner voice and feed it chocolate regularly. We sit down and have tea and chat ever so often. 🙂
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That’s a beautiful picture Brenda! 🙂 And so true what you have said!! We forget as adults what rain and puddles meant to us when we were little. We always want everything to be so perfect, when in reality unperfect can be good too – just a matter of perception! 😀
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Imperfect is more fun! More scope for the imagination. 🙂
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Great thoughts, my friend!
Thank you for sharing…Cheers!! 😀
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Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂
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Not a problem, always a pleasure to be able to feast my eyes and mind with those beautiful words…Cheers!! 😀
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Hugs, Brenda
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( ^_^)o自自o(^_^ )
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so much of fun..and the haiku is so vivid
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Thanks! Good memories reflected there. 🙂
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Ohmygosh!! This photo is lovely. Splish splash!!
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Wouldn’t you jump in? When do you get to jump on a tree? LOL
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So cute!
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Thanks! Have a puddle-wonderful day!
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🙂
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Brenda, I love the way you think! You are artistic and amazingly creative. I love the picture too!
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Wow, thanks for such lovely words! Hugs, Brenda
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What a beautiful photo – I’d also never heard the ee cummings quote before either – so that’s going into my memory as well.
And agreed – here’s to puddle jumping!
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I love ee cummings, but I had missed that poem. I looked it up, and it was so irreverant and groundbreaking, I think the ground is still breaking! 🙂
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Hey Brenda, this is absolutely wonderful and fun. I love it. Your haibun, your excellent expressions, the flow and your haiku! I am so happy you decided to write a haibun! xx
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I liked it, too. I look forward to Fridays extra now. 🙂
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Your neighbor should’ve joined your boys in jumping into the puddle! 🙂
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She had other virtues, but I sometimes wondered if she was looking on with horror while we laughed like loons.
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That is so much fun to jump on the pool of water.
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Definitely, wet socks and all!
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great fun splish splosh!!
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LOL
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Why people can’t see the beauty of puddles is beyond me… and that picture just tell the truth.
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Thanks, I agree!
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I think her reflection is like the glass..half-empty she’ll never believe the magick in the water
puddles are meant for little boys and girls to discover hidden treasures of the rain..
my geese love when my drive has puddles, they run like mad, flapping wings jumping in….
they are a hoot to watch…
I think I still walk right through the middle of one instead of going around….
and listening to the thunder and rain tonight I will have a lot of puddles..!
great post Brenda..as always…and I love that photograph
Take Care….You Matter….
)0(
maryrose
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You should take a video of your geese in the puddles, LOL I’m loving that image. Hugs, Maryrose
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Loved it!
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Thanks!
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Here it is, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0HE7TC8y5g&sns=em
It says a lot. Especially how I’ve been feeling lately. Reflections are not always happy.
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That is the anthem for women done wrong. I don’t blame you for want to hear that again and again right now. Diana Ross was awesome!! Thanks for the link.
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I love the reflection. Makes me think of the song, “Reflections.” I always hear show tunes and songs in my head. I think the Supremes sang it.
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I’ll have to look for it. 🙂
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Children should ingest a pound of dirt a year… for health reasons! How else are we to get their immune systems working. If one sanitizes everything there is no way our bodies will be able to adjust and fit off the nasty stuff.
I too love puddle stomping! Nicely done! I’m a tad late this week and just posted. Cheers.
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I’ll come see, and yes, kids should be allowed to dig, tunnel and puddlestomp till the cows come home (or school starts). 🙂
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That’s an awesome picture. How pretty!
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Thanks! Taking walks now, I find myself always looking, looking. I like that, I feel more alive somehow. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
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I love this so much
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Thanks! I bet you are a puddle stomper, too.
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Absolutely )
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Great photo!
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Thanks! Had to stand in the middle of the street to get it. 😉
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Moments of sponteneous magic; the golden memories we delight in all our lives.
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Yes, I will always treasure Alligator Pond. 🙂 Thanks for commenting. Warmly, Brenda
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Alligator Pond…I love that. Excellent haibun! 🙂
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Thanks! I have good memories of that puddle. 🙂
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Puddles are wonderful. Obviously your neighbor has never watched Singing in the Rain! Dancing in a puddle is so invigorating!
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I think she had driven her clean car through it too many times. 🙂
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I love Alligator Pond….you should have started jumping up and down in it, just to show her it’s wonderment !!
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Heh, heh!! That would certainly have been memorable. 🙂
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Puddles are meant to be jumped in. I love your puddle photograph, awesome with the tree reflected!
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Thanks! I had wondered if I would ever find a use for that one. 🙂
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Well you certainly did, and it worked out beautifully!
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Some people just don’t appreciate the “funner” things in life.
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Exactly my thought. 🙂
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