Spring is in the air, there is a holiday weekend in the UK and it's time to relax – so here is a new haibun by regular IS&T contributor Mike Montreuil…



WEEKDAY PICNIC


It’s one of those picture perfect days.   You arrive with your girlfriend and easily find a parking spot away from the sun.   You smile at each other, as a chickadee announces his claim to a place he will not share with another, and laugh when a sparrow decides to fly through.

mid-day sun –
slowly eaten sandwiches
harden in the heat

A light breeze blows her hair onto her cheek.  You attempt to calmly  place the strands behind her ear, but the urge to nibble her lobe takes over.   She smiles again and takes your hand.   Warmth radiates from hers to yours.  Everything is perfect.  The world is at peace.

a jet takes off
towards the north –
a warm silence broken

Lunch over, you take her hand once more and begin the walk you have promised each other.  Trees are in bloom and a multitude of flowers hang from their branches.  Life has begun in this city park.  Even the crows have begun their nest building.

along the path
an open condom pack –
our stifled laughs

This afternoon will not end, you tell each other.  But the increase in automobile traffic tells you otherwise.  Soon, the realities of family life will take over and the day will turn to dinner and the homework that needs to be done.

rush hour traffic –
an eighteen-wheeler
blocks the way home