The following poem was recently published in The Weekly Avocet. This is a haibun, a poetry form that combines a paragraph of prose with a stanza of haiku. You can click the link below to hear me read it.
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Running through the sprinkler.mp3
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RUNNING THROUGH THE SPRINKLER
I stand on the sidewalk, a jet of cold water in front of me, my impaired eyes unable to find a way around it, as cars whoosh by on the busy street. The ninety-degree sun beats down. A tepid breeze caresses my face. I remember how fun it was to run through the sprinkler as a kid. Why not, I think. With a hearty “Yahoo!” I dash into the water’s inviting coolness.
a hot summer day
cold water sweeps over me
I’m a child again
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What did you do to cool off in the summer when you were a kid?
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I’m the author of a romance novel, two poetry collections, and a memoir. I’m currently working on another novel. My work has appeared in The Avocet and Magnets and Ladders. I have a visual impairment and live in Sheridan, Wyoming, where for six years, I cared for my late husband, who was totally blind and partially paralyzed by two strokes. Before that, I worked as a registered music therapist in a nursing home and other facilities that served senior citizens. For more information, please visit my website and blog.
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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor
How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver
That’s Life: New and Selected Poems
My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds
Click to hear an audio trailer.
Writing Wranglers and Warriors 
Reblogged this on Campbells World and commented:
I shared this post from Abbie on here a while back.
But.
It has been featured on this blog so in thanks to the blogger for sharing I am reblogging here again.
As we just saw in an earlier post today is a day for sharing blogs.
So, here we are.
Thanks to you and all.
If you would please share?
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That brought back a sprinkler memory or two to me! And as hot at it has been, we need all the sprinkler memories we can get! Thank you!
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It was a pleasure to hear your sweet voice read your poem, Abbie! And I’ve never heard of the haibun form before. Really enjoyed it 🙂
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Thank you, Cole, I’m glad you enjoyed the poem and my reading of it.
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Now you have me thinking about my childhood. Like you, I ran through the sprinkler at our house in Rialto, California. Dad also bought a slip-and-slide. We’d hook up the hose to it and start sliding on its slippery surface. Soon, in the summer, the neighborhood gang would join us.
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That sounds like fun. Thanks for commenting.
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Casper recently opened a place full of sprinklers going all day for kids to run through. It has been busy since it opened and we are having very cooperative weather in the 80’s and 90’s to encourage the kids! It is a fun thing to do. I did enjoy the poetry form and story also, hadn’t heard of it before.
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Sprinklers! Just saying the word and it brings back memories! We could all use a day of playing in the sprinklers here in Texas – the heat will not go away! Thank you for a cheerful post.
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I agree we could all use a run through the sprinkler. I live next door to a day care center, and the other day, I noticed little kids doing just that. I don’t think it’s as miserable in Wyoming as it is in Texas, but it’s too hot for me.
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That’s lovely, Abbie!
To cool off–sprinklers, hoses, sometimes a swimming pool, but mostly long spells in the river every afternoon after my father got off work.
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Wow, that river water must have been freezing. As a kid, I would probably have loved it, but nowadays…
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The river water wasn’t all that cold, after the first plunge. But fifteen (highway) miles north, at the springs where it originates–that water is FRIGID. I used to go tubing there with friends–great fun, once you convince yourself to wade in past your ankle.
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Nice memory. Thanks for sharing. We also ran through the sprinkler as kids. My obs tickle wasn’t my sight, but my big sister who thought she should go through twice as many times as me.
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