Some of these beach haiku were written by random trips to beach.
Most of these are part of a series based on afternoons spent at the beach on Hilton Head Island with my pad out ( a real paper note pad), hoping for words with my iPhone camera handy to add illustration to my thoughts.
I wanted to see if I would be ‘inspired’ by what I saw, by what I heard, by what I smelled, by what I tasted, what I felt emotionally and what I felt tactilely.
Some turned out okay.
Some were too forced.
Some were just bad.
Some did involve some or all of those feelings.
As far as it goes, I guess I was inspired by by what I saw, by what I heard, by what I smelled, by what I tasted, what I felt emotionally and what I felt tactilely.
Please aware that most of these haiku were NOT WRITTEN on the date in the title – for an explanation of this please see The Series link in the navigation table.
then tell me where all past years are and teach me to hear mermaids singing
Go and catch a falling star; Get with child a mandrake root; Tell me where all past years are, Or who cleft the Devil’s foot; Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy’s stinging; And find What wind Serves t’advance an honest mind.
Song by John Donne as printed in The Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1918 (1939 edition) but first published the first edition of Donne’s collected poems in 1633.
Back to 1633 when the poem Song was first printed.
Back to 1989 when I finally got to go to the beach by myself for the first time with the lady.
purple – marine pests jellyfish, stingrays … others … are in the water
According to the United States Lifesaving Association website, for decades, lifeguard agencies in the U.S. and around the world have employed flags to notify swimmers of conditions, to warn of hazards, to identify safer areas for swimming, and to notify beach users about regulated areas. To help ensure global consistency, in 2004 the International Life Saving Federation developed international guidelines for warning flags.
Red – High hazard. Rough conditions such as strong surf and/or currents are present. All swimmers are discouraged from entering the water. Those entering the water should take great care.
Yellow – Medium hazard. Moderate surf and/or currents are present. Weak swimmers are discouraged from entering the water. For others, enhanced care and caution should be exercised.
Purple – Marine pests, such as jellyfish, stingrays, or other marine life which can cause minor injuries are present in the water. This flag is not intended to indicate the presence of sharks.
These guidelines have been adopted, in part, by the International Standards Organization and are endorsed by the United States Lifesaving Association. By consistently following these warning flag guidelines, lifeguard agencies can help ensure a universal understanding of their meaning and thus improve their effectiveness.
These flags are only approved for use on beaches where lifeguards trained to USLA standards are on duty. Flags are not an acceptable substitute for properly trained and equipped rescuers, but rather a tool for their use.
To be fully effective, the use of warning flags to notify the public of current hazard levels should be consistent, based on objective, measurable criteria that can be logged and tracked, and then changed as conditions change. They should be accompanied by good public education efforts to explain the meaning of the flags flown.
In the photo above, you see BOTH the yellow flag for moderate surf as well as the purple flag for marine pests.
The last line under the Purple Flag is the best.
This flag is not intended to indicate the presence of sharks.
I learned that there is a test down here for the prence of sharks.
Put your finger in the water and then put your finger in your mouth.
If it tastes salty, there are sharks nearby.
Growing up on Lake Michigan we had neither sharks nor marine pests.
I did experience the Alewife Explosion on the Great Lakes in the late 1960’s which took place because, according to the US Geological Survey, these invasive, saltwater fish are poorly adapted to the lake’s fresh water and struggle to handle sudden water temperature changes. When they undergo the stress of spring spawning or face dropping temperatures, their weakened bodies succumb to “osmotic shock” and they die by the millions.
I can attest to the dying by the millions as every morning the beach was cover with dead fish and our morning chore was to rake the beach and bury the fish.
There are no tides on the Great Lakes and the fact that twice each day the beaches here in South Carolina are stripped and power washed and resurfaced appeals seems to be worth the purple flags, stinging marine life and risk of sharks.
is no way one can anticipate accurately such wreathing vapors
The clouds were swift-moving, and I made a series of exposures.
There is no way one can anticipate accurately the positions of such wreathing vapors;
one situation appears worthy of an exposure —
and then appears another situation that seems even better.
From El Capitan, Winter Sunrise in Examples : the making of 40 photographs by Ansel Adams (Little, Brown: Boston, 1983).
This are images of a storm front over Port Royal Sound as viewed from Fish Haul Beach on the northern most edge Hilton Head Island on Saturday, May 30, 2026.
The clouds were swift-moving, and I made a series of exposures.
One situation appeared worthy of an exposure.
And then appeared another situation that seemed even better.
There is no way one can anticipate accurately the positions of such wreathing vapors.
And let me saw (and I have said this before) in NO WAY can I or DO I compare or imagine that my shots with an iPhone could be included in any honest discussion of the work of Mr. Adams … but, be that as it may, I am also the guy who edits Shakespeare into my definition of Haiku … so there you are.
But I get the girl in the end so all’s well that ends well.
For some reason, I just discovered the simple majesty of that phrase.
when you travel … you have adventures, to tourists … time is valuable
Adding experiences in Georgia and Virginia and the Carolinas to their knowledge of Florida, the Johnsons saw and drank deep of Savannah, Charleston, Asheville, Richmond, and Newport News.
They were able to do all five cities in six days, while the Bezuzuses had taken eight for them.
In Charleston they saw Calhoun’s grave and learned all about the aristocratic society.
They were so pleasantly entertained there, by a very prominent and successful business acquaintance of Mr. Johnson’s, a Mr. Max Rosenfleisch of New York, who had bought a fine old Southern mansion in Charleston and thus, of course, was right in with all the old families socially.
Mr. Rosenfleisch said he liked the aristocrats, but was going to change a lot of their old-fashioned social ways, and show them how to have a real swell time, with cabarets and theater parties, instead of these slow dances, and teach them to dine at seven instead of three or four.
The Johnsons were quite thrilled at witnessing the start of this social revolution—I tell you, it’s when you travel that you have such unusual adventures.
They themselves would actually have met some of the inner social set of Charleston, but Mr. Rosenfleisch was having the den redecorated before giving any more of his smart, exclusive parties, and meantime the Johnsons had to be getting on—to a tourist, time is valuable.
Adapted from I’m a Stranger Here Myself as reprinted in I’m a Stranger Here Myself and Other Stories by Sinclair Lewis (Dell, New York, 1962).
