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.
when the tide goes out little water world becomes quiet and lovely
It is a fabulous place: when the tide is in, a wave-churned basin, creamy with foam, whipped by the combers that roll in from the whistling buoy on the reef.
But when the tide goes out the little water world becomes quiet and lovely.
The sea is very clear and the bottom becomes fantastic with hurrying, fighting, feeding, breeding animals.
Crabs rush from frond to frond of the waving algae.
Starfish squat over mussels and limpets, attach their million little suckers and then slowly lift with incredible power until the prey is broken from the rock.
And then the starfish stomach comes out and envelops its food.
Orange and speckled and fluted nudibranchs slide gracefully over the rocks, their skirts waving like the dresses of Spanish dancers.
And black eels poke their heads out of crevices and wait for prey.
The snapping shrimps with their trigger claws pop loudly.
The lovely, colored world is glassed over.
Hermit crabs like frantic children scamper on the bottom sand.
And now one, finding an empty snail shell he likes better than his own, creeps out, exposing his soft body to the enemy for a moment, and then pops into the new shell.
A wave breaks over the barrier, and chums.
From Cannery row by John Steinbeck (Viking, New York, 1945)
rip currents can sweep even best swimmers into deeper water
Beaufort County, SC Sheriff’s Office
Advisory: Rip Current Statement until 08:00PM Wednesday
WHAT…For the High Rip Current Risk, dangerous rip currents. For the High Surf Advisory, large breaking waves up to 6 feet in the surf zone.
WHERE…South Carolina Beaches, and Georgia Beaches.
WHEN…For the High Rip Current Risk, through Wednesday evening. For the High Surf Advisory, until 8 PM EDT Thursday.
IMPACTS…Dangerous swimming and surfing conditions and localized beach erosion. Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water.
Instructions: Inexperienced swimmers should remain out of the water due to dangerous surf conditions.
Summertime beaches of America are patrolled by lifeguards who put out different colored flags to signal swimming conditions.
The colors are pretty much univeral.
Green: Safe to Swim
Yellow: Use Caution
Red: Rough Conditions – Some say beach closed, some say swim at your own risk …
Double Red: Beach closed for Swimming.
Seaside beaches also have a blue or purple flags indicate jellyfish, stingrays, and dangerous fish in the water – something I didn’t have to deal with growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan.
swell letter from you snapshots and small packet of Lake Michigan beach
In a letter my Dad wrote to his then girlfriend, later wife and later still, my Mom, on August 15, 1945, he opened with:
My Darling Lorraine, Well, the war is finally over and now all we have to do is until the time comes when I can come home.
It was VJ Day.
Victory over Japan.
Dad was in Europe and Germany had surrendered that spring and the US Army in Europe was waiting to see if it would be needed in the war against Japan.
Dad had entered the army in the spring of 1942, spent the next 2 years in South Carolina and in 1944, was shipped over to England.
Since 1942, getting out of the army and home was first and foremost on his mind.
He would mention Cubs baseball games and that he was looking forward to going to a game when he got home.
He would mention Michigan football games and that he was looking forward to going to a game when he got home.
He would write about the food and mention that he was looking forward to my Mom’s cooking for him when he got home.
Homesick in a major sort of way.
Mom would send off packages of candies and nuts from his favorite stores.
And she sent pictures, snapshots she took and studio photographs she had taken.
Dad loved the photos and always mentioned them and always asked for more.
And he would mention how much he missed home.
Mom must have sensed this, I mean who couldn’t and she thought up things she could send.
Things that were small enough to send in the mail and still be meaningful to Dad.
Things that would say, I miss you too.
Things that would say, someday.
After remarking on the end of World War 2, Dad to turned to the last letter he got from Mom.
Dad wrote:
I received a swell letter from you dated the 6th of August which contained a couple of snapshots and a little packet of Lake Michigan Beach.
A little packet of Lake Michigan Beach.
Lake Michigan Beach.
A little packet of Lake Michigan Beach sand in a packet mailed to Europe at the end of World War 2.
Mom had recently had a beach day with her younger brother Carol and other friends and as nice a trip to the beach in August sounds, Mom’s thoughts were in Europe and she put some of the sand away to send to Dad.
Some thing that was small enough to send in the mail and still be meaningful to Dad.
Some thing that would say, I miss you too.
Some thing that would say, someday.
Dad wrote:
Maybe next year we can be there together.
He then wrote, I think it was the longest letter that I have ever received from you … and it was wonderful.
He was over in Germany.
Japan had surrendered.
The war was over.
And he had a little packet of Lake Michigan Beach.
And it was wonderful.
Lake Michigan Beach (1972) by Armond Merizon (My Dad’s favorite artist)
other edifice altruistic as lighthouse built only to serve
Ran across this great quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw in the New York Times:
I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve.
Sadly, while I searched for an attribution, I had no luck.
So I asked ChatGTP.
Here is the response I got.
The quote often attributed to George Bernard Shaw —”I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve” — is widely circulated online, but there is no verifiable source confirming that Shaw actually said or wrote these exact words.
Key facts: The quote does not appear in any of Shaw’s known plays, essays, or recorded speeches.
It is absent from authoritative quote databases and scholarly collections of Shaw’s work.
Some sources attribute a similar sentiment to H.G. Wells, Anne Lamott, or Virginia Woolf, but again, no definitive origin has been verified.
Most Likely Status: This quote is misattributed or paraphrased from another source, possibly meant to reflect Shaw’s ideals but not directly from him.
