This summer lawn mowing season went fairly smoothly. With front, back, and side lawns and front and back fields to be mowed on the rider, regardless of what time of day and level of cloud and hat cover, it was invariably a relaxing, meditative experience. Except for that day.
The loud, vibrating mower rolled towards one outbuilding on its way back from its back field circuit as my mind lazily mapped out the route leading to the front field. Something was different in the snapshot ahead. My eyes were drawn up to what I was rolling towards: a very active, basketball-sized wasp nest. I did a forced-nonchalant brake, pulled the blade lever up, and put her in reverse, body tensed for what surely would soon be a defensive attack upon me, the invader. The attack never came, and the nest was avoided for the rest of the warm weather.
once slate menacing
then startling beneficence
now vacant castle
Photo taken on 11/2/21, after being abandoned. Hoping you can see this artifact is quite a bit bigger than a basketball now. The bottom photo is the same one but in grayscale.
Merril is today’s host of dVerse’ Poetics. Merril says:
You may write about any object—a family heirloom, a museum piece, a monument, or a palace. The choice is yours, but there must be some link to history and the past. You can write in any form or free verse. You might also consider Laura’s prompt from last week’s MTB on fragment poetry.
Tao Talk 
I never would have imagined a wasp nest for this prompt! I’m glad you were not attacked by a swarm of angry wasps. That thing is huge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too on their beneficence, Merril. It’s in a rather sheltered area so maybe it allowed maximum growth?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Maybe. Or perhaps they were all out at that time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That would have given me a start too: “startling beneficience” indeed.
Pax,
Dora
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jack Spaniard were common when i was growing up. We rarely see them now in the city suburbs where i now live
Nice one
Much💜love
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gillena, thank you!
LikeLike
Wow! That is a HUGE wasp nest! I’d back up too!
Love the haiku within the haibun here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lillian!
LikeLike
So glad the nest was vacant! Yikes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I made sure we’d had several really cold days before I got close to it for this pic.
LikeLike
We get wasp nests in our garage eaves every year. We kill themoff before they can attack, but still it is a scary time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glenn, this nest is far from the house so no worries. I did see some up near the top of the roof of the house though this year, where the woodpeckers have been pecking 😦 Something will have to be done in the spring.
LikeLike
When I was walking a mail route, I served a neighborhood with tons of trees. When the leaves fell in the fall, these type of nests were often revealed. There is something both fascinating and creepy about them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So neat to see them revealed after the leaves fall. I’ve seen more this year here and there than ever before. I hear you, Shay about the fascination and creepiness.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember this from last year. I’m glad they moved elsewhere
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think some moved to my house 😦 Something to look forward to dealing with in the spring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow Lisa! It is good you didn’t hit that with your mower. You would have been going one way and your mower the other! Really great photo. Did you cut it out and save the nest? Great Haibun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dwight, I think I subconsciously calculated leaving the mower and running vs taking my chances and backing it up. If I would have left it, my running could have set them off. Then when I started it up later to move it, they probably would have attacked. As Ol’ Bill S says, “all’s well that ends well.” No, the nest is still out back, in the wild rose briars. Good place for it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
How very interesting! Aren’t you worried they will move in again next summer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You could light a match to it! :>)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dwight it’s set in a large bush attached to my barn. Probably not a good idea…
LikeLike
It’s an amazing structure, but one obviously not meant for human visitors. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like Shay said, it is simultaneously fascinating and creepy, at least for us humans.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never seen a wasp’s nest up close. Fascinating, Lisa! Glad you managed to avoid attack 😅
LikeLiked by 1 person
Same here, Ingrid 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
got me squirmish and tensed – afraid of wasp war. happy no sting happened. and empty cave is such a peaceful yet haunting last line.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad they vacated. I’m hoping winter weather disintegrates it by spring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ewwww…. I’m glad you were unharmed!
-David
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Geez that’s huge. And what a unique entry for this prompt. I was once chased by a bunch of bees while mowing grass so I related.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Yvonne. Sorry you were chased by bees. Hoping you got away unstung. My dentist has a wasp nest outside one of his office windows. When I was telling him and his assistant about the nest, he said he was mowing and had run into one of his landscaping rocks and moved it. He went to move it back and got stung in the face by something that had a nest there. I felt so bad for him!
LikeLike
And I meant to add, I like your ending haiku.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Thank you.
LikeLike
A wasp’s nest!!! Fascinating, to write about it…I never once was able to view it, despite constantly wanting to… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
They truly are fascinating artifacts. How quickly they are built and continue to grow yet how thin and temporary they are. You’re right, usually I see them high in trees, too far to get a good look.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the use of a natural object to meet the prompt, and also the pareidoliac wasp nest!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now that you mention it, it does have a face of sorts doesn’t it. Would hate to see the body attached to this head lol
LikeLike
What an exceptional thing left… I have almost never been stung by a wasp so I feel safe around them actually … still I would have taken a wide look around a castle like that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve gotten stung a few times by something or other over the years, always by accidentally touching them, not by attack. I used to be terrified of all bugs as a kid and screamed if they got near me. Now fairly unconcerned.
LikeLike
Life is moving in parallel lines for me carrying mr somewhere it’s not clear — but therd sre studebakers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rob, cruising heaven’s highway in a studebaker is a pleasant thought, the music cranked, and whatever other flourishes you can think of ❤
LikeLike
Such a very clever twist on the prompt. I especially love the haiku at the end–an abandoned palace indeed, or wasp mega-church.! I also love mowing my acreage–it’s pure meditation, but sometimes, reality will insist on popping up, mostly when I have drifted off into a meditative state and clipped something the blades don;t care for, like a landscape timber or rock. 🙂 I loved this, and the photo is just amazing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Joy, glad you can relate to it all. I’ve hit roots and tried to mow parts that had hidden things in the grass that sheared my belts a time or two. Such a pain as I don’t have a way to get it to repair 😦 Thank you on the photo, I waited until I was sure their little bodies were frozen before getting close to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You bring the scene alive with your words.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reena, thank you. It was a heart racing few minutes I will tell you that much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
One must indeed be cautious when one intrudes upon normal nature. The last time I saw one of these it was up in a tree and abandon, of course. But it scared so many they took it down
A very enjoyable read, Lisa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bill, thank you. When they are bustling with activity yes you don’t want to antagonize the nest makers. I’ve seen more in the last year than ever before! Most of the time they are high up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
When I lived in Oklahoma, I discovered bees nesting below ground–hard to see. But they go so upset when you mow over them. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is really huge and thank god it was empty!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Punam, I made sure we’d had a few freezes before trying to get close to it.
LikeLike
p.s. It was empty here, but it was definitely not when I was under it on the mower.
LikeLike