Summer Solstice Child
My birthday is very near Summer Solstice. Back then, women spent days hospital-bound, which was thought to aid in recovery from the birthing experience. I imagine my mother’s face as she stepped out into warm sunshine’s balm from cool, pale, sterile halls holding a swaddled me.
new lives beginning
for we are now family
learn to embrace light
A person born when days are long with sun and heat inherits an appreciative disposition. That said, the trajectory can be interrupted with trauma, where the subject may develop a new, unhealthy focus for shadows and oppression, qualities that are also inherent in sun and heat.
view tilted, askew
access, opportunity
crazy world making
Until one walks the labyrinth, reaches the center, fights the Minotaur, and unravels the knotted yarn, there remains a barrier between a heroic figure and the real world. Many get lost or tangled in the endeavor.
walk, beloved, beyond
scattered bones along the path
return with your soul
This haibun is dedicated to every person who has suffered trauma and is working on recovery from it.
Frank is today’s host of dVerse’ Haibun Monday. Frank wants us to write haibun about Summer Solstice.
Also linking to this week’s TankaTuesday. Colleen Chesebro is the host of TankaTuesday.
kigo: summer solstice
Tao Talk 
Thanks Lisa :-) I loved your haibun, it is brilliant! xo
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You’re welcome, and thank you.
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So hard to bear that trauma… love the thought though… here in Sweden the most common time for children to be born is nine month after midsummer which is more spring equinox…
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It can be done. So funny about when babies are born in Sweden. I know there were a lot more born out of COVID, including my granddaughter.
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I was the first to be born in a hospital. Probably my mom was grateful for that☺️
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Thanks, Someone, and yes, I would imagine. I know I was grateful to give birth to my sons in a hospital.
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A traumatic read, yes….beautiful moments, but yes……
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Ain, thank you.
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You’ve eloquently described both the Solstice and inner journey beautifully, Lisa!
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Thanks much, Frank.
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How beautiful your dedication .. how deep your haibun.
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Thanks much, Helen <3
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This is very true. I love how it transformed from something personal to something more metaphorical and universal. We must all confront our inner demons at some point in life, or get swallowed up by them. Great work!
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OP I love your feedback and what you’ve gleaned from the poem. Thanks much.
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May we all keep our souls close. (K)
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This poem takes a really interesting journey. Thank you for taking me along.
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You’re very welcome, Maria.
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Very well done, Lisa. I loved your story and all that followed. A wonderful caring haibun for those who have suffered trauma.
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Dwight thanks much. It’s important for those who have to know there is hope for shelter from the storm.
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Yes. You are welcome, Lisa.
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Yes, it can seem like a labyrinth. Yet, the one standing in the center as guide can lead those in the labyrinth along the way.
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Tzvi, thanks for reading and your comment. The labyrinth I have in my head has one way in and one way out. I like to think of the guide as the higher power that has grace and mercy for the broken.
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Beating trauma is a lifelong process, where you often get tangled up in the endeavour when trying to free yourself. So aptly described. Thank you for your poignant haibun Lisa. :)
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Di, you’re so right. Thanks <3
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What a lovely dedication, Lisa, and a generous, heartfelt haibun. I like the way the haiku link each paragraph of prose, as well as underline the contents.
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Kim, thank you for your feedback, much appreciated.
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My pleasure, Lisa!
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Hi Lisa, these are all interesting poems. It is mid-winter here.
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Robbie, thank you and hoping you are enjoying winter there.
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It’s passing 😉. I prefer summer but try to make the most of it.
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This is so thought-provoking. It invited me to go back and read again a few times to appreciate the haiku and words between them.
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Cris, I appreciate you taking the time with them <3
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It certainly felt like Summer today
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Great!
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walk, beloved, beyond
scattered bones along the path
return with your soul…. powerful Haiku. I needed that.
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Glad it was there for you, Debi <3
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Beautiful, Li.
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Thanks, Melissa.
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I didn’t know that a person born when days are long with sun and heat inherits an appreciative disposition but now I can say yes, I agree because I’ve met such people and have a few in my family too. Thanks for sharing this belief, Lisa. Your haibun tells a beautiful story and I love the last haiku.
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Balroop, thank you for giving some thought to my poem. Very much appreciated <3
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Trauma invites writing, yet it is so hard to express in words. Your poem sounded much more hopeful than traumatic. New life, new beginnings always invites hope.
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Marsha, thanks for taking time to give the poem a closer look. The ending reflects my state of mind after decades of processing the trauma. I still have issues, but at least I know how they developed, which makes them more manageable.
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Yes, I agree. I still can’t write about somethings in my life. I wrote about them when I was going through them, but put them away. When I try to write about them now, they sound whiny or boring and insignificant. But at the time they were anything but that to me. They pale to the trauma many people, especially women face, though and I marvel that they can tell their stories. Men who were in WWII are now at the point they can talk about their trauma. Many of my friends said their fathers died without ever talking about their experiences. I had a friend who went through the Holocaust as a child. She spoke in high schools and told the students that she hadn’t talked in such detail about her traumatic experiences to her own children. She never let her story be written, even though both Elie Wiesel and Stephen Spielberg wanted to tell it.
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Marsha, I know that each person has their own way of dealing with it, including not dealing with it. In a support group I went to for years (we all met up once a week for 12 weeks every year) just knowing we weren’t alone in suffering “the storm” which is what we called the aftermath of the trauma, was immensely healing in so many ways. We could share with others who had been through it, we could feel angry for each other in what was done to them, and we were there to support through it all.
My dad and his brother were in WWII. My uncle never came home. Dad never talked about the war except for a couple of “fantasy stories” that may or may not have been true, as he didn’t want to worry us. He could have used a support group, as I think he never got over what happened. My mom said when he came back he was “different” and that’s about as far as it went.
It sounds like your friend was being healed through sharing her story in high schools. Healing in her own way…
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She was never healed, but she could talk about it. The trauma was too deep and happened at too young of an age. She couldn’t be anywhere close to animals. You couldn’t go to an outdoor restaurant. If a dog came anywhere close to her, she would hyperventilate and move behind you if she could. Watching the news sent her to bed for days if anything was going on about Israel. She would be crying all the time over the news right now. She had a lot of therapy, but was never healed as we would consider healed.
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:( <3
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It’s the best time of the year to be born. My youngest son, Ben’s birthday (25th June) is close to the solstice and he is as you describe in your superb haibun, Lisa. I particularly love your final haiku. ❤️
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Lesley, happy you have a near-solstice child, and thank you for the kind words. My kids were born in December and November.
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😊💞xx
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Wonderful haibun, Lisa. Loved it! 🤗
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Gwen, many thanks <3
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I loved this haibun, Lisa. I like the way you worked with the light and the darkness, which we all possess. That trauma stuff… keep working it in whatever way works for you. Like you, my journey continues. 💖
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Colleen thanks so much for your gentle comment. Been dealing with a power outage but plan on writing for TT tomorrow. Lots of trees outright toppled over (big, old ones) and many others lost bits and pieces of themselves.
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Wow! I’m so sorry to hear this Lisa. Is your house ok? Over two days without power is crazy!
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House is fine. Everything back to normal, whatever that is ;) What was frustrating is it took 2 days to get a person to show up, then trucks arrived and left at least 3 times before it was back on. I wonder about some of these subcontracted companies Consumers Energy uses. Saw a bunch of their crews’ trucks down at the local pub and grub place. They may have just used their parking but maybe not.
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Our gas is through Consumers. We’re required to use Lansing Board of Water and Light for electric. The power infrastructure needs updating, but the money required is probably out of reach.
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Do you ever get power outages? Are your power lines above ground or buried? We have *so*many* trees in this area that it is insane to keep them above ground. Con En came through this area a few years ago to dig for and bury natural gas lines. Why the *hell* couldn’t they have buried the power lines with them?
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We haven’t had any power outages since we’ve lived here. Our neighborhood is all buried power. This house has no trees! We feel like we’re too old to plant trees we will never see grow. I think all the lines should be buried. It’s crazy to not do that. Of course, it’s all about money!
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