Short Shorts, Summer Camp and the Great Haiku Debate

New prompt and upcoming workshops.

This Substack has been adapted from an essay for Kripalu Resources.

Photo by Janosch Lino on Unsplash.

When I was a pre-teen, my parents sent me to summer camp on Cobbosseecontee Lake in Maine. We played dodgeball and made lanyard keychains. I developed an unreciprocated crush on a surly French-Canadian boy and coveted the pink satin short-shorts of my more fashionable cabin-mate. I signed up for water ballet and swam around in circles to the tune of “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s. The best part: I took Outdoor Living and learned how to sustain a fire with birch bark and pine needles. I liked the sap smell on my hands and the quiet, hidden geography of the woods.