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Holly
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Monday, August 11, 2025

haiku from 3 random words

 3 words drawn from magnetic nouns/verbs:

spider

family

laughed


These are to inspire me to write a haiku:

 willow tree torment 
family laughs following
caterpillar squish



So this is where my head went with the words 'family' and 'laughed':

One of my frequently recalled unpleasant childhood memory (memories--this happened multiple times).  

Family at the time = two older brothers (Tom and Scott).  Mark would have been too young.   Dad at work.  Mom at home.  

Not spiders, or a spider, but black caterpillars (Eastern tent caterpillars) were seasonal visitors to our front yard weeping willow tree.  My brothers and I played under that tree often.  My brothers found great joy in sneakily placing a caterpillar on my left shoulder, toward the back, out of my peripheral vision.  Inevitably I would reach back with my right hand and slap at the sensation.  This would result in a disgusting squished caterpillar.  I detested those caterpillars, finding them gross.  Seeing their guts on my fingers made me want to retch!  It made my brothers cackle with delight.  

If I ran to find mom and complain (tattle), she would guffaw with delight too, siding with my brothers at their great prank, and telling me to toughen up.

I have never intentionally placed a caterpillar anywhere but in the open ready palm or on the bare and ready forearm of an interested and willing child or friend.  I still do not find my brothers' prank funny.  Likely I never will.  

[This is one of the reasons my family used to remind me that I had no sense of humor.]  


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