Happy to see my haibun “Sky Ponds-Himmelsweicher” appear in https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/cho-19-2table-of-contents/
I discovered the history of the bomb craters in the Augsburg city forest during a walk with my Parkinson’s walking group led by Sonja Mayer. Marvellous recovery of a wounded landscape, and people. And apt for our own situation of struggling with progressive disease.
Sky Ponds—Himmelsweiher
The Siebentischwald, on the edge of Augsburg, acts as the lung of the city. Lush green vegetation crisscrossed by water channels and dotted by silent ponds makes this forest the life force of Augsburg. It turns out it is also the repository of an interesting piece of the city’s history: the forest floor bearing the scars of thousands of bombs that were dropped on it towards the end of World War II.
On my morning walk with my Parkinson’s group, in this peaceful, green oasis, pierced by high-pitched peacock cries from the adjacent Zoo, I come across oval ponds and other depressions filled with vegetation. I am told they are Bombenkrater, the remnants of craters formed by aerial bombing.
The proximity to the munitions manufacturer Messerschmitt meant that bombs often landed in the forest. However, the massive bombing raid in February 1944 literally dug up the forest floor, leaving numerous wounds on the landscape. In recent years, a public charity transformed some of these craters into ponds brimming with life.
cool forest shade. . .
lingering by the sky ponds
heat from the past
Excellent, thank you Stella
Thank you Stella for your poem and your insight into how it came about. I very much enjoyed reading both.
A helpful background of history, image and current benefit unlock the poem's value and insight!
It leads me to think of the 'Augsburg Confession'! In this case, the corruption of war being reformed to beauty and rest, pond and sky, earth and heaven combined! Thank you!
I like this haibun, and especially the contrast between the 'cool' and 'heat' in the haiku.