Cracks and Wrinkles

Low Tide Atlantic Ocean

I drink coffee and think of a handmade, blue cup that I used for decades. That cup felt right for my fingers and mouth. I remember being told how it fell and how the handle broke off while I was away. Were I home I would have tried repairing it (without success), but it was thrown away. I did not complain. One can always buy another cup, even a technically better one, like the one I am using now, handmade and blue.

I see wrinkles change the smoothness of my skin. They’re not like cracks in pottery. They age well or not so well. What makes them age well is worth more than the gold that I have heard some use to repair a beloved cup and it cannot be bought.  Whether mine have aged well or not, teenage cashiers now give me the senior discount I didn’t even know existed.

COFFEE HELD IN BLUE
SUMMER HELD IN HEATED AIR
BLUE LIKE OCEAN WRINKLES.

Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday hosted by Grace with the prompt “Kintsugi: The Art of Broken Pieces”.
Photo: “Low Tide Atlantic Ocean” by the author taken at Myrtle Beach, North South Carolina.

Author: Frank Hubeny

I enjoy walking, poetry and short prose as well as taking pictures with my phone.

68 thoughts on “Cracks and Wrinkles”

  2. I really enjoyed this piece, Frank. I liked where your mind went as you wrote it. My poem dealt with ending the cracks in hearts & souls; smile

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    1. I enjoyed yours about your mother and your military service and how her face grows clearer daily. The main cracks we have to repair are of our own brokenness. Thank you, Glenn!

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  4. I see more wrinkles in my hands now when I type or hold a cup. I hope my hands aged well. Love that photo, very stunning with the blue summer, with the ocean wrinkles ~ Love your haibun ~

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    1. I think they will age well. One sign of aging well is happiness which is worth more than gold. May you have an abundance of it. Thank you for the prompt, Grace!

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  5. That was great Frank. I wasn’t even 55 yet when a cashier gave me my first senior discount. It’s nice to save the money, but I wondered how much I had aged until I saw a video of me walking outdoors. Wow, I thought, who is that old coot? The Haiku was beautiful as well. The coffee cup, whether blue or not is not as good as the original.

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    1. It is amazing to get a senior discount and not even realize the store gave senior discounts. I thought I looked as young as that teenage cashier looking at me and assuming I was way over the hill. You are right about the new coffee cup. The old one was better because of all the years of use even though the new one is made better. Thanks!

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  6. I was going to ask which came first, the haibun or the photo, but I see there was a prompt. Great natural flow in words. Spectacular photo. May I use it with attribution sometme? Don’t tell me this one was taken with your i phone!

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    1. You are welcome to use it, Nan! I would be honored. It was taken with a Samsung phone (Note 4 or something like that) which I guess is like an iPhone. I don’t have a real camera. The prose part of the haibun came first from the prompt and then I had to write the haiku and when I was looking for a picture and saw that low tide one, the haiku just popped out of nowhere. I am glad you liked it!

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    1. I am glad you liked it! It is easier writing about one’s own experience although having empathy for the experience others might have can enrich writing also. Thank you.

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  11. Isn’t it amazing how we become comfortable with inanimate objects? I too have a mug that feels right for me, but only for coffee. I have a different one for tea! I agree that wrinkles in skin are different to cracks in pottery. My hands seem to be ageing before the rest of me, just like my mum! I love the last line of your haiku, Frank:
    ‘BLUE LIKE OCEAN WRINKLES’.

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    1. Thank you, Kim! I am glad you liked those ocean wrinkles. I suppose they really are shore wrinkles but caused by the ocean. Those objects we use connect us to the world.

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  13. So true that wrinkles can be worth more than gold. All in the eyes of the beholder. I’m happier now with wrinkles than I was years ago. Your iPhone takes amazing photos, Frank. Perfect image for your haiku. I also love “ocean wrinkles”. ❤

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    1. Thanks, Olga! I am surprised how nice the pictures turn out on the phone. There are things it doesn’t do well, like taking night images or zooming, but for most of my purposes it seems perfect.

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  14. Oh I love this one, Frank. Especially “Whether mine have aged well or not, teenage cashiers now give me the senior discount I didn’t even know existed.” And as I look down at my hands, on my keyboard typing this response, I see webs of blue veins….my hands in someway match my blue cup!

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    1. Thank you, Lillian! I was wondering how to finish the prose part of the haibun and so I went out for a sandwich at a cafe I had not tried before. When the cashier gave me their senior discount, which I wasn’t expecting, I was surprised and realized I not only saved some money but had the ending I wanted.

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    1. When I first saw how low tide left the shore I was surprised. It doesn’t always do that. Some days the shore is remarkably smooth and firm. I am glad you liked those ocean wrinkles!

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  18. Love your words and quite taken with the ‘ocean wrinkles’ too!
    I have a favourite cup, in fact it is a half pint mug, but I just like it. There is a crack at the base of the handle and one day, perhaps soon, it will give and maybe spill its hot contents over me. Until then it is my faithful companion, and when the handle does break off, my cup will evolve into something else, maybe a pen&pencil holder or a plant pot…
    Anna :o]

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    1. I like the idea of using the cup as a plant or some other holder. I was surprised to see those ocean wrinkles. I didn’t know waves could do that to a shore. Thanks, Anna!

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  19. Senior discounts and people saying “Can I help you with that?” comes with ocean wrinkles, I guess. I try not to look in the mirror. Every time I do there’s some old woman who gets in front of me ………. Enjoyed your haibun and haiku!

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  20. there’s a peaceful contentment growing old with grace and acceptance of our own beauty, wrinkles, lines and brokenness, but knowing we can look forward to perks such as senior discounts. In the end the memory of that cup was more precious that its physical value.

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