The Long Hot Summer 2022

by Judith Lauter

A series of extreme weather events - a freak snow/ice storm, a spring when trees were so stressed they struggled to make leaves, and a global record-breaking heat wave - is the topic of this book of haiku and photographs by poet and neuroscientist Judith Lauter. Set against a backdrop of political upheavals and the international covid pandemic, such meteorological events may seem too overwhelming for any kind of poetry, much less the delicate miniatures of haiku - but the poet's love of the natural world, her trust in its rhythms and rules, even in the face of radical departures from the norm, comes through in every poem and photograph. Her vision combines intimacy of observation with occasional flashes of humor, to reveal a spectrum of emotional colors and insight. The Endnotes provide a deeper appreciation of the facts behind the art, and the reader leaves the book with a sense of peace and transcendence, sharing the poet's wish that, as expressed in the Preface - the 'long hot summers' and the 'long cold winters' will return to normal levels and allow the Earth to rebound - as we her children know She can.