A Bad Haiku - Paperback

by Lanning Russell (Author)

This may be the apocalypse but no one notices; people are too busy living, accommodating a changing world. Or dying - each their own singular, unique death.

Farmland is disappearing. Oceans are rising. The planet is getting hotter. Dead seas stink. The air is becoming difficult to breathe or to see through. Water is being poisoned. The ranges of pests and diseases are spreading and the bugs are becoming invincible. Every day people ingest growing stockpiles of plastic. And the people are dying by the billions. The hangers-on do the best they can.

A covert operation in Cuba exposes the construction of a disguised fishing vessel, a missile launch platform that signals both human ingenuity and hubris. In West Virginia, Sandy and her young son Pascal wrestle with the toxic legacy of fracking, leaving their desolate town for survival elsewhere. Meanwhile, Honduran refugees Sarai and Erdil, fleeing gang violence and personal loss, journey to the United States, seeking hope amidst despair. Amidst Manhattan's glittering towers, Brian, a finance mogul navigating power and privilege, balances familial obligations with his relentless ambition.

Each story reflects human resilience and the personal cost of ecological and societal collapse. A Bad Haiku shines a modest light in a landscape of lengthening shadows.