missouri haiku

Last week I was in the shower doing my morning rub-a-dub-dub when my higher self gave me a blast of inspiration.

It said, "Go to Missouri and find a small town and walk around this town to get the pulse and feeling of it and write haiku.  Then go to the rest of the lower 48 and do the same thing.  You will publish a book on small town America haiku and it will be a best seller.  This will be your life's work."

First, never in a million years would I consciously consider going to Missouri, let alone hang around a small town in Missouri until I was inspired to do a haiku on it.  I've been to Missouri and I can't think of one reason to go there again.  Second, visiting a small town in 47 other states would be preferable.  Logic dictates Missouri should be first, if it was remotely logical to tour the US on a poetry tour.  But logic has nothing to do with this.  I seem to be on a mission from a higher being and I can't say no.  Third, the phrase, "life's mission", implies I'll be around long enough to perform this task.  Part of this deal is a published book that will become a best seller.  Not that I crave fame, but the odds of my book (if it ever gets written or published) becoming a best seller could take at least a few decades.  If I don't go on this mission, I could theoretically live forever.
Not being too keen on immortality or a quick death, I decided to do it.

I had to refresh my memory of haiku construction.  It's been a while.

Essentially, Japanese haiku is three lines.  5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables, with a juxtaposition and a season and about 16 other rules.  Being American, I think I can get a pass on the other 16.

I don't like the way
Life has been abusing me
By summer I'm gone

Don't read anything into this.  It's just a Zappa haiku with a season as an example.  If Hannibal, MO would be considered a small town the Haiku might be more like this:

Tom Sawyer lived here
Injun Joe lived down the road
They were summer friends

Ok, so there's a lack of juxtaposition but I have til warm weather to get my haiku act together and that's the least of my worries.  The big question is, which car do I take?  The Expedition that gets the same gas mileage as a Peterbuilt but rides like a Cadillac or the Caravan with better mileage and a 5-speed?  I figure the Caravan with enough supplies to carry, in case it dies on the road and I have to hitchhike the rest of the way.

Either way, the universe wouldn't send me on a mission like this without some kind of divine protection.  I'll just put my faith in knowing what to do when the time comes.

I got a couple of months.  Anything can happen.