Haibun 11/30 #npm23 #sol23

My notebook is full of the detritus of the day. A prompt I picked up someplace. Write something important to you. An order I overhear in a coffee shop: small half lemonade, half English breakfast tea. Snippets of overheard conversation. Man with guitar to woman: We had a Norwegian rat infestation. Mother at the French patisserie to her child: We’ll get you a hot dog later. Notes from reading. Ambrose Clark: “All I know is horses”–he chose to be buried next to his favorite horse. Georges Perec: “what matters is not the importance of what is observed, but its triviality.” Always a situating in time and space. I’ve come late to the coffee shop after fitful sleep. I’ve come late and the quiet I need for writing is gone. Neighborhood almost silent this morning. A hint of pink sunrise. Always writing about writing. Trying to write a few lines to keep my hand nimble. The hand stays loose with letter writing, but the mind isn’t collecting. I haven’t been writing, and I feel untethered, unrooted.

white paper and pen
waiting for words’ arrival
pages start to fill

*************

Aimee Nezhukumatathil has a lovely essay about the haibun, a form that combines a brief prose poem with a haiku. The inspiration for this haibun came from Trina’s slice, Writer’s Notebook Records.

For my National Poetry Project, I’m playing along with the poetry calendar created by Margaret and Molly.


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4 responses to “Haibun 11/30 #npm23 #sol23”

  1. Trish Avatar
    Trish

    I love that your haibun, (and thank you for providing Aimee’s explanation and opening our minds to her luscious words, “the haiku serving as a tiny bowl,” “meaningful murmur,” “whispery and insightful postscript”), beautifully provides both the reflection of an honest story luring those recalcitrant words to come from hiding, then resting them upon the “stand” you’ve created with your haiku.

    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar

      I loved that essay about the haibun so much! Such delicious writing, I need to reread it when I have more time. This is another form that I thought would be fairly straightforward but was really a little more tricky. Definitely one I want to try again!

  2. arjeha Avatar

    This is new to me so thanks for providing the link to its meaning. I love the idea of combining the prose and the haiku. The haiku acts like a postscript that sums things up.

    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar

      It was challenging to figure out how to use the haiku to connect, relate, extend but not just repeat! I would like to find a collection of haibun to read, as I also really like the combo of prose with haiku.

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