Welcome. My intent is to show examples and to discuss contemporary English-language haibun and haiga which necessitate also exploring haiku (haibun prose's and haiga image's little partner). Haibun: A mix of Title, prose and haiku. Akin to short memoirs and personal essays. Typically non-fiction.Haibun: A mix of image and haiku. Images including paintings of any … Continue reading Exploring Haibun, Haiga and Haiku
What Are We Writers Up To, Really?
Ray Rasmussen This essay was previously published in Drifting Sands Haibun. I’ve recently been reading essay collections as a means of getting away from the easy-to-fall-into routine of mainly reading haibun and, as important, a way of escaping the very dismal world news. Personal essays tend to offer good, imaginative writing with a poetic flavor. … Continue reading What Are We Writers Up To, Really?
Day’s End: a Visit to Slickhorn Canyon
Here, in this remote, twisted canyon, countless generations of aboriginal puebloan peoples lived. One thousand years ago, they faced a 100-year drought, and lost out to it. It's likely that some farmers became nomads, raiding the produce of others who had struggled on; likely there were skirmishes in which one family battled another for survival. … Continue reading Day’s End: a Visit to Slickhorn Canyon
Haibun Commentaries: Exploring the Work of Exemplary Writers
If you want to learn about poetry — if you want to “access” it — what you need to do is find great poems you like, figure out which are worth rereading and then reread them. ~ Robert Pinsky Pinsky goes on to suggest that you learn what they’re doing and bring what you’ve learned … Continue reading Haibun Commentaries: Exploring the Work of Exemplary Writers
A Commentary on Basho’s Hiraizumi
"Haraizumi" is single passage (aka chapter/haibun) from Basho's The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Ono no Hosomichi) "Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own." ~Salvatore Quasimodo Part I: Commentary Bashō's travel journals are some of the earliest examples … Continue reading A Commentary on Basho’s Hiraizumi
Red Licorice
. . . if they fail to express what is in their own minds, what is the use, no matter how many poems they compose! ~ Ryokan The doorbell rings. On the porch, standing in a downpour, is a very wet girl in baggy clothes. Her hair is mouse-brown with red and green streaks, her … Continue reading Red Licorice
Conversations with Issa: A Haibun
I’ve resided in a remote Ontario cottage for several weeks. Yesterday, a blizzard was blowing and so I stayed in and enjoyed conversing with Issa via the medium of his translators' books. As I read and write notes, I notice a particularly ominous spider web and remember that Issa offers this haiku for consideration . … Continue reading Conversations with Issa: A Haibun
Close Encounters of an Italian Kind
Strapped into a too-narrow, no leg-room Air Canada seat, I’m editing a manuscript, and the distinguished-looking fellow beside me looks over and, in a strong Italian accent, says, “Are you a writer or editor?” “I’m revising some of my writing,” I reply, and hand him a copy of my last haibun collection, hoping it will … Continue reading Close Encounters of an Italian Kind
Chin Down
My daughter’s ashes are now spread in places she loved, although I have a hard time remembering when she loved anything but drugs, and lived anywhere but on the streets. We did our best, I’ve often thought to myself and even said aloud as we spread her ashes in a mountain meadow. You could have … Continue reading Chin Down
What Are You Up To?
The sun’s rays filter through a stand of spruce where twenty horses are hitched. As we unpack them, Dave, a lanky outfitter, and I chat about the grizzly we spotted earlier in the day and how the horses are holding up. men’s talk – the smell of sweat and manure Dave asks, “Ray, what are … Continue reading What Are You Up To?
Ray Rasmussen: All Things Haibun Blog 