Haibun Exemplars

| Haibun Exemplars | Haibun Commentaries | Haibun Close Reading Guide |

• Glenn Coats: Witness
• Harriot West, Two Minimalist Haibun: Maybe and The Way Things Were
• Jeffrey Woodward: Time with the Heron

Exemplars: What are they? Why are they here?

The Rogue River falls shown above is, in my estimation, nature’s exemplar of a waterfall. I’d also like to say that it’s a photographic exemplar, aka an excellent photograph, but for that it’s my own shot of the falls. Thus someone else will have to praise it or buy it or publish it for it to approach the lofty rank of exemplar.

On this page, over time, I’ll post a number of haibun by writers other than myself that in my view are both well done and help to show the variety of styles that represent contemporary English-language haibun.

For some of these exemplars, I’ll offer commentaries – close readings to explore what makes them work well enough to have been published by a journal editor.

Of course, my tastes in this selection are showing, which is why I think it’s important to post published works where an editor independent of the writer saw fit to select the piece for the enjoyment of his or her readers.

If you read any of these, please use the comments window where they appear to tell me what you think of them and a bit about why.

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