Hosts: Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh
15th September 2022
We have Kat Lehmann with us, once again, with her 2nd braided haibun, to inspire you further. Let's go deeper into this technique and see how we can get to write one effectively.
Connecting the Stars
Our old house is listed on realtor sites today, a Tuesday. I think of other Tuesdays that brought a shift in my life. First child’s birth. Second child’s birth.
moving day
My throat feels sore. Nothing terrible, just the brink of something. I immerse myself in the comfort of a warm bath.
grandmother’s lilies If home is the place where it’s okay to feel sick, where will I feel sick now?
in a stranger’s lawn Maybe this Tuesday is just another birthing, a former life pushed into gravity.
Kat Lehmann, USA
Bio
Kat Lehmann a Co-Founding Co-Editor of whiptail: journal of the single-line poem and an Associate Editor at Sonic Boom. Kat is the author of three books of poetry and serves as a panelist for The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Books Award. A former research biochemist, she likes to consider the grandiose within the details. She enjoys hiking and creating wheelthrown pottery. Read Kat’s work, including her experimental “sudo-ku” multi-haiku form, on her website: https://katlehmann.weebly.com/
Catch the subtle link and shift in this plaited haibun between the prose and the haiku.
The language used is without frills or ornamentation. The story is intense.
Each time I read this piece - I like it even more.
It unfolds almost like a lotus - petal by petal until you see a full-bloomed lotus standing above the water.
Waiting to read all your braided haibun.
As always, a good haibun will find its way into the next issue of our fabulous journal. Firdaus and I are eagerly looking forward to reading your haibun.
PLEASE NOTE:
1. Only two haibun per poet per prompt.
2. Share your best-polished pieces.
3. Please do not post something in a hurry or something you have just written. Let it simmer for a while.
4. When poets give suggestions and if you agree to them - post your final edited version on top of your original version.
5. Don't forget to give feedback on others' poems.
We are delighted to open the comment thread for you to share your unpublished haibun (within 300 words) to be considered for inclusion in the haikuKATHA monthly journal.
#2
9/21/22
(feedback welcome)
Sorry, I just revised my poem. I think it flows a bit better this way.
Tough Love
He pleads with his mother and cries out in pain. Our neighbor is slapping her young son around.
paint fumes
Her screams are those of a deranged woman. And she looks the part with her disheveled hair and manic stare. She slams the front door as she steps out onto the porch.
greetings
Mom calls the cops. By the time they show up, that woman is sweet as pie. The officers ask to see the boy. He comes to the door sheepishly. His mother is too cunning to leave any marks.
from the handyman
- - - -…
braided haibun #2 feedback welcome
Revision 1 ( Thank you, Kala ❤️)
Hallows' Eve
On my morning walk down a border trail, sandhill cranes fill a murky sky with their ancient cries.
a dragon mist
Half-awake in the second mile, I see yellowed willow leaves fluttering to the ground.
shivering down my spine
In the third mile, a west wind carries a rustle from cornstalks browning in the field, as if to remind me.
autumn loneliness
<<<<<>>>>>
Hallows' Eve
Sandhill cranes fill the murky skies..
cold moon
Leaves long for slumber as they flutter to their graves.
a swampy dragon bed
West winds rustle cornstalks and scamper up my sleeves. shivers down my spine
Revised with thanks to Martin:
Ashes, Ashes - We All Fall Down
Coming from many different walks, lines form amidst the chatter of ordinary life.
the crack
Her best laid plans set in motion. Unsuspecting, she anticipates various outcomes on the long journey ahead.
in the liberty bell
Carefully packed, she carries all her hopes and dreams on board. Her final departure.
freedom’s toll
Revised with thanks to Diana, Anju, Reid, Shalina and Kala:
Ashes, Ashes - We All Fall Down
Coming from many different walks, lines form amidst the chatter of ordinary life.
in pursuit
Her best laid plans set in motion. Unsuspecting, she anticipates various outcomes on the long journey ahead.
of happiness
Carefully packed, she carries all…
#1
9/18/22
Three Years in the Making
After a four-hour bus ride to Incheon Airport, I’m eager to stretch my legs. At the check-in counter, the absence of a queue.
muggy morn
The hallways are deserted save for a few delivery robots and their handlers. In the departure lounge, the usual crowd.
a snail glued
More down time than expected. Too much time. Will Dad even recognize me when he sees me? Is Mom still too frail to walk since her hip fracture last winter? I pull out the bestseller from my backpack.
to the garden chair
Revision 2
(Many thanks for the rearrangement, Kala)
Where the Heart is
I stand at my favourite window overlooking the generous boughs of the Rain Tree. Below, a little to the left, the Golden Shower blazes at me as if in reproach. I look away, in no mood for questions. Or answers. My eyes follow the croton-hemmed path right up to the gazebo, a-tumble with the joyous blossoms of Chinese Honeysuckle.
april afternoons
Before stepping away, I steal a quick glance at the horizon to see if the familiar drizzle would drift in, to draw me outdoors one last time.
spectacles clouding over
One last time by the smooth, wet roads, on the manicured walkways, and under the verdant…