THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 24th April 2025. Sandip Chauhan - Guest Editor

hosts: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh

mentor: Lorraine Haig

A Thursday Feature

24th April 2025

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW

THE HAIBUN GALLERY  APRIL 2025   Sandip Chauhan

Prompt 4

Burning the Bodhisattva - Hortensia Anderson (1959–2012)

Having chosen a piece of wood for reasons I cannot discern, he begins to carve. Then, he rubs sandpaper against the grain, polishing the sculpture to a silken finish.

At the beach, I collect stones by the sea and create a circle. I gather driftwood and as Venus sparks her chain reaction of stars, he unveils a bodhisattva on her side.

We sit as the warmth of the burning woman envelops us against a chill wind. At one point, her tranquil lips almost seem to smile.

How did he know she had been hidden in the wood, waiting to be freed in flames?

golden sparks

light the indigo sky—

darkness shining

—Excerpted from The Plenitude of Emptiness, collected haibun by Hortensia Anderson

Sources:

The Plenitude of Emptiness (Facebook)

The Haiku Foundation - Collected Works

Prompt: What Lies Beneath

In Burning the Bodhisattva, Hortensia Anderson explores the idea of revelation—how something hidden within wood is brought to light, only to be consumed in fire. The haibun suggests that some truths exist long before we recognize them, waiting for the right hands, the right moment, or even destruction to emerge. Whether it is an artisan carving a bodhisattva, time shaping the landscape, or loss uncovering meaning, transformation often reveals what was always there.

Write a haibun about something hidden—within a place, a person, an object, or yourself—waiting to emerge. Perhaps it’s a forgotten name in an old book, the shape of an ancestor in your reflection, or a truth that can only be understood through breaking.

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT from Kala: NOTICE

              NOTICE

Dear Haibuneers

Starting from March 2025, we at haikuKATHA are moving on to a new submissions format for haibun submissions. (Only for haibun, please note!)

Writers are invited to submit one unpublished haibun per submission window.

Kindly note the submissions calendar.

1-20 March, to be considered for publication in May

1-20 June, to be considered for publication in August

1-20 September, to be considered for publication in November

1-20 December, to be considered for publication in February

All accepted submissions will receive an email to confirm their acceptance by the 5th day of the publication month.

Your unpublished (only one) haibun should be sent to: https://forms.gle/xUEiiDR9wd2dgqtR9 only during the submission period. 

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The Haibun Gallery continues as is.

We will be having editors and prompts, and your sharing…