hosts: Shalini Pattabiraman & Vidya Shankar
mentor: Lorraine Haig
A Thursday Feature
6th February 2025
This month we have the pleasure of celebrating the work of Alice Wanderer.
Alice Wanderer has been dabbling in haiku for decades but only became excited about haibun in 2018 or so after reading work produced by Kala Ramesh and her students on Facebook. Alice's book of translations of the haiku of Sugita Hisajo, Lips Licked Clean (Red Moon Press) won a Touchstone Award in 2021. Her first chapbook, Flow, deals with the rivers and beaches of her local place and indigenous dispossession. Her second, She Wants to See Birds and Flowers, will be appearing on the Snapshot Press website in the spring of 2025.
Here's the second haibun in the series where we showcase Alice's work.
Alice Wanderer
Swung into place by construction cranes
Bruce Armstrong’s Sentinel is a five-meter-tall sculpture of a white-bellied sea eagle on a plinth. It stands on a slope overlooking the pier. Roughly cut out of hardwood with a chainsaw and painted white, it looks like a body can feel from the inside. Only the massive beak, protruding directly from the top of the skull, and the two black dots for eyes are representative. Its beak points north, in the direction of its cousin sculpture, the 23-metre-tall, wedge-tailed eagle on Wurundjeri Way in Melbourne’s Docklands.
These raptors – both with wingspans greater than my height – evolved to divide the hunting grounds of land and sea between them. But as development is shrinking habitat, they battle over nesting spaces.
the clash
as they lock talons in midair
two hammering hearts
Source: https://www.theunitedhaikuandtankasociety.com/2023/10/uhts-samurai-contest-2023-results.html?m=1
Alice shares, 'I have been influenced by people who argue that the title, body and haiku should all relate to one another somewhat obliquely according to renga-like principles but I am still wondering about what are the most effective approaches to connect these three parts. It may change with each piece or a larger project. I think every writer should work out for themselves what constraints to work within. I am still wrestling with many of these issues.'
Prompt:
This week, we invite you to work with the theme of construction. Think of the provocations that the idea of constructing or building something inspires in you. Consider craft, balance, harmony, juxtaposition and other elements that help you preserve an dhelp shape the idea that you intend to birth.
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. Post your final edited version on top of your original verse.
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 haikuKATHA monthly journal.
Important: Since we're swamped with submissions, and our editors are only human, mistakes can happen. Please, please, remember to put your name, followed by your country, below each poem, even after revisions. It helps our editors; they won't have to type it in, saving them from potential typos. Thanks a ton!
#1---11Feb25
Walleye
lurking
Dim forms below the frozen lake's crust shift as if in response to the shadows above— drifting snow and swaying branches, pewter clouds, a light-footed fox on the prowl.
below the ice
Two old friends crack raunchy jokes inside their plywood skid house. Jigging through an eight-inch hole, they both nod off after passing the second fifth.
next year’s dragonfly
---Billie Dee, New Mexico, USA
(feedback welcome)
[please note: the narrative is lineated]
Post #1
11.2.25
Racing dreams
On my day off from work I plan a play date with my granddaughter. Opening the new blocks I have got for her we plan to build a car.
I take a flat rectangular red coloured LEGO piece as a foundation for the car. On the bottom of the base, I attach 4 LEGO wheel hubs on each corner of the base.
Inserting the axles through the wheel hubs, we attach the wheels to each axle. Ensuring they rotate freely, I present this simple red car to my granddaughter. Looking at it she stares at me with wide eyes “ Nana, I want a big car like the one daddy has”, she says and runs…
#2 Gembun
meteorites on a collision course
a wizard
armed with invisible wands
wields a long winter
Alfred Booth
Lyon, France
(feedback welcome)
#1
An abecedarian poem
Red Sun
Aboard the plane at last, the waiting is over,
but it’s touch and go as there is one more connection.
Could it be we’ll miss our flight.
Dropping out of the clouds the city’s lights spread below us.
ending the day
fatigued
grass moon
Hanashimasen.
I’m disappointed my two years of studying
Japanese seems to have deserted me.
Kagoshima’s cherry blossoms in Yoshino Park are a sight to behold. We stand under fluttering petals,
listening to the laughter of families picnicking under a pale pink canopy.
Menus with pictures of local delicacies,
never quite sure what we are choosing.
o hashi
poised above our plate, this
…
#1 - 10/02/25
Rebuilding
The foundation is firm with faith cultivated over decades of prayer and meditation. The walls are steeped in reverence for the sustenance which Life constantly provides. The windows remain open to observe and be guided by Nature’s rhythms. The roof receptive to the sky’s ever-changing canvas, absorbs the Sun’s rays and collects Heaven’s tears. The insulation, recently reinforced, keeps the dweller warm from the cold draft of well-meaning sympathy. The drainage, now cleared of clutter, allows for both grief and gratitude to flow freely.
how to reach
my potential without you
planting bulbs
Kanjini Devi, NZ feedback welcome