THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 11th September 2025. Anju Kishore - Guest Poet

host: Rupa Anand

mentor: Lorraine Haig editors on haikuKATHA: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh

Guest Poet: Anju Kishore

A Thursday Feature

11th September 2025 -

THE HAIBUN GALLERY  September 2025 Anju Kishore

Geethanjali Rajan

World Haiku Review, Summer 2021

longing for sun longing for rain, Red River, 2023

Father’s Lime Tree

One of his hobbies was making preserves – pickles, juice, jams, and jellies. All

the vegetables and fruits we bought would end up on the table in sterilised glass

jars that he cleaned and prepared himself. The whole process was fascinating,

not to mention the aroma that greeted me when I came back from teaching.

Cinnamon, cardamom, molten jaggery, fenugreek, pepper – the house was

always alive with taste.

The lime tree dad had planted in the garden seemed to want to encourage this

pastime as well. The harvest was bountiful and the neighbours were quite happy

to receive bags full of the organic yellow fruit.

And then came the diagnosis. Slowly, the cooking came to a stop. In a vain

attempt, mother and I deciphered his recipe and made a batch of lime preserve.

August rain –

this year’s harvest

a tad bitter

By the third chemo, the limbs of the tree just dried up one by one and burnt

itself down.

where you once stood

the shadow

of an axed stump

***

We have all written about loss. At first, the emotion in the writing is raw, the

voice is vulnerable. Over time, we learn to step back from its immediacy. The

narrator becomes a witness. The evolution only makes the writing more

powerful because it creates space for the reader’s own memories, experience,

and perspective.

I have chosen the above haibun from another of my favourite haibuneers for

your writing prompt this week. Observe the way Geethanjali employs a

restrained hand to express how loss affected the family. There is a certain build-

up before the actual loss, a feature seen in books and films too before a

favourite character dies. Also remarkable is how she has let the lime tree

describe the father’s failing health and ultimately his death. This week let’s use restraint. Write about loss in a way that you leave it to the reader to feel it.

Anju Kishore

Haibun outside the prompt is welcome

<>

Thanks, Anju.

Waiting to see what our poets come up with!

_kala

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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT 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: 

The Google link will be given in this space soon. This form will only be available during the submission period. 

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The Haibun Gallery continues as is.

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