THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 18th December 2025. Lakshmi Iyer - Guest Editor
- Kala Ramesh
- Dec 18, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Dec 22, 2025
editors on haikuKATHA: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh
Lorraine Haig has stepped down from being a mentor for this forum. Triveni Haikai India and The Haibun Gallery are grateful for her exceptional feedback and responses over the last few years.
Guest Editor: Lakshmi Iyer
Featured Poet: Shobhana Kumar
A Thursday Feature 18th December
Fairy Tales
Appa likes to smoke the house every evening. It is an elaborate ritual he revels in and we can’t decide which is better: watching his eyes light up as he engages in it or the heavenly fragrance that envelops every corner.
bougainvillea
all the secrets between
neighbours
He first takes out a piece of charcoal and hovers it around the lamp. For the next minute or so, he gently blows at it, watching the bright orange slowly embrace layer after layer. ‘How many millennia are tucked into this piece of black.’ His eyes twinkle and sadden almost immediately when he sees our complete apathy to this epiphany.
When he eases the powdered sambrani into the charcoal, he closes his eyes for several moments, inhaling the divinity of it all. ‘And look at us, burning all this to get into heaven.’
turntable night
the record always slips
at my favourite line
‘Why do it at all, Pa,’ we ask, annoyed at his cynicism.
‘Because you need something to remind you of home. And also, how much there is to do before you hang up your boots.’
last sunset
all the memories
now in an urn
Shobhana Kumar, Coimbatore
CHO, April 2016, vol 12, no 1
Week 3 :
Shobhana Kumar is a versatile haibuneer. The taste and texture of her haibun are a masterstroke, drawing us back to our roots and connecting within ourselves what we sometimes forget or forego. Kindly read ‘A Sky full of Bucket List’ by Shobhana and indulge in that essence of contentment. Shobhana says, ‘We sometimes abandon real life stories for want of a better ending.'
Have you?
If yes, kindly share your story here and leave a note of hope and promise!
*****
Thank you so much, Lakshmi, for accepting to be the Guest Editor of The Haibun Gallery. Waiting for the weeks to unfold. Good choice of haibun this week. I love your prompt too.
You've always had that keen sense of being, and I'm waiting to see how you're going to take this month forward.
_kala
******
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:
https://forms.gle/WkM9frPjtEzNTrVEA This form will only be available during the submission period.
********
The Haibun Gallery continues as is.
We will be having editors and prompts, and your sharing…
#2
The Gravity
Every time I leave home, I have to walk by a Lord Shiva temple nearby. Before passing through, I am used to step in the temple, circle it and pray to Him. As usual, this morning too, as I enter the temple, I glimpse a young woman coming towards it afar. I circle the temple as part of the ritual of worshipping Him. I try hard to resist my desire to have a close glimpse of her. I shut my eyes to pray to Lord Shiva.
Lord Shiva waits
to have a glimpse of her
my interrupted pray
Tejendra Sherchan, Nepal
Feedback(s) welcome.
Post #1
24.12.25
Fractured
unpaved woods
i learn to live
with my insecurities
She is twenty-three and pregnant.
When she sees the double lines on the pregnancy kit, she smiles. Is it true? Is she going to have a baby?
She calls her doctor, who asks her to come in for an ultrasound.
Her husband is out of town, so she decides to go alone. The ultrasonologist is her father’s friend. She smiles at him; he smiles back.
Inside the examination room, she lies down on the couch. The doctor applies gel and places the probe on her abdomen. She watches the ceiling, waiting.
Then the probe begins to move upward—too far, too slowly. Before she can understand what is…
#1
Books Sold at Rs.9 Per Kilo
When I was a student in high school, there was a bookshop on the second floor of a building at the heart of my city. It sold the books, journals and magazines from China, North Korea and Soviet Union(USSR). It was the time before Soviet Union(USSR) was fragmented with Mikhail Gorbachov's Perestroika and Glasnost. The books mostly had glossy, attractive and high quality papers, prints, pictures and covers. They were available both in Nepali and English translated by Nepalese translators. Gorky's autobiographical stories stole my heart. In general, the books really took me to the worlds of those countries. Despite I didn't have enough money, I still collected a considerable…
#1, 23/12
Comfort Zone
These days, I sink into my perceptions, sensing the vast expanse beyond the horizon. It's here that creativity unfolds, a gentle journey across timeless art forms – the whisper of singing.
tailor-made chappals
my pedicured feet
a perfect fit
Lakshmi Iyer, India
Feedback welcome
#2
Blurring Lines
Chanting a mantra, a girl in a crop top and low-rise jeans rings the temple bell thrice before running down the stairs. Her feet are colored with alta. Joining her family, they wander to a nearby Chinese food stall. Her voice carries loud and clear as she places a request for a plate of noodles – no onions with an extra dash of coriander leaves.
spring breeze
the monkey nibbles a banana
on my sofa
Mohua Maulik, India
Feedback appreciated.
Alta: A red dye (traditionally made from betel leaves, nuts, lac etc) used to paint the hands and feet of women in India (particularly West Bengal and Odisha), Bangladesh, and Nepal during festivals…