THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 1st January 2026. Shloka Shankar - Guest Editor

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: Shloka Shanker

Featured Poet: Peter Newton

A Thursday Feature

January 1, 2026

Shadow List

Peter Newton

Certain topics I try to approach

with caution in the writing of haiku:

crow, dragonfly, firefly, for example,

falling leaves, skipping stones and, and,

and babbling brooks. There’s the moon

of course, the moon the moon the moon,

and scarecrow, spring breeze, new coolness,

blossom, birdsong, the way or the how of things.

Shadows go without saying. They’re everywhere.

And, being guilty of humanness, I too am prone

to the interrogation of owls, the hush of pines,

the stubble of starfish, all manner of raindrops

suspended from god knows what and for how long

exactly the reason to catch one, freeze-frame it

for over the mantle. A fate that has befallen me.

dryer on the fritz

the spring breeze

my mother raved about

— The Other Bunny, October 14, 2024

Commentary:

This clever haibun by Peter Newton makes us chuckle and plead guilty to almost every trope that seems to plague contemporary haiku. Which one of us doesn’t have at least a dozen birdsong or moon haiku? Here, the use of intertextuality heightens the tongue-in-cheek tone of the poet:

the moon the moon × the moon

— Fay Aoyagi

How would one “freeze-frame” a raindrop? Haiku captures a distilled moment in time, and this is “a fate” we have all willingly chosen. By employing free verse and elements of the list poem, the poet effectively gives writers of the form a chance to check their own excessive use of the self-same kigo, reminding us to kill our darlings every now and then.

Prompt:

Write a haibun where the prose includes a list of some sort. It could relate to a childhood memory, a daily ritual, or something else entirely. As an additional challenge, experiment with line breaks and spacing.

 ***

Excellent haibun, and I'm sure all of us are vigorously nodding our heads, agreeing to Peter's thoughts. Thank you, Shloka, for sharing this piece with us. A challenging challenge!

And, thank you for being with us through this month!

_kala

The Haibun Gallery continues as is.

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