THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 1st May 2025. Linda Papanicolaou - Guest Poet
- Kala Ramesh
- May 1
- 3 min read
Updated: May 6
host: Rupa Anand
mentor: Lorraine Haig
haibun editors of haikuKATHA:
Firdaus Parvez, Kala Ramesh, Shalini Pattabiraman and Vidya Shankar
A Thursday Feature
1st May 2025
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW
THE HAIBUN GALLERY May 2025 - Linda Papanicolaou
Prompt 1- 1st week
PROMPTS for MAY 2025
Linda Papanicolaou, US
INTRODUCTION (to be posted each week)
Sometimes you’ll see the linking of prose and haiku in haibun called “renku-like.” I first learned of it from Bruce Ross’ 2001 essay "Narratives of the Heart". Immediately intrigued, I set out to study renku linking.
Too often you’ll see it said that haibun prose and poem should “scent link” (Basho’s way). I’ve never been satisfied with vague directives that leave you on your own to figure it out. Intuition is certainly important, but I’ve come to believe that a good part of linking is a craft that can be learned. One article I found invaluable was Tadashi Kondo and William B Higginson‘s “Link and Shift: A Practical Guide to Renku Composition”, online at Renku Home. In their section “Types of Linking,” the authors survey verse linking from its early days to its development by Basho and his followers. Most—even all—of these ways of linking can also be used for prose/poem linking in haibun.
This month, our weekly prompts will be skill-building exercises based on a selection of the “Manners of Linking” described by Kondo and Higginson. As you write, explore different solutions to the problem. When you post your final version, please also include a short explanation of your decision process. Also, when giving feedback to others, please focus on the linking.
MAY 1
For our first week’s exercise, let’s explore linking on season (jisetsu), or time of day (jibun). Think of our different emotional responses to the seasons of the year, or the moods we associate with dawn, midday, sunset, etc. Assuming a simple haibun with a prose passage that by itself has no specific time of year, capping it with a seasonal haiku can color the mood of the whole. An example from my own haibun might be “Google,” posted here last year (Triveni Haibun Gallery, June 2024). In this haibun I was playing with season. The non-seasonal process seems to be setting up for a summery haiku, though the twist is that the haiku winter.
For this week, compose a haibun with a prose passage that has no specified season or time of day. Cap it with a haiku that brings either or both. Try swapping in different seasons/times of day to see how they change the meaning. When you post your final version, tell us how it works for you and why.
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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…

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/post/celebration
The selected poems for haikuKATHA, Issue 43, May 2025 is up at CELEBRATION! Thanks to each one of you for making this happen.
Final version - revised after feedback. Thanks Lorraine Haig.
The Old House
Gwen sees something at night that scares her, keeps her awake. Morgan sees it too, but is not afraid. Keeping a hallway light on doesn’t help. Neither does a nightlight in their room. Daddy spends a night watching for whatever it is, but detects nothing.
He and the twins go for a walk. Each four-year old selects a small stone. Mommy, and Grandmom join them for a cleansing ceremony. Daddy burns sage in every part of the room. Grandmom hands Daddy two tiny brooms that he sprays with lavender-scented magic. Mommy sprays the stones. The girls place them under their pillows then sweep the scary thing…
Post #1
6.5.25
Lace and memory
On her 15 th death anniversary, I plan to finally give away mothers belongings. I have been holding on to her shimmery banarsi saris, embroidered batuas and silver trinklets with a sense of pride. But now I needed to move forward. Her things are holding me back. As I pick up a beautiful Kanjeevarum silk saree with a brocade border, my heart does a somersault. How can I give away such a beautiful memory of her? Feeling the zardozi work on a red cloth batua evokes a sense of belonging. The silver head piece looks stunning in my hair. Deciding against giving away her possessions I carefully pack away each piece in fresh muslin…
#1
Gembun
electricity and water disconnected
the crow
beside its nest
on a leafless tree
Mohua Maulik, India
Thank you Linda for this educative prompt. I went through the helpful links but i am not sure if i managed to absorb it all. Am attempting a gembun, which i hope fits the prompt with the prose having no specified season or time of day and the ku based in spring.
In our part of the world, most of the big trees shed their leaves in spring and almost overnight grow new leaves as well. I am not sure if the ku would have worked in any other season, the crow probably knows of the seasons and is just…
https://www.trivenihaikai.in/post/celebration
The HAIBUN LIST is up for haikuKATHA, #43, May 2025 issue. Check ip out.