THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 21st August 2025. Padma Priya - Guest Poet

host: Rupa Anand

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

Guest Poet: Padma Priya

A Thursday Feature

21st August 2025 -

THE HAIBUN GALLERY  August 2025 Padma Priya

Don't forget to send us your best haibun between1-20 September, to be considered for publication in November issue of haikuKATHA.

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Doorways

I open the door to silence. I open the fridge to silence. I open the cupboard to silence. I switch on the TV, there is not enough sound. I listen to music, there is not enough solace. I switch on a light, there is so much space. You were everywhere, even when not in a room - there was comfort.

storm light

the flickering link

to distant sky

There are those who understand and those who simply frown. How can you be so sad over the loss of an animal. I hold back my tears. More than a dog; family. I gulp and continue to re-walk where your paws loved. Every tree, every slope, every fresh bud. Was that shadow, you returning to greet me?

heart thread

without a leash

searching for home

Joanna Ashwell

haikuKATHA, Issue 34, August 2024

Prompt

The above haibun by Joanna Ashwell is sensitive and grief-filled. Clipped sentences with words depicting a grimness open the haibun. The light that comes later opens up the prose to reveal the context. The narrator talks about people being empathetic or not empathetic towards her grief and concludes it with a heart-wrenching haiku. 

The haibun is layered, allowing for multiple interpretations by the reader. 

Prompt one: Shall we try to write a short haibun using small and crisp sentences along with normal prose and see how this mosaic reflects a mood?

Prompt two: Grief is something that everyone encounters in some form or the other. Can we write about it and how one reconciles in his or her own way? 

Haibun outside the prompt is welcome.  

I eagerly anticipate your haibun. 

Thank you. Padma Priya

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Once again, a beautiful prompt, Padma.

I love your two-winged prompts!

_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 open 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…