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THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 24th July 2025. Lorraine Haig - Guest Poet

host: Rupa Anand

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

Guest Poet: Lorraine Haig

A Thursday Feature

24th July 2025


IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW


THE HAIBUN GALLERY  July 2025: Lorraine Haig


Prompt Week: 4


Fire


Fire can be life-giving or destructive. It represents power, strength and many other things. It is associated with the colour red and the heat of midsummer, but fire touches every season.

As our planet warms, bushfires, or in some cases wildfires are becoming more prolific and widespread with catastrophic results. Fire touches us every day in some form. There are fires to keep us warm, as illumination and for cooking. And let’s not forget the idioms such as – to burn your bridges, add fuel to the fire, to blaze a trail, etc.

 

desolation . . .

fire crews look towards

a crimson moon

 


Broken Starfish by Ron C. Moss

Haiku and ink paintings, Published by Walleah Press, 2019.

 

Your Challenge:

Let’s write about fire.


<>

Thanks a lot, Lorraine.

Interesting challenge, and yes, we all have stories on Fire!


_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Writers are invited to submit one unpublished haibun per submission window.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Your unpublished (only one) haibun should be sent to: 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…


19 Comments


joanna ashwell
joanna ashwell
7 hours ago

#2

 

Night Forge

 

I hammer every edge that shimmers.  These gloves are so strong that the molten shape I hold simply acquiesces to my touch.  Nothing will stop me now I have begun.  The darkness needs a counter balance.  A brightness for the ships to anchor to their constellations.  This ring of fire between our existence. 

 

star goddess

a dreamer’s nib

of breath

 

Joanna Ashwell

UK

 

Feedback welcome

 

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Dinah Power
Dinah Power
6 hours ago
Replying to

i once took a summer course in forging, would have made good use of those gloves

a lovely one, joanna

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Diana Webb
Diana Webb
18 hours ago

Beating Across


In times gone by, glazed, fresh from the kiln, a trio of pottery ducks in flight would grace a person's sitting room wall. Now, from where I sit, I stare at a surface in eggshell blue. Fired up by the sun , egret by egret , wings in porcelain- white soar out a welcome as I adjust to a brand new day.


far away

a quill infused with magic ink

priceless shards

Edited
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joanna ashwell
joanna ashwell
7 hours ago
Replying to

I love this Diana. I can see and feel this. Such a magical haiku at the end.

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Alfred Booth
Alfred Booth
19 hours ago

#1 off prompt

The time has gone


. . . to chase the monsters away. I have so many stories never voiced, never even whispered. For half of my lifetime, I was afraid to look under the bed, could never pull the curtains into darkness. I never knew your warm arms, your broad shoulders, that might have consoled the fears of a child outsider, overcome by needles on a unblooming cactus. You were not my king nor my prince, although I would gladly have become your court jester, and rewritten each fairytale so that princesses all became abandoned boy childs valiantly searching for a magical giant with welcoming arms. Without looking back, you walked away to leave me with a…


Edited
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joanna ashwell
joanna ashwell
7 hours ago
Replying to

I can relate to this piece Alfred as I have suffered night terrors from childhood. I even bought a Night-time Dreamtime Deck for myself as an adult that was meant for children.


I hope you forgive my trimming of your prose but this makes it more powerful to me. What do you think?


The time has gone


. . . to chase the monsters away. I have so many stories never voiced, never even whispered. For half of my lifetime, I was afraid to look under the bed, could never pull the curtains into darkness. I never knew your warm arms, your broad shoulders, that might have consoled the fears of a child outsider, overcome by needles on an un-blooming cactus.


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Dinah Power
Dinah Power
21 hours ago

1st


Pleasure Principle


The sun sets on a day of hard labour. Farmer Haim*, with satisfaction overlooks his fields. Relaxed now, enjoying a guzzle or two.

Out of the corner of his eye, he jumps to his feet, crying out in distress, as he spots tendrils of smoke rising in the distance.


with stealth

pouring oil between corn rows...

the arsonist grins


Dinah Power, Israel

comments welcomed


*Haim is a Hebrew name meaning "Life"

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Diana Webb
Diana Webb
a day ago

On the Wheel


As she sits by the river, a pair of kingfishers  vanish in a flash of aquamarine. Soon she spots one poised on a branch to catch a fish. It dives and rises with flickers of silver fire in its beak. The flickers are mirrored in dragonflies as they skim the water's surface. They draw the flame  of creativity up from her depths.


caught in a wing

the sun crosses a threshold

autumn

.

note: words in bold italics form the first two lines of a sonnet by the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins


On the Wheel


AS she sits by the river, a pair of KINGFISHERS vanish in a flash of aquamarine. Soon she spots one poised on a branch to…


Edited
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joanna ashwell
joanna ashwell
7 hours ago
Replying to

Such an original and beautiful piece Diana. I love how you have woven the words from Hopkins into the prose.

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