THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 27th March 2025. Lorraine Haig - Guest Editor
- Kala Ramesh
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
hosts: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh
mentor: Lorraine Haig
A Thursday Feature
27th March 2025
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT BELOW
THE HAIBUN GALLERY MARCH 2025 LORRAINE HAIG
Week 4
tired of this world . . .
suddenly moonlight
through my window
Ron C. Moss: The Bone Carver
This probably happens to most of us at some time or other, we become tired of this world. It might be because of stress, sadness, or exhaustion that we fall into bed at night. Maybe we can’t sleep. Suddenly for the poet the moon appears from behind a cloud and his darkness diminishes. The full moon is beautiful to behold, and one can imagine being transformed as it shines its light through the window.
Do you have coping mechanisms to deal with sadness in your life? What gets you through the day and puts a smile on your face? Write about a serendipitous event.
PLEASE NOTE:
1. Only two haibun per poet per prompt.
2. Share your best-polished pieces.
3. Please do not post something in a hurry or something you have just written.
Let it simmer for a while.
4. Post your final edited version on top of your original verse.
5. Don't forget to give feedback on others' poems.
Please Note: No haibun will be picked up from here for haikuKATHA, issue 43, May 2025. See the notice below for submission details. The workshopping will continue. The workshopping at the Haibun Gallery will continue to function the way it has been since November 2021.
Please read the Announcement completely, till the end :)) If you have doubts, write to us here, on this thread. Your ONE HAIBUN Submission can be from the haibun you have posted here.
Choose your best!
We nominate your poems for Contemporary Haibun Anthology brought out by Red Moon Press and Touchstone Haibun Contest. Help us to make this new format successful.
This is your home, to create any haibun you want and share with all our poets.
Have fun!
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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Writers are invited to submit one unpublished haibun per submission window.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…
TOUCHSTONE Haibun Longlist!
Huge Cngratulations! Loanne Ashwell's "Heat Trails" from Issue 33, Lorraine Haig's "Trapped" from Issue 37 and also Lorraine Haig's "Vanishing Point" from Issue 33 of haikuKATHA make it to the Haibun longlist of Touchstone Awards.
Wonderful news.
2/4/25 #1
Unrinsed Brushes
The day begins with green. Iced matcha fogs the rim of the borosilicate glass as if the morning dreams too. I mean to paint an air current. Or the sound of a sleeper train brushing through reeds. I can’t quite remember now—only that the oolong at lunch tastes like driftwood and vanished islands.
I paint in circles. Layers upon layers of not-quite-water, not-quite-light. Coconut steam ghosts my fingers. No one’s noticed I’ve stopped speaking. The kettle clicks off; I never pour it.
Sticky chai cools in the cup. I dip a brush in it by mistake, the way my friend always used to. I leave it that way. Cinnamon warmth clings to the windowsill as the…
#2
Gembun
Revision:
so many cry under the rubble
they gather
waiting for rotten apples
downed by a drone
Alfred Booth
Lyon, France
(feedback welcome)
Do I really need to write “survivors gather”?
Original:
so many cries under the rubble
they gather
waiting for rotten apples
caught by a drone
Alfred Booth
Lyon, France
(feedback welcome)
#2
Edited for a typo - many thanks to Kala.
Worldview
“Bye, class,” My sister waves to her nursery students, as she goes on a few of days leave, “Be good.”
“Where are you going?” Sheila pipes up.
“I am going to see my mom.”
Sheila draws back in shock. “You have a mom?!!”
exchanging the iPhone
for a fruit juice
—the monkey
Mohua Maulik, India
Feedback appreciated.
Post #1
29.3.25
Wormhole
Nowadays afternoons are lazy. The days around the vernal equinox carry a sense of deja vu. The air is fragrant with a familiar scent of lavender blooms. Streets are lined with multicoloured flowers. For a moment I stop and feel as if nothing has changed. Days of childhood and youth blur my mind. I spread my dupatta and swirl it in the air. A few youngsters stare at me. ‘What on earth is a 60 year old doing behaving like this?’ their expressions seem to say.
“I too was young once ” I tell to their shocked faces.
spring drizzle
the washed fragrance
of frangipani
Mona Bedi
India
Feedback appreciated:)