THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 27th November 2025. Neena Singh - Guest Editor

host: Rupa Anand

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: Neena Singh

Featured Poet: Alan Peat

A Thursday Feature 27th November

Introduction:

Walking the Line Between Prose and Poem

The haibun is a quiet miracle of form—a blend of prose and haiku that invites us to pause, notice, and reflect. It offers the intimacy of memoir, the compression of poetry, and the tension of what’s left unsaid. As Bashō, the master of haibun, once wrote: “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” In that spirit, I invite you this month to bring your journeys—outer and inner—onto the haibun path.

Through prompts, I offer you to explore moments of silence, memory, transition, and displacement. Each prompt is a door—open it with curiosity, and let your prose wander, then pause… and let the haiku breathe.

Your writing can be raw or refined, grounded in the present or drawn from the depths of memory. What matters is the authenticity of your voice and the integrity of the experience. And remember—sometimes what you leave unsaid is just as important as what you write.

Week 4: “Out of Place"

Prompt: Write about a time you felt deeply the ache of not belonging —geographically, emotionally or culturally . Create a  vivid setting, character reflection, and emotional depth—haibun strengths.

Haibun Examples by Alan Peat

Mother

Ah, but disintegration is easy. It’s holding it together that’s hard. This bicycle, it has been chained to the same lamppost for a month or more. I guess its owner returned to find the front wheel bent and buckled - perhaps by someone weekend-drunk - and thought it wasn’t worth the bother of a shouldered lift home.

I have watched rust take its inevitable hold. Walking past today, the Titanic briefly entered my head, then my father’s leather-over-wood motorcycle helmet. The brain makes odd leaps : a deer jumping over barbed wire; a whistle blown early in a front line trench; a grey-haired lady cradling a soft toy in her chair.

debris field

ship on the ocean floor

falling apart

Comments

Written recently and not yet published. I used to belong to an extended family - I lived with my grandparents and parents - quite unusual in the United Kingdom. Time has taken grandparents and my mother now has Alzheimer’s and dad has Stage 4 cancer. I’m in my sixties and feel fortunate to have had so much love in my life. But the price we all pay for that is grief. Alzheimer’s slowly robs you of a person. When it’s a family member it’s devastating. The ache of losing that sense of belonging is difficult some days.

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Egg bag

This magic trick - it’s more than a rabbit pulled from a hat; more, even, than a lady sawn in half on a stage.

I was at a party. There were drinks and canapés. A man with a silver tray walked between us. Amuse bouche, Amuse bouche: the whole night, these were the only words he uttered. And indeed, he offered up a smorgasbord of bite-sized delights…but no meal followed, and nobody noticed.

The unhatched-hatched. They were there too. Eyes and lips on the outside of their shells; small hands glued to each curved outer surface. Mainly they stood by themselves, by the walls.

minnow

slipping from the shallows

to the murk

- Haibun Journal

Comments

This was published in the Haibun Journal. It’s about not fitting in. I’ve never been good with large groups of people and actively avoid parties. I guess it’s really about wanting to climb back into your shell!

I was diagnosed with high functioning autism some time ago - I don’t mention it often, but it explains a lot. I think it’s mainly been an advantage in my life - I need it to write research-driven books and it’s been a key driver in my life. But the downside is that I’m not so good in social situations. Absolutely fine with close friends…and I really enjoyed written communication. I feel cheerful and enjoy life and I’m immensely lucky to have Julie. It’s only groups of people that I find difficult. In those situations I’m painfully aware of not belonging.

Outside of those situations I feel no great urge to belong. It was more difficult when I was younger - I think when we’re young we all want to belong. Now it really doesn’t matter so much and I’ve managed life in order to avoid those situations 99% of the time. Fortunately Julie isn’t either.

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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:

https://forms.gle/WkM9frPjtEzNTrVEA This form will only be available during the submission period. 

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The Haibun Gallery continues as is.

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