THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 28th July — a Thursday Feature
- Kala Ramesh
- Jul 28, 2022
- 2 min read
Hosts: Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh
28th July 2022
This month we'll be showcasing haibun written by our four editors! This week we have Shobhana Kumar with us! Post Mortem
His postgraduate certificate is tucked away in an old steel trunk. Every other day, he answers calls on his mobile phone and sets out to work. Anything goes. For the last month or so, he has been a painter for a new high-rise. This one has fifteen storeys.
between orange and pink
a sky full
of bucket lists
Today, he caresses a stray strand of hair from his wife’s forehead as he leaves. He slips from the fourth floor, trying to save a fellow painter from falling.
They want to file a report saying he was an alcoholic. She spends the next five years proving he wasn’t.
broken a kite falls into the sewer
*Published in A Sky Full of Bucket Lists, Red River, 2021
More about Shobhana Kumar: Shobhana Kumar is a recipient of a Touchstone Distinguished Books Honorable Mention for 2021 for her volume A Sky Full of Bucket Lists (Red River Press, 2021). You can read the full comment here: https://thehaikufoundation.org/shobhana-kumar-touchstone-distinguished-books-award-honorable-mention-2021/
Shobhana Kumar gives an unusual touch to the haibun here. A refreshing style of weaving in and out through the prose and two poems - there is much to study here. The end - is left unfinished. I was wondering what had happened to the court case. Did the wife win? So much left unsaid. Sounds interesting? Why don't you try a haibun with the end left in suspense? Let it be subtle. Give us a good haibun, thought-provoking, something that tugs y.our heartstrings.
And we’ll do our bit – publish it in haikuKATHA – Issue 10, for you!
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. When poets give suggestions and if you agree to them - post your final edited version on top of your original version.
5. Don't forget to give feedback on others' poems.
We are delighted to open the comment thread for you to share your unpublished haibun (within 300 words) to be considered for inclusion in the haikuKATHA monthly journal.
A gripping narrative, shobhana. Much to learn from this piece. So glad I returned here in time to read this 😊
A sensitive poignant price from Shobhana!
Revised title: Thanks Kala for the prompt!
Suspicious Minds
I’m pretty sure my uncle is Elvis. It doesn’t matter that he has a Scottish accent or that we live in Canada. What convinces me:
his black hair
his fashion sense
he visits Hawaii a lot
he rarely visits us
he is divorced
When I share my suspicions, my family laughs at me. I point to the Elvis record collection at my grandmothers house and the fact that my uncle doesn’t look like ANY of us. They just laugh harder.
I’m crushed when they tell me my uncle works in a bank…until later when I overhear them talking about how he’s got himself into “some trouble” and the police are looking…
What a wonderful piece of writing by Shobhana. Love how the haiku move the story forward. Well done!
I want to say how much this forum has come to mean to me in these last two weeks. I am delighted to be here in a place so full of talent, skill, critique, acceptance. I feel that I belong and that my voice is valued. So glad I was invited into this place, I am honoured to be here.