hosts: Reid Hepworth & Shalini Pattabiraman
poet of the month: Lorraine A Padden
31st August 2023
A Thursday Feature
This brings us to the end of a fantastic month with Lorraine A Padden. Thank you so much Lorraine for sharing your work with us and for your insight into your writing practice.
first-born flowers*
In the place where we scattered her ashes last summer, there’s now a tiny crown of purple shoots adorning the snow.
early March
just enough green
to believe
*The title is taken from a Shakespeare sonnet
Source:
tinywords 23.1 3/24/23
THG:
Lorraine, this is such a moving haibun. It touched me deeply. Speaking for myself, I have found writing haibun (in particular) to be a cathartic practice when it comes to dealing with the hard stuff that life tends to throw. Is haibun your go-to for writing or are you drawn to any other forms (haiku/tanka/free-verse, etc). And finally, many of your haibun’s titles have links to Shakespeare…can you speak to that?
Lorraine:
Thank you so much, Reid. I absolutely consider writing in general and all of these wonderful haiku-inspired short forms in particular to be sources of catharsis, healing, as well as great happiness. I do enjoy writing free verse, but these days I’m more fully drawn to the particular choice-making involved with haiku practice. I find haiku to be foundational–and starting from that base, I also love exploring its many potential flowerings! Sometimes haiku moments invite a bit more room to stretch out–additional lines, some prose, a haiga image, a sequence, other voices in rengay or split sequences, or a group renku. They’re all part of my practice.
Thank you for the question on the Shakespeare links in some of my haibun. It’s a wonderful collaboration that Alan Peat, Diana Webb, and I embarked on a few months ago in which each of us borrows a word/phrase from a Shakespeare sonnet. These evocative snippets may contribute additional meaning(s) to the haibun that emerge. Sometimes our individual pieces refer back to themes in the original sonnet but it’s not a requirement. We’re making our way through all 154 of these rich offerings which is a great way for me to anchor my haibun writing in a weekly practice and engage in supportive read/critique with two very fine poets!
Prompt: 28 words. This impactful haibun is tiny, yet it delivers on so many levels. The challenge for this week is to write a haibun under 50 words. Have fun!
***
PLEASE NOTE:
1. Only two haibun per poet per prompt, and only one haibun in 24 hours. Please put your name and country of residence under your poem, it makes the editors' work easier. Thanks.
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.