THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 5th March 2026. Linda Papanicolaou - Guest Editor

Editors on haikuKATHA: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh

Guest Editor: Linda Papanicolaou

Featured Poet: Carol MacRury

Host: Srinivas Sambangi

A Thursday Feature

5th March 2026

New Year’s Eve

Carol MacRury

The clock leans toward midnight, and the room hums with borrowed joy.

Someone laughs too loudly, someone else pretends they aren’t crying.

Still, I lift my glass. Hope is a stubborn thing, and even sadness softens

when the world counts down together.

So here’s to what we lost, to what we meant to do, and to the small,

trembling wish that next year might hurt a little less.

bubbles rise

in a vintage flute

Sláinte!

—Facebook 12/31/25

Commentary:

Janus was the ancient Roman god of doorways, gates, and thresholds. He is

represented as having two faces, facing in and out, symbolizing beginnings and

endings. For us, he’s associated with the new year and the month January is

named for him.

I think of that two-faced god Janus when I read Carole’s haibun because of the

complex way it constructs time. We’re often told that haibun should be present

tense. In this one, the title, first prose paragraph and haiku anchor it in present

tense , while the second and third prose paragraphs expand outward to evoke

past and future.

For me, what makes this haibun special is the way emotion is woven into

it—sadness, laughter, joy, hope, and a “trembling wish that next year might hurt

a little less…” in the rising champagne bubbles of a Gaelic toast to “good health!”

Prompt:

Write a haibun whose prose expands beyond the present moment to

include past and/or future.

 ***

Welcome Linda, as a guest editor for this month!

The month begins with an excellent haibun and commentary

And, thank you for being with us through this month!

_Srinivas