THE HAIBUN GALLERY: February 5, 2026 K. Ramesh - Guest Editor
- Kala Ramesh
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
editors on haikuKATHA: Shalini Pattabiraman, Vidya Shankar, Firdaus Parvez and Kala Ramesh
Guest Editor: K. Ramesh
Featured Poet: John Zheng
A Thursday Feature February 5, 2026
Mid October in the Smoky Mountains
by John Zheng
We drive to see the fall foliage, but the cascades of color look as dull as a small town’s faded murals. At an overlook, an old couple tell us that it’s because there hasn’t been enough rain during the year. Then, for two days, thunderstorms and lightning confine us to the resort. We sit in balcony chairs, watch dark clouds somersaulting. When the storms slacken, we go to see the Harrisburg Covered Bridge. Each of its cut-out windows frames the same view: lines of rain and wisps of mist slanting in wind. black sky— hiding in a white wooden church
On the day of departure, blue sky returns. We wind west on the Little River George Road, from Gatlinburg to Cades Cove. Along the way, we stop to shoot pictures of everything we can: a watermill churning by a creek, a fenced historic graveyard, a replica of a pioneer log cabin. Above the muddy river, red, gold, yellow, and orange sparkle in the morning sunshine.
photo after photo the creek gurgling all night long John Zheng
Haibun appeared in CHO 16
Comments
I have always enjoyed reading travelogues, and the first time I came across The Narrow Road to the Deep North, it became my constant companion. The book went with me wherever I went, partly because I always carried a shoulder bag.
Before I became familiar with Japanese forms of literature, I was deeply interested in British and American literature, especially travel writing. I enjoyed reading the travel writings of D. H. Lawrence, John Muir, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Eric Newby, Jack Kerouac, and Pico Iyer, to name a few.
Their books opened my mind, and I travelled with them to small towns and deserts. I was fascinated by the names of these places and often imagined myself being there.
This week, the prompt is: Write a haibun about your travel experience and take your readers along with you. Let them see the bend of a road, the small church in a village, the busy market and a snow-capped mountain.
***
Thanks, Ramesh.
I'm sure this month is going to be interesting for our members.
_kala
The Haibun Gallery continues as is.
We will be having editors and prompts, and your sharing …
#1
Bieszczady
We drive before dawn. Past the last gas station the road thins, the villages thinning with it. In the headlights: a deer, then nothing. Mist begins at the first slopes and stays.
A wooden church appears in a clearing. The door is locked. Behind it, a few crosses lean into grass. No birdsong, only wind worrying the spruce.
late winter mist—
the church bell
still silent
On the trail, thaw-soft snow holds a few tracks. Deer. Then a larger set, clean and unbroken, crossing the path and vanishing into the trees.
We stop. The silence feels owned.
wolf tracks—
in the wet snow
no hesitation
At a roadside bar, the soup tastes of smoke. The woman says the…
Through the Gate
Spring is in the air. I leave the city’s clamor and dust behind. An hour later, I step out of the car onto a muddy road winding through meadows and pine forests. Three hundred forty-five steps — one more this year — and I open the gate. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting the earthy scent fill me. The first moss-covered stone — I stroke it gently, greeting it. Before the marshy lake comes into view, I greet six more stones. I pause by a blooming hazel, gazing at the lake’s faintly shimmering surface. The loud calls of the cranes remind me I am not the first to arrive. I pause, watching their…
No ticket needed
A path past the step to the next door maisonette leads to the pavement that climbs uphill past four more homes to the top of the close. Damp underfoot, the surface supports those wonders of the world we know as snails. Around the bend, in the alleyway, that syrynx sound. From within a robin's scarlet breast it mimics the final berry left on the holly . The fence is a shifting green light mural designed by leaves reflected in light. The wall an intricate pattern of creviced brick where ivy cascades and a spring of ivy leaved toadflax begins to rise. There are Mexican dancing daisies preparing a delicate makeup of pink to stun in a quivering…
Oh wow—this is going to be quite the ride! I’m so looking forward to travelling by haibun! 🙂