THE HAIBUN GALLERY: January 29, 2026. Shloka Shankar - Guest Editor

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: Shloka Shanker

Featured Poet: Norma Bradley

A Thursday Feature January 29, 2026

taking flight

Norma Bradley

a quiet day / the breeze gentle / raising wave upon wave / crashing like a cracked tune // she stood with the heron on top / of the sand dune / gazing at the waves / the riptide sweeping her out // without another thought / she turns toward him and announces / I am leaving / we each need to live /our truth // his dark eyes froze / what are you talking about? / of course he didn’t understand / he never did // never understood her joy / and wonder of being captivated / by a Picasso / or a word in a poem / that even she / did not fully understand // I can paint better than that, he said / or laughingly asked / what is that poem about? // he wanted to know / how many grains of sand / were under their feet / or how high the sand dunes were / she wanted to feel / the wind in her hair // her spirit drowning / struggling in the dark / sinking into the sand // she turned and walked / down the sand dune / the tension in her body / slipping away / sliding off her skin / free / as the heron / spreading its wings

old voices left behind stars glimmering

— The Pan Haiku Review, Issue 5

Commentary:

This haibun has a staccato feel we notice immediately. The images, contained within forward slashes, pulse with raw emotion, longing, and intense vulnerability. Each phrase draws us into the fractured relationship portrayed in the prose poem. We descend along with the protagonist, sharing her sense of freedom symbolized in both the title and the final image.

Prompt:

Write a haibun that uses line breaks in unexpected ways to create tension within the prose poem.

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A challenge that is both interesting and intriguing.

I'm feeling sad this month has come to an end!

_kala

The Haibun Gallery continues as is.

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