© 2020 Frank J. Tassone
In Indiana, where I grew up, gray skies muted the summer sun. The six-foot-deep ditch at the end of the street represented the most climbing we children could experience. Slide down, scramble up. Our panorama from the top of the ditch – cornfields, cows, a two-lane road teeing into another, and a 1950s housing development.
No mountain grandeur,
No rocky ledges to scale,
Winding through pine trees.
Today blue skies peek through the dense forest.The scent of pine fills my empty lungs as I lumber up the narrow path to the top to Gertrude’s Nest. Where are the steps and handrails? Forget the steps, where’s the elevator? The slide down this crevasse is nothing like home.
A struggle to climb,
Step after step I struggle.
Driblets burn my eyes.
Mosquitos the size of grasshoppers nip at my shoulders and elbows. Blisters dot my heels. Loose rocks echo as they skitter down the mountain. I embrace the mountainside until my stomach stops churning.
There’s no place like home.
Why did I agree to this –
Adventurous quest?
Atop Shawangunk Mountains, I survey where I’ve been and hold up my arms in triumph. The summer breeze dries my skin. The world is mine!
This is my entry to Colleen Chesebro’s Tuesday Tanka for June 30. I chose to do the prose envelope. Even if you’ve never tried to write a Haibun, step out and do something new. 🙂 Leave me a link in your comment section and also link it on Colleen’s website. We’ll both visit, read, and comment. 🙂
How to Write Haibun
- Begin the haibun with a title. The title should hint at something barely noticeable in the beginning which comes together by the ending.
- Your haibun prose can be written in present or past tense including, first-person (I), third person (he/she), or first-person plural (we).
- Subject matter: autobiographical prose, travel journal, a slice of life, memory, dream, character sketch, place, event, or object. Focus on one or two elements.
- Keep your prose simple, all excessive words should be pared down or deleted. Nothing should be overstated.
- The length can be brief with one or two sentences with a haiku, or longer prose with a haiku sandwiched between, to longer memoir works including many haiku.
- There are different Haibun styles: Idyll: (One prose paragraph and one haiku) haiku/prose, or prose/haiku; Verse Envelope: haiku/prose/haiku; Prose Envelope: prose/haiku/prose, including alternating prose and verse elements of your choice.
- The prose tells the story and gives the information which helps to define the theme. It creates a mood through tone, paving the way for the haiku.
- The haiku should act as a comparison—different yet somehow connected to the prose, as it moves the story forward by taking the narrative in another direction.
- The haiku should not attempt to repeat, quote, or explain the prose. Instead, the haiku resolves the conflict in an unexpected way. Sometimes, the haiku questions the resolution of the prose. While the prose is the narrative, the haiku is the revelation or the reaction.
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
26 responses to “Worth the Struggle #Haibun”
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Fabulous post and so good to see you again, Marsha. I’ll have to explore your site for more goodies! 🙂
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Thanks for the kind words, Kevin. I feel like the chains are removed and I can have fun with writing.
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Nice one, Marsha. 🙂
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Beautifully evoked and well done with the Haibun. I just didn’t have time to get in and I do love the Haibun style. You nailed it! ❤
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Yay! It felt good, but it was a first time, so you never know.
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Damn good first time! ❤
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Awwww I’m getting my writing wings back! Girls on Fire edits pretty well devastated me at least temporarily! These challenges and interviews about challenges are the bandages and casts that are healing my broken spirit.
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Aw, and I know what you mean. Sometimes the focus is difficult and it’s great to get pre-occupied with useful distraction. Writing is writing. 🙂 x
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yes! It’s fun to have fun with it. 🙂
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Marsha, this is excellent. I like how you used the prose envelope style for your haibun. That gave you plenty of room for your prose. Your haiku really add to the prose as well. ❤
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Thank you, Colleen. Your instructions were right on and easy to follow. It wrote itself. When I read and reread the instructions, I panicked. I’m terrible at mystery. And there is a suggestion of mystery from beginning to end. The. When I saw the picture-a place I’d never been I really had to write fiction. It was fun!
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Excellent! Haibun are meant to be fun. Could you imagine a travel book full of photos with an accompanying haibun? Wouldn’t that be fun to read? ❤
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OMG, your next anthology! You’ve already got a great start!!! How exciting! I want to be part of it!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️
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LOL! I don’t have many travel photos. But I bet you do. This would be a lovely book. You should go for it. I’m much more a dreamer. Meanwhile, I’ll finish the next book in my Fairies, Myths, & Magic – A Celebration of the Winter Solstice that will contain poetry and short fiction pieces. ❤
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I have about 37,000 photos, not all travel, and definitely not all publishable! I’m not the expert author here, but I definitely think this is a topic we could explore. I’m so looking forward to our interview. Let’s definitely chat when you have the time.
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Will do. That would be a lovely book. Maybe decide on a theme or two and sort through your photos to see which are the best. Then, you could compose your haibun to detail each photo. Sounds amazing! ❤
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I have four artist/photographer blogger friends. I’m thinking they should/might like to be in on something like this. Their photos are amazing. I’d like to have more than just my photography and haiban’s in this gorgeous book. Could we tie into your Tuesday contest, or should we start a different one just using the haiban form. I do love that form because of the prose. However, I haven’t tried the others yet, so one by one, I’m giving them a try. I love the idea. So did my hubby. 🙂
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Lovely imagery, Marsha! I can feel the steps and wonder in your words! I saw in your newsletter that you got a Fitbit! Congrats, I love mine! Good motivation!
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It’s great! I’ve done quite a few 11-12000 step days since I got it. I’d like to lose 30 pounds. It’s hard to lose 1!!!
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I hear ya. 🙄
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Yeah, but you look fabulous!
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Well done. Very evocative. 🙂
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What a nice vocabulary word. I can’t say that anyone has ever said that about my writing before. Thanks! 🙂 I’m getting emotional. 🙂
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❤
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