Welcome to Haibun Monday folks ! If this is your first time to read about haibun, you can refer back to our past Haibun Monday articles so you are acquainted with the form. Here is short description of the form:
Haibun prose is composed of terse, descriptive paragraphs, written in the first person singular. The text unfolds in the present moment, as though the experience is occurring now rather than yesterday or some time ago. In keeping with the simplicity of the accompanying haiku, all excessive words should be pared down or deleted. Nothing must ever be overstated.
The haiku or poetry never attempts to repeat, quote or explain the prose. Instead, the poetry reflects some aspect of the prose by introducing a different step in the narrative through a microburst of detail. Thus the poetry is a sort of juxtaposition – seemingly different yet somehow connected. It is the discovery of this link between the prose and the poetry that offers one of the great delights of the haibun form.
For this week’s prompt, think about a moment of your typical day (first person singular). This can be your morning routine, commute, day in the office, a walk in the afternoon, household chores, grocery shopping, gardening etc. Here’s the challenge: write and find the “extra” in your ordinary day. The following are some suggestions (pick one scenario or create one that suites you):
* imagine this day to be your first day you’re given new organ like new heart or eyes or lungs or kidney
* imagine yourself explaining or showing how this is done to a foreigner or a group of students or before a crowd in a poetry slam contest
* imagine this day is your last day in this city or place, as you are going away on another journey
For inspiration, here are some quotes about seeing the beauty and extra in ordinary days:
“I built my home in the feeling of waking up at dawn in a new city, where every road is the right road because there is no ordinary. Everything is as profound as you make it.”
― Charlotte Eriksson
“Falling in love is easy. Falling in love with the same person repeatedly is extraordinary.”
― Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading
“We have one precious life: do something extraordinary today, even if it’s tiny. A pebble starts the avalanche.”
― K.A. Laity
“Extraordinary magic is woven through ordinary life. Look around!”
― Amy Leigh Mercree
Like in the past sessions, we will focus on the basic unit of composition– one paragraph and one nature-based haiku. Some examples of the 3 line haiku can refer to the changing seasons, smell of rain, scents of flowers, moon, sounds of the night creatures, etc. I look forward to reading your extra-ordinary haibun.
If you are new to dVerse or even if not, please:
– Write your haibun and link it to dVerse.
– Post it to Mr. Linky which is found at the bottom of this post. Please link your poem’s URL instead of your blog name.
– Visit each other, read, and comment on other writers. This is how we enjoy each other and grow our poetic community.
Have fun and see you at the poetry trail! Grace
kim881 said:
Good evening Grace and all you dVerse poets out there. I’ can’t wait to read about the extraordinary things in your ordinary days!
Grace said:
Hi Kim ~ Thanks for opening the bar (being first that is) ~
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Good evening… this challenge was actually quite hard… but as usual when it’s hard, my bikeride to work gives me inspiration…. Happy Monday everyone.
Grace said:
I have to revise and edit mine too ~ Yikes, what did I get myself into, smiles ~
Happy Monday to all ~
Grace said:
Welcome to Haibun Monday folks ~ I hope to read your extra-ordinary days soon ~
And I will be reading all week as the link is open for the whole week. Happy Monday ~
ladynyo said:
LOL! If this haibun was an ordinary moment in my life, I would be in deep ‘stuff’. LOL! I haven’t done any haibun ever until three weeks ago, and now I see haibun everyplace I look. I LOVE the form….too much. It is haunting and the haiku at the end is always a challenge. Now, this challenge I can get my head around. Thanks, dverse!
Grace said:
This should be a walk in the park for you then Jane ~ We have haibun every two weeks so come by and play along with us ~ Looking forward to your share ~
ladynyo said:
Thank you, Grace. I am loving this haibun thing. What a wonderful combination…prose and haiku!
petrujviljoen said:
I’d like to clock in with a link, following up with the Walt Whitman free online course quoted on here some time ago, which I then never did because I was too much a coward. The new course introduced is fiction though but there are many fiction writers in this group who may be interested?
https://novoed.com/how-writers-write-fiction-2016
I had quite a day dealing with animals and people and the consequences to the animals and may do a haibun about it. It would have to be later. I. am. exhausted!
Grace said:
Thanks for the link Petru ~ Yes, I checked that they are offering another course ~
Bodhirose said:
Good afternoon Haibun lovers! I’m not sure how “extra” ordinary my experience was but it pleased me very much. Thanks for the prompt, Grace.
Grace said:
I will be right over to read Gayle ~ I think its tricky to put the “extra” in the ordinary day ~
sarahsouthwest said:
Hello, Grace! Thanks for the lovely prompt. I really enjoyed reflecting on my day, it brought up some powerful stuff for me, and also reminded me how very lucky I am to be alive in this wonderful world. Sorry if that sounds a bit cheesy, but there you go. This is a pub, after all…I’m allowed to wallow in sentimentality here!
Grace said:
Not cheesy at all and I understand ~ Having aging parents make me realize that my ordinary day is not even close to theirs ~ We are really blessed to have these “ordinary days” ~
sarahsouthwest said:
Grace – I just did a very enthusiastic comment on your beautiful haibun and amazingly wonderful haiku and it’s still coming out as a comment from my babysitter, and I don’t know how to stop it doing that! it’s so frustrating. So I haven’t commented on your blog, I’m commenting here, because the last line of your haiku has me awestruck.
Brian said:
Sarah, I sign in with my google account at Grace’s blog and all other Blogger blogs. For some reason the openid doesn’t work most of the time.
Grace said:
Thanks Brian for the input ~ For the WP bloggers, having another account helps in commenting ~
Grace said:
Thanks for the feedback Sarah ~ I appreciate it as I am aware of the challenges of WP poets commenting on Bloggers ~ I suggest a google ID or coming up with a Blogger ID like what Brian is suggesting ~ Thanks for your support of our community ~
Sanaa Rizvi (@rizvi_sanaa) said:
Hello everyone,
I LOVED this prompt ❤ as I find each day to be rather out of the ordinary being re-acquainted with the beauty of nature 😀 sharing my poem 'Stroll in the Woods' hope you all like it.
Thank you Grace for the wonderful opportunity 🙂 this one's for you ❤
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Grace said:
Hi Sanaa ~ I will be right over to read and thanks for your support of our weekly prompts ~
Maureen Sudlow said:
It’s Tuesday here by now – but I enjoyed joining in…
Grace said:
This challenge is open all week – Welcome Maureen ~
Maureen Sudlow said:
Thank you
ZQ said:
Checkin’ in ❤
Grace said:
Thanks for checking in ZQ 🙂
whimsygizmo said:
I hope I’ve played appropriately. 😉 Back soon to read.
❤ de
Grace said:
Love the title and your autumn-inspired haibun De ~
paulscribbles said:
May throw my hat in the ring
Arcadia Maria said:
Hello everyone. This was an interesting prompt. Looking forward to reading.
Grace said:
Thanks for joining and see you around the poetry trail ~
kanzensakura said:
Thank you for your extraordinary prompt! I couldn’t resist. So nice to write to someone else’s prompt for a change.
Grace said:
Thanks for commenting and visiting the poems Toni ~ I appreciate the support and lovely words ~ Take care ~
Mish said:
Hi everyone…or those who may stumble in late tonight the to the pub. 🙂
Grace..thank you for reminding us all of the haibun rules and form. It is easy to veer off track and I have to say I am still challenged by the form, but that is all part of the poetic journey.
Looking forward to reading some extraordinary work!
Mish said:
Hmm..an extra “the” slipped in there. Sorry. 🙂
Grace said:
Love your photo and haibun Mish ~ That is an extra-ordinary experience 🙂
paulscribbles said:
Thanks for all the support with my first effort here.
Grace said:
You are very welcome and nice to meet you Paul ~
paulscribbles said:
I have now re written the prose to form a single paragraph. Thanks again for the input. I’ll be more mindful of the format in the future.
Grace said:
I like how creative and experimental you are with poetry forms ~ Its fun to try them, and there are lots of poetry forms to play with ~ Thanks for diving in ~
paulscribbles said:
It has been my pleasure. Thanks for the warm welcome.
whippetwisdom said:
Thank you for a beautiful prompt Grace, I look forward to reading about everyone’s extraordinary days :o)
Grace said:
Thanks for joining in ~
MarinaSofia said:
I love your additional explanations of haibun and how to do them – I think I’ve been doing them a bit wrong, as my haiku always tries to summarise or explain the prose. Looking forward to reading them!
Grace said:
Thanks Marina ~ The prose side looks easy to do but its tricky to balance it with a good haiku ~ Appreciate your visits ~
lillian said:
Oh my…..very late to the bar! Just got my haibun posted….and will get to reading now. Was in NC Thursday til late last night — enjoying my son’s family and doing all those wonderful grandmotherly things! 🙂 Looking forward to catching up!
Grace said:
Good for you Lillian ~ Happy to see you in the poetry trail ~
lillian said:
oh and now I’ve got Dale Evans “Happy Trails to You” song running through my head! 🙂
Laura Bloomsbury said:
Took me ages as the seemingly simple is always the hardest. Even so made my ordinary day a night
mother wintermoon said:
Alas, I tried but did not succeed in meeting the challenge of this deliciously mindful prompt. I love haiku and the mindfulness of this week’s Haibun Monday, but my haibun skills are seriously lacking, I’m afraid. Ended up deleted my attempts. Cheers to the next one, Grace!