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The land created me. I’m wild and lonesome. Even as I travel the cities, I’m more at home in the vacant lots.
Bob Dylan
This week I thought we would take the haibun to a contemporary haibun. It will be making a few diversion compared to the traditional haibun.
Still I would like you to write it in first person, present tense. Make the prose sparse but this time bring in the cityscape, look for the bad part of town, the lightworms of commuting cars, skylines, the beat from faraway nightclubs. Maybe in the same way as you can hear the city’s pulse in Rhapsody in blue.
Today I will allow you to write fiction if you want to, but I would like you to keep with present tense and first person, also avoid too much of a narrative. Take us through the city, give us the scents of gasoline and garbage, make us see the homeless people. Please give us prose that flows, but refrain from making your language too “flowery” as it often distracts from the expression a good haibun can have.
I know that many of you will say this is not a haibun, and you are right saying so. On the other hand we all have a poetic license to write what our soul tells us to write.
Not a tourist image of Stockholm
I will not even require you to write haiku (though a traditional haiku can work too), but I would like your brief poems to have an element of season. Please keep your prose to less than 150 words, and make sure that the short poem adds a dimension to the writing, and if you choose to add an image try to let that complement with a third dimension. The strength both in contemporary haibun and traditional is in juxtaposition.
When you are ready, add your link below visit other poets, have fun. The prompt stays open for a week so remember to come back later throughout the week.
dVerse 
Good evening… hope I don’t upset too many haibun lovers when I move a little bit outside the strictest order…
Good evening, Björn! I have tried to follow your criteria and hope I’ve succeeded . However, I couldn’t not write a haiku… I’ll be back later to read.
Ha.. It’s OK to refrain from not writing a haiku… 🙂
This is an interesting twist to the traditional haibun Bjorn ~ I will be reading in a bit ~
I feel like the rats dancing on the table.
yikes :-O
When the cat’s away the mice … I meant.
You are a rebel! It’s been a long time since I lived in a city, but if you mix me up a cosmopolitan I’ll do my best to knock something out for you! Looking forward to exploring some exciting cities tonight!
Ha.. yes a Cosmo coming up… I think as visitors we might see even more of the city though
Ooh, that makes me think of Sex and the City (the cosmopolitan request). I hope someone writes as if she’s one of the girls. 🙂
Great idea, Bjorn. I am so NOT a city girl and the one I live outside of is pretty small but surely has its seedy side. And I drove through it on the way to church yesterday, so perfect prompt for me. I think breaking the rules is fine once you know the rules and choose to play with them consciously. I wrote a Tanka but with one line having an extra syllable. Poetic license, permission accepted.
Ha… I didn’t count the syllable, and your idea worked great.
Well, I live in the city…and frankly? It’s sometimes so depressing. My ‘haibun’ (ugh….) reflects this….but it was really something I didn’t want to do. The belly of the beast thing. But! It’s a challenge nonetheless. And a good prompt to play with.
Sometimes we have to play with the bad parts… yes it’s a challenge, but often poetry gets better if we leave our comfort zone.
Hi Bjorn! Excellent prompt. I still went with traditional haibun/haiku. You can take the traditional out of the haibun but not out of the girl and years of training. I also wrote of anti-city. sorry. but the grit is long gone out of me after years of being in the country and ordering stuff from Amazon. I will be reading the haibun here now and will come back later to read the rest. Still adjusting to mama being here and taking care of her and hubby.
I love it, I try to rebel, and you rebel against the rebel… perfect. We need rebellion… (ha, and I love American Sentences).
And you do them so very well! Yes, I am an old rebel rebelling against rebellion!
Hey everyone,
Hope you guys are having an amazing day so far 🙂 sharing my poem “After Eleven” (based on true events) thank you Bjorn for the wonderful opportunity; this one’s for you.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
I loved your haibun… one of your very best… and true events make the best.
Thanks Bjorn 🙂
I was born and raised in a city and have lived most of my life in heavily urban areas. I love the energy and passion in cityscapes, the teeming masses and the hustle.
There is an energy a city has that gives it energy.. maybe it’s a beat haibun..
Hello rebel! I join you in rebelliousness by mixing elements of your prompt with a more traditional haibun formula. Rebels unite! Love this prompt, Bjorn. It really got the creativity flowing! I look forward to reading the contributions to this prompt.
The traditional element would work well too…
I decided to give this prompt a try. Now off to read other posts.
Great, I will go out to read soon..
My evening has been very busy so far. I would like to join in, but I’ve only been able to jot down a draft so far. Hopefully I’ll make it in on time. … But just to clarify, how dirty is *too* dirty?
We are open a week, so no real rush. Dirty depends… I wonder how to respond to that.
Hello all!
I will join in the rebellion. It’s in my blood. The city, not as much, but it challenged me. Will be back a little later to start on the tour of cityscapes. 🙂
look forward to your rebellion… maybe being a casual visitor you might see it better.
I’ve never actually lived in a city but I spent a lot of time enjoying the city of Boston when I lived nearby and downtown Orlando too before I-4 and Disney took over. Great prompt, Bjorn. I brought some true grit to my traditional haibun and haiku.
I think that there is poetry to find everywhere
I’m soo off to work.. will have to make my rounds later.
It may seem I didn’t encompass elements of the prompt, upon first read, since the main character of my haibun is of a different time and place. Yet, I did by referencing timeless truths about the gritty side of all cities and complex states of the human condition bridging past and present. This prompt prompted me to juxtapose traditional, past, present and contemporary by employing some universal truths about abiding states of being. Some things transcend time. I really enjoyed weaving the threads of interconnection!
as a city rat I could not pass this one up though still a challenge 🙂
I think it might help to be a city rat… look forward to read yours.
Thank you for an interesting prompt challenge Björn. I could not bring myself to write a haibun in the way you suggested so I have slightly rebelled and written prose, real speech and a short poem juxtaposing the Highland life with Kilburn in North West London. I will be doing the rounds very soon with a large mug of tea :o)
Ha.. given the topic… maybe a glass of whisky is preferred.
I shall have one later, without an umbrella :o)
I’ve had the smell of good whiskey in my nostrils since last night.
I think this prompt works very well with whisky or tequila.
I’m not allowed tequila. A whisky or two sounds attractive though.It’s been a while …
Hi Bjorn…….well after reading a number of haibuns this morning (still have more to go), I began to wonder about why everyone was writing about the “gritty” side of the city. THEN went back to your prompt. Boy did I blow this one! I obviously read quickly and missed or didn’t absorb the part about writing about the undebelly of the city. And, therefore, mine, as is so often the case…is more pollyanna. Apologies! Next time I will read the prompt more carefully!!!
Back to the haibuns!
Ha.. I do understand that, and for me, bending the rules a little is fine…
🙂
I decided to link up a second piece…had some “grit” that needed to be written…