Hi! This is Toni from Kanzensakura (https://kanzensakura.wordpress.com/) It has been awhile since I have done a Haibun Prompt due to being on hiatus. Wow! It is good to be back among you! I am offering a brief review of haibun today.
Today is Free For All – meaning, you can choose your subject for the haibun. However there are still some rules: The haibun must be one to three tight paragraphs (2) Ended with a haiku (containing kigo and kireji words – season and cutting words) (3) Must be true (4) Must have actually happened to you.
To inspire you, below is a post from Basho’s Oku no Hosomichi or,The Narrow Road to the Deep North. This is the first use of the haibun (hai – haiku
bun – prose). Let this be your inspiration. You will note there are two haiku in this selection. Some of the haibun in the Road are simply a travelogue with no haiku, some are simple paragraph with one haiku, and others are longer and broken with several haiku. You will also note the count as 5-7-5 and the use of season words in the haiku – making them classic haiku and not the lean or modern style. Please use the classic form for this instead of the lean or modern format. The haibun follows:
“The Pine of Takekuma is truly an amazing sight. The trunk forks into two just above the ground, confirming that this is just how the old tree must have looked. I thought immediately of the priest Nōin. Long ago, a nobleman, newly appointed to serve as Governor of Mutsu, had felled the tree and used the wood as pilings for a bridge over the Natori River. Nōin wrote in a poem, ‘No trace is left now of the pine’. I was told that, generation after generation, the pine had been felled, yet a new one replanted. After perhaps a thousand years, the present pine is still quite perfect in shape.
When I had started my journey, Kyohaku had given me a poem as a farewell present:
late cherry blossoms …
let my master see the pine
at Takekuma
I now wrote in reply:
since the cherries bloomed
I’ve longed to see the twin pine …
three long months have passed”
As a further comment on this, years ago I took a trip to Japan (along with several other trips) which was to follow the route of Basho’s trip. I can assure you, the pine at Takekuma is still there.
If you are new to dVerse – let us know in the comments below and Welcome! And:
Post your haibun to your blog and:
– Add a link (direct URL address) of your poem via the ‘Mr Linky’ below
– Add the link for the dVerse posting so others can find their way here
– Read and comment on other people’s work to let them know it’s being read
– Share via your favorite social media platforms
Most importantly, have fun!
dVerse 
Hello everyone! Welcome to Haibun Monday where the subject is “Free for all”
Happy haibun Monday, Toni! So nice to see you here hosting again! I’m afraid I went over the syllables for a classic haiku 😦 My first line is the name of a flower and there really isn’t any way to shorten it….forgiveness is asked.
Excited to join the haibun trail today and read what folks post! Raining here in Boston — and I’ve just come in soaked to the bone so something warm from the bar would be most appreciated!
Okey dokey – how’s about a nice hot cup of Mexican Cocoa? And it’s okay about the extra syllable. You are forgiven! 🙂
That sounds delicious! Thank you ma’am 🙂
PS: I am catching up reading last week’s minute poems while also on the haibun trail. I’ll be jumping back and forth….fortified by my Mexican cocoa!
Hope you enjoy it. Cinnamon and cardamom and dark rum. for kids, leave out the rum. I love the Mexican spices in chocolate.
It is cooler down South today – 98 F in Richmond heat index of 105. So!
Yikes! We have an even 90 in Orlando with our daily storm rolling in.
You guys have it lucky. We have storms rolling in late tonight.
Our storms are daily in the summer. We have maybe 5 days since June 1st without a drop of rain. sigh
I hate to say it, but I don’t like rain in the summer, as much as we need it. I prefer a nice cold rainy winter.
I understand. Our winters are dry and warm, so I tolerate 🙂
It is so good to have our Haibun Master behind the bar. I’ll have that warm drink that Lill is having. Perhaps a coffee and if you accidently tip a bit of Jameson in it, no harm. I have linked up, will drink up, read a few and then be back in a bit. Cheers, Y’all!
Good to see you Jilly! Just to let you know, I’ll be catching up with minute poem reading today, as well as being on the haibun trail….have no idea where the time goes!
I think time gets away from us like water…
I hear you! I skipped the Minute Poem night entirely and once school starts my goal is once or twice each week at best.
I skipped the Minute form as well. I am having a bit of trouble with concentration so…
Hi Jilly! Actually, the cocoa is divine – cinnamon and cardamom added along with some dark rum. Will that do you?
dVine!
🙂
AIt is good to be back after such a stretch away. Getting back in the saddle again.
Nice to have a wide-open prompt for the haibun. I’m glad you are back at the helm. Not able to read till later but, “I shall return.”
Bless your sweet heart. Thank you for all of your help. It is great to see you and whenever you return will be fine.
Bar’s open! Good thing, ’cause the rain is ’bout to drive me nuts! Hot cocoa, dark, with Ancho Reyes liquor and a sprig of mint.
cpming right up!
Thanks for hosting, Toni! I’ve linked a haibun about flowers, cats and birds.
Wow! My top three favorite things!
Hello Toni. Glad you are back. My prayers to you. Mines about the pines, and the summer sun, though I didn’t quite say so.
Thank you so much for your prayers. They are most appreciated. I love pines – all the different types of them. And the fragrance of them are enough.
I agree! Couldnt quite fit that in, though.
Happy Haibun Monday, everyone! It’s lovely to see you back on the Haibun Master’s bar stool, Toni.
I’ve just got back from choir practice on a warm but rainy evening and it’s already getting dark between 8.30 and 9.00 here. I’m looking forward to reading the the free-for-all haibun – no theme means surprises!
Yes it does! I like surprises! It is good to be back on the Haibun Apprentice’s bar stool….I’m still learning!
Well folks, I have a little bit of an emergency and must leave but I will be back later to continue reading and commenting…meantime – DRINKS ARE ON ME!!!!
Well, this threw me a bit. I had no idea what to write about at first, but actually, in the end there was one thing I had to write about! Hope your emergency isn’t too difficult. I’m having a gin and tonic and pretending it’s not really Monday!
I am back now. My emergency has been quelled. So glad you are enjoying a nice gin and tonic. And no, it is not Monday!
I am back now. I have read through the varied haibun. so many surprises in these. The haiku at the end are outstanding. I think I may have to do another Free For All before the year’s end. It is great what you all come up with to write about.
Greetings! I was late last week (3 hours) for the window poem, which I had written as a haibun. I have shared it today. I hope that’s okay. It was an important piece for me (emotionally) so I wanted to share. Thanks. And I can’t wait to read everyone’s haibun.
Well, the subject is free for all so there you go. also, if you “miss” a prompt, every other week during the Haibun Monday prompt, Thursdays are Open Link (meaning any prompt you wish to link) is fine. I look forward to reading this. thanks for letting me know. Since it was several weeks ago and apparently the prompt did not close as scheduled, you may want to re-link this for this coming OLN so that more people will read and appreciate. Just let folks know what you are doing and why.
Always looking forward to the haibun.
As a “heads up” this Monday is: What I did on my summer vacation” The prompt in its entirety will be up Moday at 3:00 pm EST