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***Announcement***
REMINDER! Two chances to join OLN LIVE this month! Thursday, June 22 from 3 to 4 PM EST AND Saturday, June 24 from 10 to 11 AM EST.

You may still link one poem as usual for OLN (Open Link Night) even if you do not attend a live session.

Good afternoon, poets! Happy Junteenth! & welcome to another Haibun Monday, where we craft that unique hybrid of poetic prose and haiku. Today, let’s celebrate Liberation!

Today in the United States, we celebrate a federal holiday that originated as a Texas State one: Juneteenth, a unique contraction of June 19th. Originating in the last days of the US Civil War, it is a holiday that celebrates freedom and commemorates liberation:

Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as “Juneteenth,” by the newly freed people in Texas.

Liberation, then, is the process of delivering freedom. Such liberation is often long overdue, and in many tragic cases, not even close to being accomplished. While often understood as the achievement of political or economic freedom, liberation is not limited to only these. Recovering addicts understand liberation. The spiritually desolate or meaning-deprived also understand liberation. Anyone that has yearned for freedom, and those that achieve it, understand liberation.

Consider what some Haijin have to say on the subject:

There have been some 1.2 million prisoners sent to Siberia and, many of them marched ill-clothed on foot to their graves. Whatever permafrost hasn’t touched remains fighting for breath for life a reason to survive this extreme environment. It’s a nomadic climb into these Ural Mountains to keep the heart beating to suck in the stagnated air that plateaus and fight on through its raging blizzards, looking on up at its slate-grey skies like a gravestone overhead waiting for some stonemasonry carving of another lost soul, other nomads name.

what escapes the wind
in these Siberian depths
just one woman’s smile

Mark Heathcote

Vratham: The Fast

Twice a month, grandmother refused to join us for meals, proclaiming it was ekadashi vratham, and the family just accepted it. We, as kids, would happily gobble up the many dishes she had cooked for us. I wondered what type of god demanded such sacrifices. But those thoughts vanished as fast as they appeared! We grew up with constant talk of which vegetable would be best when breaking a fast, and which lentil or pulse would be soft on the stomach walls. As a child, I presumed all grandmothers observed this fast.

I’ve been a mother now for decades . . . habits and belief systems change with each generation. The ekadashi fast, now being relegated to the past, is one of those stories I’ll tell my grandchildren.

on twilight’s edge
wanting so much to stay
the wind
teasing memories
from sepia leaves

          walking down
          a mountain path
          I listen …
                    the waterfall
          lends rhythm to the wind

Note: In India, amongst the Hindus, it is believed that a person who observes Ekadashi vratham, will be freed from their karmas and they will attain moksham (liberation from the cycle of birth and death). It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Kala Ramesh

Today, let’s celebrate liberation! Write a haibun that alludes to liberation, any way you conceive of it.

New to haibun? The form consists of one to a few paragraphs of prose—usually written in the present tense—that evoke an experience and are often non-fictional/autobiographical. They may be preceded or followed by one or more haiku—nature-based, using a seasonal image—that complement without directly repeating what the prose stated.

New to dVerse? Here is what you do:

  • Write a haibun that alludes to liberation.
  • Post it on your personal site/blog.
  • Include a link back to dVerse in your post.
  • Copy your link onto the Mr. Linky.
  • Remember to click the small checkbox about data protection.
  • Read and comment on some of your fellow poets’ work.
  • Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.
  • Have fun!