We can survive weeks without food, days without water, but only minutes without air. No organic life lives without it, but how often do any of us pay any attention to it? Frank Tassone, here, host of another Haibun Monday, where we write prose and haiku together in Basho’s famous form. Today, let’s talk about breath!

Autonomic, and yet subject to our control, breath provides us with the infusion of oxygen our metabolism requires for cellular respiration. We cannot release the energy our food provides us without it. Breath provides us with release from the carbon dioxide waste of our respiration. Necessary indeed, but our breath offers us so much more: a means of mindfulness—nonjudgemental awareness.

Mira and I have meditated for years. We learned how important our breath is in developing that concentration that stills the mind. Anyone who has ever sat in meditation understands the eruption of thinking that arises the moment one begins. Whenever that tsunami of thoughts arises, I focus my awareness on my breath. Breathing in, breathing out. Recollections of that class where students did not complete in-class assignments? Breathe in, breathe out. The chatter of downstairs neighbors? Breathe in, breathe out. Memories of awakening to my mother screaming my name? Breathe in, breathe out. As the thoughts arise, I let them come, returning to the breath. As those thoughts fall, I let them go, returning to the breath. Such experience served me well when Mira and I began to sit at our local zendo, Empty Hand.

Even if you have not meditated, you have likely felt the effect of taking a deep breath. How many of us have taken one to compose ourselves while upset? Or to reinvigorate ourselves when we’re tired, or fatigued after a spurt of activity? How good does it feel to fill our chests with fresh air, and to let that air out?

Haijin have also reflected on the significance of breathing and breath:

Breath

They emphasise how important deep breathing is in times of stress. Breathe deep down into your belly. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Mid-argument I inhale—holding it, holding it. Resisting the final word.

silence
the slow swoop
of owl wings

Joanna Ashwell, Barnard Castle, United Kingdom. Courtesty of Drifting Sands, 3/30/23

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Battle Cry

I tilt my head left to right to left, then forward and back to forward. Roll it around. Shrug my shoulders down, then up, down, then up. Fingers squeeze, stretch, squeeze, stretch. Rotate wrists — bend at the knees, bend, stand and bend. Now at the waist, touch my toes, breathing in, breathing out. Shake it, shake it. Put on some jazz — the needle in the groove popping and crackling.

I settle in at my desk.

The pen is mightier . . . it’s so proclaimed. I touch the keys and set out to prove it.

Worldwide Love
on the nightly news —
new species

Richard Grahn, from Longevity: Poems in the Key of Helen (2022) Red Moon Press

A necessity of life, and a means to cultivate mindfulness: breath has it all. Today, let’s let it inspire us! Write your haibun alluding to breath, in any way you relate to it: breath itself, breathing, or just the act itself, to breathe.

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 breath, breathing, or to breathe.
• Post it on your personal site/blog.
• Include a link back to dVerse in your post.
• Copy your link onto the Mr. Linky. (Reminder: Mr. Linky will close on February 3, 2024 at 3PM!)
• 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!