Site designed by
Brian Jonopulos
Haibun
Traveling On Our Own Path
(A contemporary vision of the Japanese haibun)
In the late 17th Century a wandering poet-monk, Matsuo Bashō, took a trip into the interior of Japan. His travelogue of this trip and the four following journeys are the foundation for the currently popular poetic form—The Haibun.
The haibun is essentially descriptive prose embedded with haiku (at lease one). The prose paragraphs are in journal style and the haiku amplifies the prose. Creating an idyllic tone is crucial. The poet tries to elicit the same emotional response with words that an artist does with a painting. Brushstroke paintings, Haiga, sometimes will accompany a Japanese haibun. In the contemporary haibun, photographs, drawings, pictures or computer art can be used.
The west is in an experimental phase with the haibun, expanding boundaries of what can be done with and within the form. Buried within experimentation comes the study of established practices. In the development of a haibun additional elements the poet may want to consider are:
descriptions of actual travel, internal discovery or momentary events
terse writing
abbreviated syntax
vital, descriptive imagery
personal observations in present tense
oblique connection between prose and haiku
Haibun usually start with a prose paragraph, however the reverse haibun starts with a haiku. Linked haibun are written by more than one poet, sending the poems back and forth for additional sections.
American and British poets are reinventing the form for a new time and place, here and now. In promoting the haibun, they are writing books, teaching classes, establishing online and print journals, and sponsoring both national and international contests.
JoAn
|
Additional reading:
American Haibun and Haiga, (journal), Red Moon Press
|