Haibun Poems | Haibun Examples

Now, we all know there is a past, but what we tend to overlook is it can only be observed from the present, or in hindsight The same goes for the future It can only be imagined or extrapolated from the present with a bit of foresight of course Which leads to a curious question, Is the present where everything begins? Sounds...

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MY FATHER'S HANDS I remember my father’s hands as a plumber’s hands—fiercely strong, calloused, rough, knuckle-battered, and dirty after a long-day’s work. Those hands shoveled; unclogged drains and toilets; repaired leaks; and installed pipes, commodes, and bathtubs. Those hands provided. I remember my father’s hands as a fisherman’s hands—perfectly patient, tenacious, self-confident, and unwavering as he...

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WHISPERS OF STILLNESS Almost sunset. I sit on the riverbank letting the water dribble over my toes and massaging my soles against the pebbles underfoot. I listen to the water trickling along and to the insects droning. Above me is a river of blue, the sky born of bluest petals, as if it were once a...

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TINY PERFECTION The hummingbird arrives, circling around my head. Its visit is a rare treat, a moment to savor when it graces my garden. Do I believe as some do that the hummingbird is a messenger from a deceased loved one, a comforting sign that a loved one is near, watching over me, and sending...

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I open Mother's sewing basket, letting my eyes and hands run over the tools she had used—the scissors, the darning egg, the pinking shears, the pins, the tattered, tomato-shaped pincushion, and spools of thread. I gaze at the metal spool-shaped bobbins remembering how, as a small child, I flushed them down the toilet creating...

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tactical rainbows a fresco to p a i n t red berets, blue berets rainbows are tactic F R E E Madiba and Fidel play chess upstairs glass goblets t ink LING then...

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I didn't fill out any paperwork. There was no memo, no consent form. Just a nameless morning when the mirror refused to acknowledge anything above my collarbone. After that, people entered me carrying grief in cardboard boxes. Pressed buttons for floors that didn't exist. A man from 4D requested the roof, as if it were still an option. On Thursday,...

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Together, my parents faced two world wars, the great depression, floods, fires, and some things that would bring most people to their knees. Imagine just where I would be if they had just decided that things were too rough and chucked in the towel. At the time, I didn’t think they had a lot to...

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Soudah and Dutchman Soudah, a Malaysian slave lived in Cape Town’s slave lodge, her knee bone damaged after decades of scrubbing floors. She escaped northwards, hearing of a bone surgeon in Mpumalanga. “Will you dance with me ?”, were the first words tumbling from his Dutch lips. He did not see her broken identity,...

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In times of impending demise, you might see your life being replayed across your mind. Sometimes it’s in fast forward, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes both at once. Life flashes in random order, constantly cycling in and out like an out of control tilt-a-whirl at the county fair. You’d think that with all those moments...

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It was a somber cloudy day, sadness weighed heavy on us all. The family gathered to pay final respects. Gregorian chant filled the air as we looked up to heaven. We were burying a good man. He had been a role model, a loving husband and a caring father. the finality painfully sinking in goodbyes surreal Submitted on May...

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When he was young. I thought he was old. It never occurred to me that I might be wrong. That old wouldn’t show up for years and years, decades even. He wasn’t tall like my grandfather. But he wasn’t short either. He had a habit of biting his cuticles that I inherited and would be...

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Been raining all week. This morning started off with a bit of sun and it got me reminiscing. About my youth. About you. Next month marks one year since your passing. We spent the last seven months of your life visiting, chatting after a thirty plus year estrangement. As time passes rough edges begin to...

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Once upon a time, or a few times per day, we ponder just how many ways in which we must die. There are forewarnings. Let's consider the simple fairy tale - did anyone do a scientific study to check correlations of untimely death and not having read Little Red Riding Hood? Little Red skips out the...

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Back in school, it seemed time was at a standstill. In hindsight, it seemed like a hell we needed to to go through and survive as best we could so as to earn our freedom. Back then, I wish someone had showed me a jar of marbles ~ one marble for every year of my life. Let's...

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