Poets can do whatever they like with a poem—but readers decide what survives. However, I posit that poets need to pause before putting pen to paper—engage your brain before your pen. Using AI to spew out poems like fortune cookies is disrespectful; not only to the poets who have gone before, but also to the readers. It is much like singing your national anthem to the tune of ‘Old MacDonald had a Farm’.
Haibun—originating in Japan— is one type of prosimetrum, a literary composition that incorporates the two modes of writing, prose and verse where verse is the dominant form; in this instance, it favours haiku or senryû. Haibun is rooted in Zen aesthetics, impermanence, and nature—its ethos distinguishes it from Western prosimetric traditions, which may lean toward allegory, satire, or theological reflection.
What Happens When Western Traditions Are Imposed?
1. Allegory replaces immediacy
- Haibun’s prose is meant to be direct, experiential, and sensory, not symbolic or didactic.
- Western allegory often seeks moral or philosophical abstraction, which can flatten the haibun’s subtle emotional textures.
2. Satire disrupts tonal restraint
- Haibun favours humility, quietude, and reverence—even in humorous pieces.
- Satire, especially Western satire, tends to be sharp, ironic, and confrontational, which jars against haibun’s ethos of compassionate observation.
3. Theological reflection introduces dogma
- Classical haibun is often spiritual, but in a Zen-inflected, non-doctrinal way.
- Western theological writing may introduce assertive belief systems, which can feel antithetical to haibun’s openness and ambiguity.
Ethos vs. Appropriation
When Western writers adopt haibun but ignore its philosophical roots, they risk:
- Appropriation: using the form without honouring its cultural context.
- Misrepresentation: presenting haibun as a flexible prosimetric shell, rather than a form with ethical and aesthetic commitments.
A More Respectful Approach
Western poets can engage haibun respectfully by:
- Studying its aesthetic principles: wabi-sabi, yugen, zanshin.
- Honouring its emotional cadence: restraint, impermanence, and attentiveness.
- Letting go of Western narrative arcs, symbolic closure, or moral resolution.
General Guidelines
The prose in haibun is sparse, imagistic, and powerful in its brevity—it describes evocative sensory details in a setting. As with all East Asian poetry, the content is never in your face or shock, but subtle and respectful. It might be any length and contain more than one verse.
Regardless of whether you place your verse towards the beginning, middle, or end of the haibun, it should deepen the meaning of the piece on the whole, either by offering a startling juxtaposition or surprising twist or volta (turn), or it may include a more gentle pivot;* or simply a reflection of one of the themes in the prose, or a complimentary detail.
The range of haibun is broad and includes the autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, a short story, and travel journal. A vignette (a type of prose poetry) will work well here. Typical pose length (each):
- Traditional: Between 100–200 words.
- Contemporary minimalist: Between 40–80 words.
- Experimental/vignette based: A few lines up to about 80 words in total.
General:
- Haibun is best written in the present tense and in the 1st person POV.
- It may be titled or left untitled.
- Adhere to the basic rules governing haiku/senryû and keep it succinct.
- Avoid the incorrect assumption of the haiku/senryû having to be 5–7–5 syllables per line.
- The haibun may be extended to include several prose/verse combinations—this is especially effective when haiku and senryû are used in the same haibun to set different tones.
© Lahlamali Farm, White River, South Africa—photograph by Suzette Richards, 2017.
In my haibun, From Purgatory to Paradise,† I progressively explored the seasons and my emotional growth, as well as employing the poetic device, imagery (see, touch, taste, hear, and smell) to lend depth to the haibun.
AN EXTRACT
The summer fog has not yet lifted from the enclave. The candyfloss glow of the sun suspended above the horizon of the valley in the Jock of the Bushveld Concervancy, White River, where I have made my new home, reflects on the ghostly blue of the dam in front of my house.
early morning
dense fog blanket—
burn off reveals
Overview
The opening scene—fog, candyfloss sun, ghostly dam—sets a liminal tone. It’s neither night nor day, neither clarity nor obscurity. This is classic ma: the threshold moment.
The haiku, early morning / dense fog blanket— / burn off reveals, doesn’t just describe a meteorological shift; it enacts a metaphysical unveiling. The pause between the second and third lines is a breath of revelation. It sets the stage—a logical progression—for the next vignette: ‘One of the nesting pair of fish eagles does a low flyby. …’
What is ma?
It is the pause, the breath, the resonance between image and emotion. It’s not just emptiness; it’s charged with potential. Unlike other East Asian poetry such as tanka and sijo, in haiku, and by extension, haibun, the two phrases use images in the poem to distil the moment—it does not reveal your emotions (subjective) directly to the reader. It is subtle and respectful throughout the haibun.
Senryû
Senryû is NOT a failed haiku as it has distinct characteristics.
Senryu (meaning, river willow) is a short Japanese style poem, consisting of 17 moras (units of sound): 5-7-5 syllables or less. Senryû (singular and plural) tends to be about human foibles and observations of everyday situations. It excludes the use of kireji (cutting word) and kigo (seasonal reference); typographical marks, often present in haiku, are deliberately absent. An obvious philosophical statement would classify a haiku as a senryû, as would personification, or an allegory.
a loveliness of ladybugs tints drab sprig
good luck charms
NOTES:
- ‘a loveliness’ is the collective noun for ladybugs.
- In folkloric tales, ladybugs are seen as good luck.
How Ma Functions Here
- Temporal Ma: The poem unfolds slowly, like the ladybugs themselves. There’s no rush, no punchline—just a quiet accumulation of meaning.
- Emotional Ma: The shift from visual description to folkloric naming creates a pause in tone. It’s not a twist, but a soft pivot—an invitation to reflect.
- Cultural Ma: The invocation of ‘good luck charms’ bridges natural observation and human belief. That bridge is ma—a liminal space between worlds.
Conclusion: The Ethics of Elegance
To write haibun is to walk a tightrope between restraint and revelation. It demands not only technical finesse but also emotional discipline—a reverence for the unsaid. In a literary landscape increasingly saturated with algorithmic excess and performative shock, haibun offers a counterpoint: a whisper instead of a shout, a breath instead of a broadcast.
The poet’s responsibility, then, is twofold. First, to honour the lineage of the form—not by mimicry, but by understanding its spirit. Second, to respect the reader’s intelligence and emotional bandwidth. A haibun should not be a puzzle to decode nor a spectacle to endure, but a quiet invitation to dwell in nuance.
When AI is used to generate poetry without discernment, it risks flattening this delicate interplay. The haibun becomes a caricature, the haiku a punchline. But when AI is used in collaboration—with intention, humility, and poetic rigor—it can illuminate new pathways without trampling the old ones.
The piece From Purgatory to Paradise exemplifies this ethos. The fog, the candyfloss sun, the ghostly dam—these are not just images, but thresholds. The haiku does not explain; it reveals. And in that revelation, the reader is trusted to feel, to interpret, to resonate.
Let us continue to write with care. Let us preserve the ma—the pause, the breath, the respectful silence between lines. For in that space, poetry lives.
Happy quills!
Su
Recommended Reading
Prose Poetry versus ‘Regular’ Poetry - A Vignette’s Whisper - Suzette Richards Blog (poetrysoup.com)
Haiku - A Lesson in Humility - Suzette Richards Blog (poetrysoup.com)
*Glossary of Some Common Poetic Devices | PoetrySoup.com
†From Purgatory to Paradise (poetrysoup.com)
The Conclusion was supplied by Microsoft Copilot – 9/8/2025.
The pictures were AI-generated, unless otherwise stated (my photograph).