Haibun is becoming a more popular Japanese form in English. It’s no doubt the most difficult to master and even those who have been writing haibun for years still find the practice daunting. A haibun has three parts: the title (which shouldn’t give away the story), the actual prose, and the haiku which most often caps the prose. It’s not unusual for haibun  to contain several haiku, especially if the prose is longer than two or three paragraphs.

Tightening up our writing is the icing on the cake. We want to eliminate all unnecessary words.

In August, Contemporary Haibun Online will publish a paper I wrote covering tips on how to make your haibun sing. Look for it.