Dr Brijesh Raj interviews haibun masters Paresh Tiwari and Raamesh Gowri Raghavanon the writing of haibun.

Q1 – What is YOUR definition, if I may start with a cliche, of a haibun? What boxes would an effective haibun tick for you?

Raamesh: To me a haibun is still something that came from Basho’s journal. A short self-reflective narrative, preceded or followed by a haiku. I am open to experimentation as long as it retains the semantic integrity of the form; haibun, like other haikai, is about semantics first and form later. The narrative can be descriptive prose or even verse, perhaps even abstract, but there has to be some self-reflection about it. Who you are and who you were and who you could be, the formative influences in life, and suchlike? The haiku may be replaced with a senryu or even a tanka or kyoka (I…