I took a chance, auditioned as a model, and there I was—part of Magritte’s gang. Anonymous, impeccable, in my overcoat and bowler. It wasn’t an easy gig. He wouldn’t give me any direction. Was I a raindrop falling from clear blue sky or a suit fed up with office politics? I considered my options—puddling on concrete or floating away over red-tiled roofs. I decided to play it straight. No way out but a hard landing.

dawn breaking the dream’s spell

—After the painting Golconda (1953) by René Magritte

Harriot West

After many years of teaching ESL at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Harriot West began writing poetry as an antidote to academic writing. Her primary interest is haibun, and she is the author of two award-winning collections, Into the Light (Mountains and River Press, 2014) and Shades of Absence (Red Moon Press, 2018).

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Things I’ll Never Tell You, haibun by Harriot West which was nominated by MacQ for the Red Moon Anthologies, and selected for publication in Contemporary Haibun 17 (Red Moon Press, 2022).

⚡ West’s ekphrastic haibun story Picking Sunflowers for Van Gogh first appeared in KYSO Flash online and is reprinted in our 2016 anthology, State of the Art. And we were thrilled when this charming piece was selected as one of 55 winners for reprinting in The Best Small Fictions 2017 anthology, guest edited by Amy Hempel.

⚡ Featured Writer: Harriot West in Contemporary Haibun Online (Volume 11, Number 1, April 2015); includes “a brief bit of advice” (86 words, in fact) from West on writing haibun, as well as her haibun “A Brief Analysis of Contemporary Society As Seen Through My Eyes”

⚡ Until One Day I Said Enough: Harriot West on Haibun, an interview by Jeffrey Woodward in Haibun Today (Volume 9, Number 1, March 2015)