The Japanese haibun began as a form of travel diary in the seventeenth century and is usually credited to Matsuo Bashō, although other writers created versions of the form, as well. Haibun pairs haiku with prose in varying combinations, and in the last few decades, English-language haibun have taken many different formal approaches and expanded the subject matter well beyond travel. Writers not necessarily aligned with the English-language haiku community, such as Mark Nowak and Ocean Vuong, are becoming more interested in haibun, and creative writing classes are including the form in their curriculum.

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The increase in haibun’s popularity makes the publication of Haibun: A Writer’s Guide perfectly timed, and the accessible, useful material makes it an excellent resource for teaching and writing haibun.

The book’s three authors are established leaders in the contemporary use of this form, and their experience is a large reason why the book is so successful. At various points in their careers, they each served as the haibun editor for an important journal: Roberta Beary at Modern Haiku, Lew Watts at Frogpond (the Haiku Society of America’s journal), Rich Youmans at Contemporary Haibun Online. Furthermore, all three are award-winning poets with decades of experience. They address the reader in a unified voice as fellow poets and mentors while also imparting information from their editorial roles, sharing where submissions typically go wrong and where they go right. Their personal examples and explanations add to the sense that one is taking a writing workshop from three accomplished writers who, while bringing their own individual approaches to the form, also speak in unison about the basic principles that make a haibun work.

The information in the book is very accessible, presented in ways designed to reach readers with different learning styles. There are descriptions, explanations, lists, plenty of examples by skilled haibun writers, and visuals such as diagrams and tables. One particularly effective section is the four-spark reading framework with accompanying diagrams that guides readers through the title, the prose, and then the haiku as it shifts away from the prose. The spark of interest and potential insight created at the haibun’s conclusion then impacts the re-reading of title and prose, creating new sparks in the relationships between haiku and title, haiku and prose, and prose and title. The book also comes with a section of writing exercises and a section of resources to help readers apply what they learn in the book and pursue additional examples of contemporary haibun. Finally, the material is well-organized, moving readers from an overview of contemporary haibun, through haibun’s history, into reading and understanding haibun, and then on to writing haibun. Cross-referencing between chapters helps readers drop back to review information or skip ahead if they want to see more fully developed discussions of particular concepts later in the book.

As with all “how-to” guides, there are risks with such a project. Move too quickly and beginning writers get lost. Approaching things too simply hazards talking down to experienced poets who will soon lose interest. The authors certainly provide very basic information not relevant to advanced writers including how to write haiku, how to employ various forms of figurative language in the prose sections, and how to select topics for haibun. The basic information, however, is necessary for preparing newer writers to understand the haibun form and to avoid pitfalls when writing haibun for the first time. Additionally, the cross-referencing allows seasoned poets to jump ahead to what most interests them, and the range of outstanding haibun presented as examples will inspire them by stretching their understanding of the contemporary haibun form. In writing a “how-to” text that reaches different levels of writers, the authors provide a resource for educators and poets. This book can be taught in beginning or advanced writing workshops outside of educational institutions, in high school classrooms, and in undergraduate and graduate level creative writing classes. It’s also an excellent tool for individuals interested in trying a new form or in honing their skills at a form they already write. Haibun: A Writer’s Guide is a valuable resource that is long overdue.

Ce Rosenow

is a writer, haiku poet and scholar, and educator who resides in Oregon. Her articles, essays, book reviews, and haiku and related forms are published widely in journals and anthologies in the USA and abroad. She is the author most recently of Lenard D. Moore and African American Haiku: Merging Traditions (Lexington Books, 2022).

She is co-author with Maurice Hamington of Care Ethics and Poetry (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2019), which addresses the relationship between poetry and feminist care ethics; one of four authors in The Color of Water edited by Carolyn Hall (Two Autumns Press, 2013); and one of eight authors in Beyond Within: A Collection of Rengay edited by Cherie Hunter Day (Sundog Press, 1997). Rosenow co-edited with Bob Arnold The Next One Thousand Years: The Selected Poems of Cid Corman (Longhouse Publishers, 2008).

The former president of the Haiku Society of America, Rosenow is Senior Editor for The Haiku Foundation’s JUXTA journal, Juxtapositions: Research and Scholarship in Haiku. She is also the former co-editor of Northwest Literary Forum and Portlandia Review of Books.

Author’s ePortfolio: https://rosenowce.wordpress.com/