A haibun
On a stroll with my Mama near my childhood home in Iowa City, I abruptly stopped short as some guano landed on the sidewalk directly in front of me. I was in first grade at the time, but the memory remains stuck with me.
In my mid-thirties, here in Jerusalem, a friend brought my attention to a splash of guano dripping down the back of my jacket. That second time, I hadn’t even noticed it… the creature’s determined training of several decades had definitely paid off.
flocks stick together
during wintertime training
perfect strategies
Go Dog Go Cafe’s Haibun Wednesday
- This week’s prompt is to write a haibun about an encounter with an animal.
- From Poetry.org:
- In How to Haiku, Bruce Ross writes, “If a haiku is an insight into a moment of experience, a haibun is the story or narrative of how one came to have that experience.”
Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)
Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!
[…] on an animal encounterI absolutely adore reading about your days…thank you for sharing!David [ben Alexander] – Midwest, or: Middle EastRon. – Savoring The MemoryStine Writing – Haibun WednesdayThe Bag Lady – The […]
❤
Oh no 🙈😂
🙃💛 Donna 🙃💛
Do they aim? 🤔
🎯 Marion 🎯
😁
A bird poop-bombed the top of my head the day I took my husband to meet my principal at school. It was not easy to wash it out of my hair. Yuck! I hope it came out of your jacket!
❤ Cheryl ❤ ~ it came off, but it wasn't easy!