Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille March 9th 2016

Basho (1644-1694)

Dear friends of MLMM,

I am so glad that I could find time to create another episode of Heeding Haiku With … for you all. As you all (maybe) know I am a busy guy, next to my job as an oncology-nurse I am the owner and host of several other weblogs and I have my own publishing company, but creating weblogs as e.g. Heeding Haiku With … is really my biggest time consuming activity and I do regret that I sometimes have to little time, but not this week …

Last week we had haiku, so this week it’s all about haibun, that wonderful creative way to link prose and poetry together. This week I love to challenge you with a slightly different task using a quote for your inspiration to write a haibun.

One of the world renowned haiku poets, one of the four greatest, or even the greatest, haiku poets is Matsuo Basho (1644-1694). I think you all have at least read one haiku by him e.g. the following:

furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto

an ancient pond
a frog jumps in
the splash of water

© Basho

But for this episode I have a wonderful quote by Basho to inspire you to write a haibun. Here is your source for inspiration, a quote by Basho:

[…] “The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.” […] Matsuo Basho

To make this challenge a bit more challenging I have a few “rules” for your haibun:

+ A maximum of 250 words (including the haiku)
+ Try to use a “kigo” (or seasonword) in the haiku of your haibun
+ Your haiku doesn’t need to follow the classical 5-7-5 syllables count, I even would challenge you to create a haiku with 3-5-3 or even lesser syllables

Well …. it’s up to you now. Have fun!