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Ray Rasmussen, Encore Editor

Encore

Classic Articles about Haibun and Tanka Prose

Wikipedia free use image, photographer unknown.

Welcome to cho’s Encore selections

The articles selected represent what I view as some of the best writing about haibun and tanka prose. They represent diverse, personal viewpoints about the craft of English-language haibun and its history, aka our “critical” literature. They are offered less as prescriptive dictates and more as food-for-thought, useful for guiding your personal practice and for deepening your understanding of both haibun and tanka prose. Some readers may agree with the authors’ viewpoints, others may find they run counter to their own thinking about our two genres. That’s to be expected given that both genres are relatively quite new in the English-language world of poetry.

Our selections in order of their appearance in cho:

“Some Personal Ideas about Writing Haibun” by David Cobb

Cobb, a master of English-language haibun, raises a number of key issues in composing haibun and tanka prose, and also addresses some “haibun myths.”

“What Haibun Poets Can Learn from Non-haikai Western Poetry Practices” by J. Zimmerman

Zimmerman points out that other English-language genres— short stories, memoirs, personal essays, etc.—employ useful composition practices that can enhance the quality of our haibun and tanka prose.

“More than the Sum of Its Parts: Explorations in Contemporary English-language Haibun” by Rich Youmans

Youmans offers a brief review of the history of haibun and tanka prose and addresses a central issue: the relationship of the poem (haiku or tanka) to the prose.

Why Encore?

We’re returning to the stage “classic” English-language haibun and tanka prose articles, all previously published, for a repeat performance.

Over the last two decades, since the beginning of the big surge in haibun’s and tanka prose’s growth, a number of online journals, print magazines, and books that carry articles have disappeared—no longer be found on the Internet, purchased, or located in libraries.

During the same two decades, the number of writers and readers of haibun has dramatically increased. I estimate that of writers appearing in today’s cho, about 50% weren’t writing a decade ago, and about 90% weren’t writing two decades ago.

So it’s likely that many of you, particularly those new to these genres, have never seen articles that can help you grow in your writing and appreciation of haibun and tanka prose. We believe that these articles, our critical literature, are useful to writers and editors alike in shaping our writing and informing our understanding of what English-language haibun and tanka prose are—how they differ from similar genres like memoirs, personal essays, and short fiction, as well as from their ancestors in the Japanese literature.

Our aim in Encore is to bring what our editors consider to be the best of these lost or difficult-to-find articles back on stage for another performance.

To suggest future Encore articles, contact Ray here.

Ray Rasmussen, Encore Editor