“Hope,” A #Haibun

Posted on June 30, 2017 by

33 Comments

062517_1904_ColleensWee9.png

Welcome to my contribution to my Weekly #Poetry Challenge, where you can write your own Haiku, Tanka, or Haibun using the prompt words of “mirror and harbor.”

I have decided to write my poetry using the prompt words from my weekly challenge about the Harlem Renaissance since I am a judge in Yecheilyah’s First Poetry Contest. It’s been fun dedicating my poetry to an era that ushered in some of the greatest American poets of our time.

Langston Hughes features prominently in Yecheilayh’s soon to be released book, Renaissance: The Nora White Story. Click HERE to read more about the poets and writers of the Harlem Renaissance and HERE to enter the contest.

Here is an example of a Langston Hughes, poem:

Dreams

By Langston Hughes, 1902 – 1967

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Frozen with snow.

Poets.org

Image credit: Pinsdaddy.com

I stared into the murky depths of the Harlem River. The breeze blew brisk, and I sniffed the salt in the air. The tide was out, and my reflection wavered on the shallow surface of the harbor emulating my thoughts. Had I made the right decision to leave my home and journey to New York? My only companion, a long-legged loon, stalked his way through the shells and rocks as he poked his beak into the sand. In one swift movement, he had retrieved his lunch, a mussel dangling from his beak. The bird met my staring eyes. The answers to my question were crystal clear. Seek, and ye shall find.

Change is in the air –
fleeing to find our fortunes
our folk stays behind.
Hope is the harbor that binds
and mirrors our Renaissance.

© 2017 Colleen M. Chesebro



Image credit: PCmode.org 1920’s Harlem women


Image credit: Khanacademy.org (The 19th Amendment) 1920’s Musicians

Remember, the best poetry has layers of meaning.


Image credit: wordcandy.me

Write about what others are not talking about… silence speaks volumes.

Category: Tanka Tuesday Poetry ChallengesTags: , , , , , , ,

33 Comments on ““Hope,” A #Haibun”

  1. This is so simple in its telling yet so deeply relevant in its meaning. In fact it spoke volumes to me in regards the situation that I find myself in. Thank you. 💜

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I had to close my eyes and become the woman in this one. Sometimes I use my empathic tendencies to feel the person’s emotions. You know it was liberating to write about someone in history like that. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. Pingback: Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge # 40 – SUGAR & SPICE – Colleen Chesebro ~ Fairy Whisperer

  14. I really like your haibun Colleen. The Harlem Renaissance has always been an era I meant to dig into. So much creativity came from it. Nice work:)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. Pingback: Colleen’s Weekly #Poetry Challenge 41 – #Haiku #Tanka #Haibun: MUSIC & ART – Colleen Chesebro ~ Fairy Whisperer

    • Thank you. I love the way his prose flowed. It was the non-capitalization that I really loved. He was a rebel in the world of poetry. I loved that era. My grandparents were married in 1920. You should see their wedding photo. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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Colleen M. Chesebro: Prose-Metrist, Novelist, & Word Witch
Colleen M. Chesebro

Colleen M. Chesebro

Colleen M. Chesebro is an American Poet who loves crafting paranormal fantasy and magical realism, cross-genre flash fiction, syllabic poetry, and creative nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, gogyohka, tanka prose, renga, solo-renga, haibun, cinquain, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry. Colleen's syllabic poetry has appeared in the Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, and in “Hedgerow, a journal of small poems.” She’s won numerous awards from participating in the Carrot Ranch Rodeo, a yearly flash fiction contest sponsored by carrotranch.com. In 2020, she won first place in the Carrot Ranch Folk Tale or Fable category, with her story called “Why Wolf Howls at the Moon.” Colleen is a Sister of the Fey, where she pursues a pagan path through her writing. When she is not writing, she is reading. She also loves gardening and crocheting old-fashioned doilies into works of art.

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