‘Summer Haibun’
— Hannah Cohen
You were born
on a day of peaches splitting from so much rain
With the concise harmony of a haiku and the heightened elevation of a prose poem, the haibun is a poetic form suited for an exploration of narrative and emotion, one that blurs the edges of dream and the present. Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s new poem is tender and vibrant in its own flesh—with its tantalizing array of peaches and bread, items juxtaposed with “fresh tar and asphalt”. The playfulness of light and shine is also admirable. We can see the “pale mica flecks”, meteors, stars in our eyes. More like a companion rather than an ending, the haiku mirrors every sensation:
the cool night before
star showers: so sticky so
warm so full of light
As August eases into the uncertainty of autumn, ‘Summer Haibun’ is a poem to revisit and remain in even after the summer sun sets.