John Borneman

My father always enjoyed photography. He served in WW II in an Army Air Corp photo recon group based in England. After the war he kept his new family fed and clothed, in part, through the use of his photography. But, family and other interests took over, and his photography was limited to vacation pictures and family portraits.

I always enjoyed writing.

 Between high school and my graduation from college, I wrote a great deal of poetry--mostly bad poetry--and a few attempts to write short stories. 

Here is one of my first haiku written in 1977--I hope you appreciate that I am exposing my dirty laundry.

Returning tulips.
     Biology - or Magic?
Or a touch of both? 

But I dropped creative writing during the past 30 years of my adult life. Writing was something for technical reports, work memos, or grocery lists.

When my father retired a few years ago, the creative call was heard once again.  He took up his camera, and began to very successfully capture landscapes, flowers, and nature in general. 

Ironically, about the same time, I re-discovered writing and with help from some very expert people, I took up the pen... err... keyboard.

So. My point.

This web page is my attempt to interpret a popular, but still fairly obscure form of creation whose roots lie in ancient Japanese brush artwork and the poetic form of the haiku. The blend of image and poem is referred to as a haiga. Then if you link creative prose with haiku, and optionally, images, using an overall theme that mixes seriousness, beauty, and the occasional light touch of humor, and it becomes the haibun. 

If not careful, the haibun can lean toward the narcissistic. When done properly, it combines a visual image, a well chosen haiku, and the author's prose, blended in a way that gives the reader a thought, or an image, that they have never had before. And the images, haiku, and words should relate to each other, but should not mirror each other. 


They should juxtapose. Oo. There's a neat word. 

Juxtapose.

This is my first attempt at Haibun. My prose is too wordy, and my haiku need work. But my father's photography is stunning, don't you agree?  His photographs inspire me to work harder--to hold up my end of our joint venture into the haibun.

To paraphrase a cliché , if the destination is enjoyable and invokes learning, then the final destination is not the goal, but the reward. Stay tuned. More to come.

To purchase framed and matted photography such as those shown in these haibun pages contact me

Photograph copyright Charles Borneman Jr., words and poetry copyright John Borneman