I'd picked up this book from the library because I'd wanted to read more tanka and haibun, and this is a collection of exclusively those styles. Here's are a couple of definitions from a site called Ray's Web:
Haibun: A haibun is a mix of prose and one or more haiku. The title, prose and haiku work together to form the spark of this form. The prose is typically succinct, almost haiku-like. The focus of the prose can be on a travel experience or a smaller, more discrete human experience. Some modern writers include fantasy, dreams, remembrances as their subjects. A related form is Tanka Prose, which is a mix of prose and one or more tanka poems (and sometimes mixed with haiku poems).
Tanka: A tanka is a short 5-line poem. Most modern English language tanka consist of 31 or fewer syllables which compares to the Japanese form of 5/7/5/7/7 Japanese sound units. Modern English language writers may or may not follow a short/long/short/long/long pattern.
Many of the pieces in Futa's book touch upon aging, past romances, death and dying, and memories. It has served the purpose of (re)inspiring me to downsize and discard those pieces of paper that do me no good, or (as some would say) "no longer serve me." So I can retain and remember what really matters.
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