It took me four years of solitary writing before I found my first tribe. Surfing the web for a writers' retreat, I simply typed in the words 'Writers' + 'Retreat' + 'Place'. That last word would lead me all the way to Maine and a company of writers (many of whom had recently retired from out-of-State; many of them grandmothers) who, each in their own way, were looking to reconnect with home and a sense of belonging.
A year later, and rocked by a recent experience, I joined a women's writers' group in West London. Many of these women's families came from the caribbean islands, many were poets, all were nurturing the female experience. A year in, we went on a week-long excursion to Jamaica. While there, I came across a universal symbol, which in Ghanain is called Sankofa. Sankofa translates as "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten."
And then I understood, with all these tribes there was an element of gathering personal autobiography and of gathering in grandmother figures, sisters and paternal figures. Looking back on it now, my book echoed the same call for such beings. Even our questions echoed one another - 'how do we hold onto the old in the new? how do we hold on? Full stop.'
So, this was my tribe.
So often, we join writing groups and the experience remains impersonal. So often we rely on fluke that these strangers will meet our needs. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could approach a nest of writers and simply ask 'what's your question?' Why does this group work for you? What need in you is answered by this tribe?
With the internet and a writers' community you can do just that. You can create your niche tribes. What about you? what question are you asking? what answers are you needing? And are there other writers out there asking the same questions? seeking the same answers?
Signing Off,
(Editorial Manager)
PS the image at the top of this post isof Yaddo Writers' Community from the 1940s with some celebrated writers in attendance.
Dear Stephen,
I guess by now you have found out more haibun as this post is over a year old.
If not, I run courses in haikai literature, from haiku to haibun, and also tanka,
Alan
I write a hybrid of haiku called a haibun, which combines a brief narrative piece with one or more haiku poems. This form of poetry works for me but it is extremely hard to find anyone who even knows what this is much less practices this form of writing. I feel strongly compelled to write, but why remains a mystery to me. I always just assumed that my writing would be done alone so the idea of having a community of writers is new to me. I would love it if it happened.