Clothes To Go Out In
is a collection of haibun, a hybrid form combining prose with haiku. These thirty-one vignettes weave together a tapestry of Chula's life-from clothes for all occasions to a collage of memories, experiences, and emotions that have shaped her identity. Both humorous and somber, the haibun in
show us "how light and shadow are part of the same fabric, and the line between them is filled with wonder."
"These haibun, with their precise prose and startling leaps of haiku and tanka, are akin to colorful garments pinned together on a clothesline-often subtly linking to one another like renga verses. A wonder-full read!"
-Penny Harter, author of
Keeping Time: Haibun for the Journey
"In
, Maggie Chula invites readers to accompany her in recollections of a life fully engaged-days of budding promise, of loss and poignancy, of mysterious dreams and random acts of kindness."
-Rich Youmans, editor of
contemporary haibun online
"Like traditional Japanese haibun, the haibun in
Clothes To Go Out
In
do their quiet work through the clear language of distilled prose combined with their attendant haiku that shape each story with a further revelation-gently, or whimsically, or with a sharp sting. Chula is a storyteller, songstress, seer."
-Joanna Rose, author of
A Small Crowd of Strangers