Japanese poet Matsuo Bash-o usually wrote haiku. But sometimes he experimented with haibun, a form that combines observational prose blocks with haiku's three lines. "Cooling off by the river at Shijo ...

A few weeks ago, during the peak of a heat wave, I took my kids to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park. Despite the weather, we had a great time, and I decided to capture one of the moments in a haibun.

Japanese poet Matsuo Bash-o usually wrote haiku. But sometimes he experimented with haibun, a form that combines observational prose blocks with haiku’s three lines. “Cooling off by the river at Shijo ...