Poor child trapped on trips
without end across the ghost
land of life and death
***The Ogbanje is a spirit child – also known as Abiku
Haiku – Ogbanje I
Poor child trapped on trips
without end across the ghost
land of life and death
***The Ogbanje is a spirit child – also known as Abiku
Reflections 
Wow, Noel. Well done. Your haiku cut deep & pack a punch.
LikeLike
Thanks, Susan! Am still struggling to learn this art form!
LikeLike
You are doing quite well with it! Hope you continue to use it. You can also chain a few haiku together down a page if you have a little more to say than one set of 17 syllables gives you.
LikeLike
nice…it gave a bit of a shiver to think on…brevity is not my strong point…smiles….
LikeLike
Thanks, Brian. Glad the poem spoke to you!
LikeLike
very well done…you packed a lot into these few lines..
LikeLike
Thanks, Claudia. You may also want to read my Ogbanje III. Googling Abiku would also be very rewarding!
LikeLike
I like the haiku…and nice to meet you Noel ~ your piece with Susan was amazing ~
LikeLike
Many thanks, Heaven, for your kind comments. You may also want to read Ogbanje III on this blog!.
LikeLike
This is very moving – we all feel like such ghost children at times. k.
LikeLike
Ogbanje is the product of social conditions. As I show in Ogbanje III, those conditions are fast disappearing!
LikeLike
so haunting, this. an element of the tragic that i haven’t seen much of in haiku. nice write.
LikeLike
Thanks, Joana. The life of Ogbanje is a painful one for both child and parents!
LikeLike
Have you accessed the genetic origins haiku?
There also a nutritional underpinning of the phenomenon.
Then the cultural and socioeconomic value to the belief systems which puts breakfast on the table for the exorcist..
LikeLike
No! What is the origin? It is poetry of Japanese influence with tight structure of syllables usually 3-5-3, or 5-7-5
LikeLike