Senbun is a haikai genre that blends prose with senryu, focusing on human nature and society, often in a satirical tone. It can be seen as a playful, critical counterpart to haibun.
For example, the following extremely short senbun responds to the 2026 State of the Union—the longest in history, lasting 1 hour and 48 minutes:
Trump Empire, Inc, LXXVIII
The Gilded Drone
Castro-length blah, blah, blah …
state of the union
the air grows thick as my heart
races slow
This senbun demonstrates a thematically effective “triple-threat” structure:
1. Title: Intellectual/Historical framing
The Gilded Drone evokes historical irony, recalling the corruption and excess of the Gilded Age, while simultaneously hinting at the monotonous drone of the speech itself.
2. Prose: Casual/Dismissive satire
The four-word prose, “Castro-length blah, blah, blah …”, uses sharp historical hyperbole to deflate the event’s self-importance, employing casual, modern irreverence to comedic effect.
3. Senryu: Visceral/Internal physicality
The senryu captures a sense of “stagnant panic,” with the oxymoronic phrase “races slow” conveying a heart struggling under a suffocatingly dull atmosphere.
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