Not just a poetry collection. A writing practice. A poetic invitation. A bridge you build yourself.

The Haikuntrapuntal Bridge by Asyl Ospan pairs original poems with carefully crafted writing prompts that invite the reader to move beyond passive reading and into active creation. Every poem opens a space—and every prompt asks you to step inside it.

The collection centers around the haikuntrapuntal, a hybrid poetic form that interweaves two haiku (5-7-5) from different perspectives. Each poem enacts a conversation between opposing, dissonant, or misunderstood voices. When the haiku are read line-by-line together, a third voice emerges—revealing tension, kinship, resistance, and recognition.

The prompts embedded in this chapbook are not add-ons—they are central to the work. They ask you to:

• Write your own bridges between perspectives

• Explore contradiction without collapsing it

• Speak across time, identity, silence, or language

• Reflect on what cannot be simplified, but must still be expressed

This is a poetic workbook for anyone living in tension—between cultures, selves, or expectations. A toolkit for the fragmented. A method for listening through form.

Proceeds from this book will help the author, a young Kazakh writer, fund her college education.