Bob Lucky
1) how you came to know about this journal/publisher: This is the grand-daddy of English language haiku, having weathered several of the shifts in haiku practice in English since it began publishing in 1969. Like many people, I was introduced to haiku, the old 5-7-5 pedagogical model, in elementary school. I’ve been dabbling ever since. I probably first came across Modern Haiku in my college library, and I would read it whenever I was in a library that had a copy. I currently subscribe to and am happy to say occasionally publish in the journal.
2) why this journal/publisher is "respectable" among its publishing peers: Haiku and other short-form Japanese poetry in English is a bit of the fairytale stepchild in American poetry – ignored and not given much credit. Modern Haiku may be the only haiku journal to attract mainstream attention and poets. Poets such as Billy Collins and Gary Snyder publish there, and if my memory isn’t completely shot, others such as Robert Bly and WS Merwin as well.
I think what gives this journal its “respect” is that it has managed to give voice to the different trends and movements in short form verse without losing touch with the historical consciousness of haiku’s roots. Morever, the essays published in the journal are in themselves incredible documents on the history of haiku in America.
3) what kind of poetry the journal publishes: Modern Haiku publishes haiku, senryu, haiku sequences, haibun, and haiga.
Most of the haiku/senryu examples below are traditional three-line pieces, though one-line are common, two-line occasional, and variations on that. Some haiku will often borrow a page from concrete poetry. Lee Gurga, one of the editors, publishes his haiku in a kind of cross form, the 1st and 3rd lines vertical and the 2nd or middle line horizontal.
Traditional haiku is often defined as three-line haiku with a seasonal or nature reference. Contemporary haiku may or may not have the seasonal reference, and may be three-lines or more, or less. Senryu is often seen as the satirical version of haiku and deals with human nature, its frailties and foibles. Some editors are picky about the differences. Others see humans as a part of nature and prefer not to make any distinction. Modern Haiku publishes both but leaves it up to the reader to determine what is what; in other words, they’re published in the same section.
Haibun is a combination of prose and haiku that was pioneered by Basho, the poet who more or less gave us haiku as we understand it today. This is a very evolving form in English. Some haibun read very much like prose poems. Along with a few other poets, I’ve published “haibun” that are a combination of free verse and haiku. The prose often sticks to the present tense. It’s the relationship between the prose and the haiku that seems to be the theoretical issue of the day. It pays to read the type the journal publishes.
Haiga are haiku and illustration combinations (drawings, cartoons, sumi-e, photographs, etc.). I don’t really know much at all of this genre, its history or aesthetic. I’ve never done it and most of what I see/read is too close to greeting cards for me. However, I have seen some wonderful work.
4) a selection of poems published by Modern Haiku:
The website posts selected haiku/senryu, haibun, and an essay from the current and several back issues. This is a good shortcut to what they are looking for, examplars, though many of the haibun they publish are longer than the haibun they post online. (The one I’ve published there and another forthcoming both have multiple haiku.)
all the trees bare
moonlight fills
the laundry basket
Judson Evans (41.1, Winter-Spring 2010)
all the geese at once and still the wind
John Barlow (41.1, Winter-Spring 2010)
taut strands
of the barbed wire fence . . .
so much left unsaid
Charles Trumbull (40.3, Autumn 2009)
layoffs
the blow-up santa
buoyant as ever
LeRoy Gorman (40.2, Summer 2009)
as their boat floats
out of the tunnel of love
they move apart
Cor van den Heuvel (39.3, Autumn 2008)
Silence this morning—
only the Buddha twirling
a flower in his fingers.
Billy Collins (33.3, Autumn 2002)
spring moon
I bend to touch my daughter's name
on the tombstone
Lenard D. Moore (38.1, Spring 2008)
making our bed
the way you used to insist
Christopher Hornbacker (33.2, Summer 2002)
Chainsaw dust
clay-clod stuck spade
apple blossoms and bees
Gary Snyder (32.3, Fall 2001)
-----
Reality Check
When I first took the personality test, I tested one way then,
after reflecting some more, I decided that some of those
categories tested that way as a result of my fourteen years
of having to fake it.
local cafe
full of college students
I used to know
by Carolyne Rohrig (39.1, Spring 2008)
Last Rites
“First time in twenty years he lost one,” his wife sighs. The old farmer in faded coveralls chugs past on a red tractor, his shoulders slumped. From a perch high in the front scoop, a black and white sheepdog rides along, before surrendering his seat to the motionless ewe, still heavy with her breeched lamb.
far from home —
through the twilight mist
a sheep’s bell
by Renée Owen (40.3, Autumn 2009)
5) guidelines for submission:
Submissions must be the author’s original, unpublished work. The submission should be mailed and include an SASE. The one exception is for authors living outside North America; they may make email submissions. (That exception is on the website but not in the print version of the journal.)
There is no stipulation on the number of poems an author can send. Haiku journals tend to prefer between 5 -10 haiku and/or senryu and 1 -3 haibun. For haiga, it’s best to check with editors first about technical requirements.
6) pertinent deadlines:
Modern Haiku is published in February, June and October. Deadlines for receipt of submissions for those issues is November 15, March 15, and July 15, respectively. However, you may submit material at any time.
7) contact information:
Modern Haiku
PO Box 33077
Santa Fe, NM 87594-3077
www.modernhaiku.org
Charles Trumbull, Editor (send haiku and senryu to him); trumbullc@comcast.net (for authors outside North America)
Lee Gurga, Haibun Editor and Editor
There are various assistant editors, art and book review editors, etc.
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