The Haiku Foundation Forums

whiptail is turning double-digits, and we are celebrating with a special issue of haibun and other hybrid works!

For Issue 10, send a total of 1-2 haibun, tanka prose, or other hybrids that include single-line poems in any form a single line can take.  The only requirements are that they are under 300 words and include at least one (1) single-line poem (of any shape). They may, in addition, contain enjambed poems.

We've been asked, "What can we send for the Hybrids issue?"

Answer: anything you can think up that includes the 3 elements: body (which can be comprised of any number of things), a one-line poem, and a title. The elements should shift and not repeat information between elements.

Sure, you can send a haibun or a tanka prose...or send us something we've never seen in a hybrid! We like our hybrids like we like our short poems...wild and free... and as always, we love it when you send something you wrote for us (or for your truest self).

The only requirements are that the hybrid is under 300 words and include at least one (1) single-line poem (of any shape). They may, in addition, contain enjambed poems.

Full guidelines: https://www.whiptailjournal.com/submissions-hybrids

We look forward to reading your beautiful monsters and other creations!

Issue 7 of whiptail: journal of the single-line poem is published today. The issue is remarkable in that it is half horizontal single-line poems and half vertical / concrete poems that were submitted in response to our latest whiptail challenge! Special thanks to our cover artist Debbie Strange!

https://www.whiptailjournal.com/issue-7-shape-shifting.html#

As you read the issue, think about which three poems you would like to nominate for the Issue 7 Readers' Choice Award. Nominate your three selected poems before June 15. Any reader can vote! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdwY2xBf_umJqKXMxBVaSRbh5a_5dw7h1-7cIher6IzcYlrKw/viewform

For this issue, whiptail received 1153 poems (+art!) from 238 poets. Selections were semi-blind with each editor voting separately. 74 poems were accepted (our goal is 60). About 30% of the issue is poets making their whiptail debut! Our statistics page: https://www.whiptailjournal.com/statistics.html#

Additional news and features:

The results of our first Readers' Choice Awards!

The whiptail One Year+ Anniversary Poetry Reading was lovely! We met on Zoom to create a beautiful river of whiptail poems! The recording of our reading is uploaded for your listening and viewing pleasure along with the list of poems and poets who participated.

WE HAVE A MERCH STORE! Check it out and let us know what your favorite items are!

Stop by the Lizard Lounge to read a host of articles, including essays by Chuck Brickley and Alan Summers, and two articles on reading one-line haiku from The Haiku Foundation's New to Haiku series.

whiptail opens again September 1-10 for an unthemed issue.

Trailblazer Contest

The Trailblazer Contest is a search for haiku (including multi-ku) and tanka poetry that better their genres by pushing boundaries through the use of innovation, honing, and truth-seeking.

Send us the poems that reflect the direction of movement you would like to see in the haiku and tanka worlds. Don't just send us a poem from your pile. Accept this as a challenge to the way you approach your work and take it another step beyond! And challenge us as well!

The key is to write poems that only you can write! Show us how you experience the world.

Send 1-2 haiku and/or 1-2 tanka using the submission form that will be active June 1-30.

https://trailblazercontest.weebly.com/submissions.html

https://www.whiptailjournal.com/submissions.html#/

February issue: https://www.whiptailjournal.com/issue6-cloudbreak-feb-2023 — guest co-editor, Marcie Wessels.

Submission guidelines and submission form: https://www.whiptailjournal.com/submissions.html

whiptail publishes one-line haiku, one-line senryu, one-line tanka, poetic fragments, one-line micropoems, lyrical lines, and sequences of one-line poems. Poems may be one word in length up to a column's width, written horizontally, vertically, or as a concrete poem in any shape a line may take. Details on the whiptail site.

To be considered for the issue section headers, send your art, haiga, shahai, and vispo!

Click around the site and read the previous issues to see what we publish. We aim to respond to ALL submissions within four weeks. We'll see you there!

The first issue of Whiptail is released, and we're thrilled to share it! https://www.whiptailjournal.com/issue-1-kinetic.html

Due to the robust response of over 900 poems submitted for our first issue, Whiptail will have quarterly issues. The next open reading period will be January 1-14 and will be a themed issue focused on birds!

We have added submissions for cover art (send 5 images), which includes a special page featuring the cover artist's work. See an example of this in issue 1.

We will continue to take a variety of single-line poems, including haiku, tanka, haiga, concrete poems, found poems, and sequences. Visit https://www.whiptailjournal.com/submissions.html for full submission info, and get your bird poems ready!

Peace and poetry,

Kat & Robin



We look forward to reading your work!

Submission link and details: https://www.whiptailjournal.com/submissions.html

Reading and publication schedule:

Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis and published on the Whiptail website the following month.

Response time:

If you have not heard back within 21 days, you are free to submit your poems elsewhere. We will not send notices for declined work. Please wait 30 days before sending your next submission, whether accepted or declined. Please refrain from simultaneous submissions.

What to submit:

Individual poems - Please submit 3-5 one-line poems of any variety, including monostich haiku, senryu, one-line tanka, poetic fragments, one-line micropoems, or lyrical lines.
​
Sequences - Please submit 2 sequences of up to eight single-line poems. Sequences should have a title, should link and shift between each individual poem (or poet, if collaborating), and not have obvious repetition throughout the sequence OR TITLE. Additionally, it should travel. Feel free to submit any format of sequencing you like.
​
​Poetic images - One-line concrete poetry, and haiga, shahai, and vispo that employ a single-line poem will also be considered. Prose sentences will not. Submit 3-5.
​​
​Submissions of a mix any of the above are welcome up to 5 total.

***We will consider found poems that take on their own meaning and veer significantly from the source work. Please provide source info and screenshots or erasures of the areas where you selected your choice words.

All submitted work must be your original and previously unpublished work. This means poems that have not appeared on social media, as we want to be the first venue to present your poem to the public. Include your name as you wish it to appear in publication.

If you have any questions about the types of poems we are looking for, please see the resources at the bottom of our About page.

How to submit:

Submit your poems via the Google form using the Submit button below.

For concrete and visual poems, complete the Google form and type out each poem as one line, then email images as attachments in jpeg or png form to whiptailjournal@gmail.com. Please make sure the name and email address match on the form. All images should be formatted as a square as this will be the house style for all posts.

​For sequences, follow the same steps but type title in place of poem and email your sequence (paste into body of email for simple formatting as well as in addition to any images you may send of any special formatting).

Rights and terms:

Whiptail retains the right to publish your work on our website and social media accounts. All rights return to the author upon publication. Whiptail reserves the right to reuse work that has appeared in the journal, with proper citation, in any future print or electronic collections or anthologies. If the author wishes to later republish the work, Whiptail requests that you cite the journal as the venue of first publication.

Whiptail does not publish anything racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or the like. Don't send it.

Payment:

Whiptail is a non-paying market.

Whiptail: Journal of the Single-Line Poem opens Oct 1!

Reading and publication schedule:
Submissions are accepted and published on the Whiptail website on a rolling basis.

Response time:
If you have not heard back within 21 days, you are free to submit your poems elsewhere. We will not send notices for declined work. Please wait 30 days before sending your next submission, whether accepted or declined. Please refrain from simultaneous submissions.

What to submit:
Please submit 3-5 one-line poems of any variety, including monostich haiku, senryu, one-line tanka, poetic fragments, one-line micropoems, or lyrical lines. One-line concrete poetry, and haiga, shahai, and vispo that employ a single-line poem will also be considered. Prose sentences will not.

All submitted work must be your original and previously unpublished work. This means poems that have not appeared on social media, as we want to be the first venue to present your poem to the public. Include your name as you wish it to appear in publication and any social media handles so we can tag you in our postings.

How to submit:
Submit your poems via the Google form on the Whiptail submission page. For concrete and visual poems, complete the Google form and type out each poem as one line, then email images as attachments in jpeg or png form to whiptailjournal@gmail.com. Please make sure the name and email address match on the form. All images should be formatted as a square as this will be the house style for all posts.

Rights and terms:
Whiptail retains the right to publish your work on our website and social media accounts. All rights return to the author upon publication. Whiptail reserves the right to reuse work that has appeared in the journal, with proper citation, in any future print or electronic collections or anthologies. If the author wishes to later republish the work, Whiptail requests that you cite the journal as the venue of first publication.

Whiptail does not publish anything racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or the like. Don't send it.

Payment:
Whiptail is a non-paying market.

Visit www.whiptailjournal.com for more info!