The Haiku Foundation Forums

Thanks HaikuCowboy.  I hadn't heard of Ribbons before, so I'll have to check that out.  :)

Hi cat:  I was thinking of the mirror-image kind, but often those haiku also seem to evoke pondering at the same time.  I'm reluctant to point to actual haiku because I'm not sure when you can post another's poem without infringing upon another's copyright.

Hi Don:  Glad you liked it!  Thanks for the suggestions.  :)

Hi merlot:  I wasn't thinking so much of poems evoking reflective actions, but rather those describing ... hmm ... maybe echoes?  ... like seeing the trees within the trees or the flower within the flower.  Sorry that I'm not able to describe it better.  I've found that those poems sometimes fall a bit short for me and I've wondered about their popularity and what I'm missing.

Now that I've started reading more haiku, I've noticed the theme of reflections or perhaps - not sure how to describe this - a mental coiling? comes up often.  I've seen haiku with water reflected on water, clouds reflected in clouds, cats curled around themselves.

Is there a reason behind this?  Is it just that the reflective nature of haiku tends to translate itself into literal reflections in the poetry?

Not a great example, but one inspired by my old dog:

snuggled
beneath the blanket
beneath my dog

Julie B. K.
(jublke)

Thanks, cat & sandra.  I appreciate the links.  :)

Julie B. K.
(jublke)

There are two churches that I drive by each morning when I take my boys to school.  Often, they have short religious slogans on their marquee boards that look and feel like haiku to me.  I'm sorry that I can't recollect off-hand what has been written there, but the style of writing often make me pause, look, and think - not just about religion, but about the nature of haiku. 

Thanks for starting the thread on found haiku!

Julie B. K.
(jublke)

Hi Alan:

As far as your question about other methods of self-publishing ...

I like to participate in some of the haiku groups on Twitter like #haikuchallenge.  I've assumed that anything I post to Twitter is published (I know some publications don't mind, but many do).  So, I opted to collect all of my Twitter poems and put them in a blog, just for safe keeping.  Many of them are just rough outlines of things I might like to polish out later (like the snow at dawn poem) but I wanted to collect them because I figured I'd lose track of them otherwise and I figured since they were published anyway, I might as well reprint them.

As for prior publications - I know that if you've previously published a piece in a journal and it gets reprinted, the second publisher usually mentions the first.  If you publish with a third publisher (I haven't done that yet!), do they reference both previous publications or just the first one?

Thanks --

Julie B. K.
(jublke)

Thanks, everyone.  It sounds like I should work on getting a few more publications in some respected haiku journals first.  Laura, if you have some work that I could do long-term to help you out with HaikuNow, ping me off-list and I'll see what I can do.  I'm not much good with the short-term stuff because I still have a little one underfoot at home.     

Now that I've become interested in haiku, I'd like to learn more about tanka.  Do you have any introductory articles or information for beginners that would be helpful?

Thanks in advance.  :)

jublke

This year, I set a goal for myself of publishing a set number of poems.  Having achieved that, I'm wondering what an appropriate goal would be for next year.  Should I strive for more prestigious journals?  Put together a chapbook-length piece or a manuscript?  Focus on contests?  Is there a sort of standard progression that most poets follow? 

Thanks in advance for giving me a peek into your poetic journey.

jublke

I would appreciate the thoughts of others as to good places to submit haiku for publication.  I regularly peruse Duotrope's Digest, so I'm not lacking for potential markets, but I'm not sure how to rate or compare them.  I realize that some of this boils down to personal preference, but I thought I'd throw the question out there anyway.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.   :)

jublke

I have actually been wondering the opposite question.  Why do some haiku journals refuse to look at 5-7-5 poems and specifically state that you shouldn't send them any?   ???  I can understand a lack of adherence to a syllable count or even a fixation on the 5-7-5 syllable count, but it seems odd to exclude 5-7-5 without even reading it.  Thoughts?

I think haiku is like modern art.  Some people "get it" and some people don't. 

I didn't understand haiku at all until I started writing scifaiku.  For me, that was a doorway into the form.  I think haiku is an incredibly demanding form of poetry.  Haiku requires stripping down all of the obviously explanatory and flowery words - the ones most people relate to - until you are left with bare essence of form.  Wasn't it Mark Twain who ended a letter with "I would have written I shorter letter but I didn't have enough time?"