New to Haiku: Thoughts From an Editor

When I was new to haiku, I often wondered why editors didn’t see the value of my haiku. Why did my work get rejected so often? Why did this poem I wrote quickly get snapped up on first offering, but that one I agonized over can’t find a home? Why did one editor choose to publish or award a poem that numerous other editors had turned down? What’s really going through the mind of a haiku editor?

Obviously, I can’t speak for all editors. But the following thoughts came to me recently during a reading and editing session, and I thought they might prove useful to you. Please keep in mind that these are my personal comments and observations––I’m not speaking on behalf of The Haiku Foundation or Frogpond.

1. Editors of haiku journals read A LOT of haiku, sometimes thousands of poems per issue. There are many lovely haiku that may not be chosen for inclusion due to space constraints.

2. If you submit to a journal with multiple readers, keep in mind that one editor’s favorite poem in a batch of submissions might be another editor’s least favorite. On average, this poem will likely not be chosen. So if you love your haiku, keep submitting it!

3. Please don’t submit multiple versions of the same aha moment. They read like the same haiku with different edits, and it’s unlikely that more than one will be chosen. On a similar note, haiku that stem from your own personal observation and experience tend to read as more genuine.

4. Trends show up in poetry, and this may work against your haiku. If I have read ten poems about “gossamer wings,” for example, I may not observe the unique twist in yours. This doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with your poem, just that your editor has image fatigue.

5. I’m noticing more 3-line haiku with long-short-long construction rather than short-long-short. I don’t have strong feelings on this either way, but I think it’s an interesting development.

6. If a haiku has more than 17 syllables, it likely reads “heavy,” regardless of how wonderful it is otherwise.

7. Which reminds me, watch for adjectives in haiku that ascribe judgement, such as beautiful, ugly, happy, or sad. If you can, find another way to describe the scene. Can you evoke this feeling in your reader with a concrete description instead? The rule of “show, don’t tell,” applies to haiku too. Another option might be to rework your poem as a senryu. Use caution, however, when ascribing human traits and feelings to plants, animals, and other non-humans. Sometimes this works, but more often it doesn’t.

8. Specific unfamiliar words work best when they add a twist to the poem. If I have to look up a word and it unlocks the entire haiku, I’m delighted. If it doesn’t, I wonder why this particular word was chosen. Keep in mind that if you overload your haiku with niche words, you run the risk of your readers not understanding you. This may be worth it––only you can decide.

9. Poems with unusual lineation or shape work best when they enhance the meaning of the poem. If you deviate from a left-justified or centered haiku, think about why. And if you are hesitant to edit the shape of your poem, keep in mind that some haiku function best in a different layout.

10. Remember that your haiku editors and judges are nearly always unpaid volunteers. We do our best, but our best may vary. We are trying, but we are human. Have patience with us!

My personal rule of thumb is that I keep editing a poem until it is accepted for publication or until I despise it. I encourage you to resubmit work you believe in––the haiku world is richer for it.

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