So, you are new to haiku and have just placed your first haiku in a journal or other edited publication. Congratulations on your acceptance! But after the shine of birthing a new poem wears off, you may be wondering, now…
One fun way to challenge yourself as a haiku poet is to enter contests. However, there are a great number of contests out there. How do you know where to begin? Here are some tips for getting the most out…
Hello, haiku friends! I’m sitting here in the kitchen of my parents’ house, thinking about the haiku community and what it means to me. I am not a life-long haiku poet. I started writing English-language haiku in 2009, after first…
As you begin writing haiku, you will likely find that you want to meet up with other poets and discuss the craft of writing these small poems. There are a number of English-language haiku meet-up options out there, from small…
Hello, and welcome to The Haiku Mixer! Come in, hang up your coat, and grab a drink (1). Out back, there are several walking paths through the tall grass (2) and morning glories (3) that lead to the koi pond…
So, you've written a haiku, edited it to the best of your ability, and you'd like to send it to a contest or a journal. Yet, somehow, you can't bring yourself to submit. Maybe you aren't able to recapture the…
Writers are often encouraged to engage in social media. Unfortunately, that’s where the advice usually stops. How do you determine which social media platform is right for you? My best advice is to try each of them out and choose…
on the edge of sleep the black and white checkerboard of a dog’s bark —Julie Bloss Kelsey
About a year ago, I recorded myself speaking about science fiction haiku (or scifaiku) for THF's new Haiku Outside of the Box. I've included that video, along with a transcript of my short speech, below. Some of you may have…
It's hard to believe that it's been a year since I started presenting weekly New to Haiku blog posts. My thanks to everyone who has helped me with this column -- from brainstorming ideas, to helping me create content and…
It's the holiday season, and I hope that you and yours are doing well during these difficult and crazy pandemic times. I was thinking today about the gift of haiku and what it means to me. I thought that I…
Once you begin your haiku journey, sooner or later you will experience déjà-ku. What is déjà-ku? Michael Dylan Welch, who coined the term, has this to say on his website, Graceguts, in an article entitled “An Introduction to Déjà-ku”: “[Déjà-ku…
Recently, I attended a lovely Zoom meeting for beginners of haiku, hosted by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. One of the topics that came up during the event was how different it is to write haiku than to write…
Four years ago, my family set out on a cross-country trip. As always, I took pictures of everything and anything: clouds, shadows, insects, signs. But, on this trip, I was also armed with the ability to think in haiku. I…
You’ve been reading haiku widely and you’re writing and editing your own poems. You’ve found a journal that seems to be the perfect fit for your work. Congratulations! It’s time to prepare your first haiku submission. It can be intimidating…
Haiku contests can be a fun way to challenge yourself when writing haiku. There are several haiku contests with upcoming deadlines specifically for teens or with categories for teens. I found most of these on the New Zealand Poetry Society's…
One of the most confusing things when you are new to haiku is discovering that what you may have learned in school - haiku is a short poem from Japan written in 3 lines with 17 syllables - is not…
You’ve written the perfect poem! Now is the time to dash it off to an editor, right? Hold on! Here are ten tips to help you edit your own haiku to make them stronger. This first tip is the hardest.…