Blame it on our first spate of hazy-hot-humid weather. The f/k/a Gang has been too listless, restless, and breathless to concentrate on punditry the past couple of days. We might do some commentary later today but, until then, here are a few haiku from our Honored Guest poets that appeared in the still-refreshing Spring 2008 issue of Modern Haiku. (Vol. 39:1, Spring 2008).
flurries
telling her headstone
he cheated…………….. by Roberta Beary – Modern Haiku, Volume 39.1 Spring 2008
girls in halter tops—
chewing my ice
with a vengeance…………….. by David G. Lanoue – Modern Haiku, Volume 39.1 Spring
solitaire
my widowed father
lost in the shuffle
…………….. by Tom Painting
first
love
a rain-soaked raspberry
on
your
tongue
…………….. by Lee Gurga – Modern Haiku, Volume 39.1 Spring
Modern Haiku is a journal not a genre. We wish this much-respected source of haiku poetry and essays were fully-available online. It isn’t, but you can see a sample of the haiku, senryu, and haibun from each edition at its website, plus a featured essay. Any day now, the Summer issue of Modern Haiku should be out, and available by subscription; with samples online.
update (June 8, 2008): We hate to drop names, but yet another haiku luminary stopped by this week, leaving a thoughtful and positive Comment. This time, it’s Charles Trumbull, the Editor of Modern Haiku., who recently produced A Guide to Haiku Publications, 2008 (pdf). Charlie offers some useful information about his publication, and correctly points out that Modern Haiku posts a lot more of its contents online than other print-based haiku journals and publications.
time out
the setting sun
takes center field….. by Peggy Willis Lyles – Modern Haiku (Vol. 38.1 Spring 2007)
rising gas prices—
an attendant changing numbers
in a pouring rain…… by Michael Dylan Welch – Modern Haiku (Vol. 36:1, Spring 2005)
David:
I ran into the same spacing problem with blogger that you are having, which is basically why I went to an all white background – I figured a work around.
Try changing the color of your font to white where you want to put spaces – you can then use any character as a spacer (the space bar still doesn’t work so you have to use a random character) – I usually use a dash. When it is published, the white characters are white on white and unreadable. I would make sure that this works with your blogging program first. Try a test of a couple of spaces at the beginning of a line. Also, if you can, make sure it works in Explorer and Firefox if you can. It does with mine.
Let me know if it works …
Don at Lilliput Review
Comment by Don — June 8, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
Dear David,
Thanks for featuring Modern Haiku on your blog (f/k/a …, June 8, 2008) — all attention is most welcome!
Among other comments, you express the wish the MH would be fully online, which, of course, must remain just a wish, as we are and will remain primarily a paper-and-ink publication. As such we have printing and postage bills to pay, and for this we rely on subscriptions, donations, and whatever grant money we can scrape together.
I should point out, however, that Modern Haiku puts a great deal of its content on the Web site for free — much more, I think, than any other mainly print haiku journal in English. Webmaster Randy Brooks is doing a stellar job in this connection.
The summer MH went in the mail last Monday. In it you’ll find the results of the 2008 Spiess Contest, a fascinating essay on the first Japanese haiku poet to visit the United States, and, of course, a couple hundred top-flight haiku, senryu, haiga, and haibun. The Web update should happen in a few days’ time.
Your blog is required daily reading for me. Keep up the great work!
Charlie Trumbull, editor, Modern Haiku
Comment by Charles Trumbull — June 8, 2008 @ 1:46 pm