Founded over four years ago, Haiku Journal publishes traditional haiku poetry. Because they want every poem to “appear clean” in honor of the tradition, poems are published with an emphasis on minimalism. This means that published poems will remain untitled, though appropriately attributed to the poets.
The editor, Glenn Lyvers, writes that, like many of the Prolific Press journals, they publish free online issues in addition to accompanying paperback issues to make the literary arts accessible to all regardless of income. Each issue has 50 poems in it, with a new issue generated when the current one reaches its limit.
Because of their submission setup, the process of publishing poetry in their current online issue is automatic, which means poems cannot be withdrawn after they are accepted.
Haiku Journal has a high acceptance ratio and pays a token fee of $1.50 through PayPal upon the publication of the paperback issue. The Editor’s Choice poem of each issue receives a $10 token payment.
Each submission period, a poet may submit up to three poems that follow the traditional 5/7/5 syllable pattern of haiku. For beginners, Haiku Journal even offers a page on its main site to give some pointers. Lyvers hopes writers remember that “Simplicity is the key…. Keep it simple and beautiful. Haiku should…. resonate beyond.”
To learn more or to submit, please visit their website here.
Bio: Mandy Brown is a writer in Central Texas, the 2013 recipient of A Room of Her Own Foundation’s Tillie Olsen Fellowship, and the author of The Sting (Sweatshoppe Publications, 2013). Mandy currently teaches English at an alternative school and loves it! Read more of her writing at her website..
