About
About Autumn Moon Haiku Journal
Contemporary world haiku is being written in most countries. Although there were experimental haiku forms in Japanese beginning in the modern period and a few such experiments in Spanish language in the early modern period, the most common form of haiku continues to express feeling connected to nature. Autumn Moon Haiku Journal intends to emphasize this common form of haiku. Haiku produces a “haiku moment,” a realization or aesthetic opening, poetically expressed, that is the center of a haiku, often through the juxtaposition of two images. This means haiku sensibility, how deeply you feel, presides over haiku in its connection to nature, including human nature. In support of this, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal will sponsor the annual Autumn Moon Haiku Contest in the fall of each year; and Best of Year Individual Haiku Award, (the Haiku Moment Award), from the two yearly issues (Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer), in the summer after publication of the second issue. Submissions to the journal and the contests should therefore reflect a developed sensibility in its connection with nature, expressed in a serious or light tone. Haiku appeals worldwide because of this universal connection to nature, just as great poetry in many cultures has done. Too much published haiku has overridden this connection with only witty phrasing. Haiku is special in making the nature connection because it makes it in a simply expressed, concentrated way through the subtlety of its phrasing and its chosen focus. Autumn Moon Haiku Journal wishes to celebrate this.
Addendum: A clarification about phrasing and sensibility from the introduction to Volume 2:1 of this journal: haiku seems to be based on a balance between sensibility and phrasing. Phrasing should be poetic and not simply conversational. Haiku phrasing should not be overly flowery (which verges on sentimentality) nor overly telegraphic (which even results in poor English), undermining both haiku as poetry and haiku as clearly expressed insight. Sensibility expresses a haiku moment. As it is in much poetry, haiku should be almost musical in its nature. One of the reasons I have included the original language the haiku was written in, is to give the reader, perhaps, a sense of the music inherent in the given language. The music reflects the heightened experience that the poet had in his or her haiku moment. Sensibility is how each individual poet engages with the world. Although it is the same world that each poet engages, their sense of feeling, though often familiar, is decidedly their own.
Contemporary world haiku is being written in most countries. Although there were experimental haiku forms in Japanese beginning in the modern period and a few such experiments in Spanish language in the early modern period, the most common form of haiku continues to express feeling connected to nature. Autumn Moon Haiku Journal intends to emphasize this common form of haiku. Haiku produces a “haiku moment,” a realization or aesthetic opening, poetically expressed, that is the center of a haiku, often through the juxtaposition of two images. This means haiku sensibility, how deeply you feel, presides over haiku in its connection to nature, including human nature. In support of this, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal will sponsor the annual Autumn Moon Haiku Contest in the fall of each year; and Best of Year Individual Haiku Award, (the Haiku Moment Award), from the two yearly issues (Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer), in the summer after publication of the second issue. Submissions to the journal and the contests should therefore reflect a developed sensibility in its connection with nature, expressed in a serious or light tone. Haiku appeals worldwide because of this universal connection to nature, just as great poetry in many cultures has done. Too much published haiku has overridden this connection with only witty phrasing. Haiku is special in making the nature connection because it makes it in a simply expressed, concentrated way through the subtlety of its phrasing and its chosen focus. Autumn Moon Haiku Journal wishes to celebrate this.
Addendum: A clarification about phrasing and sensibility from the introduction to Volume 2:1 of this journal: haiku seems to be based on a balance between sensibility and phrasing. Phrasing should be poetic and not simply conversational. Haiku phrasing should not be overly flowery (which verges on sentimentality) nor overly telegraphic (which even results in poor English), undermining both haiku as poetry and haiku as clearly expressed insight. Sensibility expresses a haiku moment. As it is in much poetry, haiku should be almost musical in its nature. One of the reasons I have included the original language the haiku was written in, is to give the reader, perhaps, a sense of the music inherent in the given language. The music reflects the heightened experience that the poet had in his or her haiku moment. Sensibility is how each individual poet engages with the world. Although it is the same world that each poet engages, their sense of feeling, though often familiar, is decidedly their own.