DailyHaiku - A Daily Shot Of Zen

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About DailyHaiku

DailyHaiku is a print and online literary publication that exists to promote and preserve the written art of haiku. DailyHaiku publishes the work of Canadian and international haiku poets, blending contemporary, experimental, and traditional styles to push the boundaries of English-language haiku. Through our special features section and invited poet series, DailyHaiku also aims to chronicle and explore the diverse and ever-changing landscape of contemporary haiku-related forms.

One haiku is published per day on www.dailyhaiku.org (ISSN 1913-3936), and each year a print edition is published in book format that collects the work featured in the online publication (ISSN 1913-3928).

Editors: Nicole Pakan and Patrick M. Pilarski

(Submission Information)


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What is Haiku?

There is some debate as to the definition of haiku and its "proper" form. The best and most concise definition seems to be:

Haiku is a minimalist form of unrhymed poetry consisting of seventeen syllables or less.

Traditional Japanese haiku carry an unrhymed, three line, 5-7-5 syllabic (beat) structure with a seasonal reference. Over the years, English Language haiku authors have transplanted the traditional Japanese structure into their own language with varying degrees of success. The 5-7-5 structure continues to define haiku for many people, and, despite it falling out of use in modern times, it is still taught to students everywhere.

Modern English-language haiku artists often take a more organic approach to haiku, one that is perhaps closer in its minimalist spirit to the Japanese tradition. Contemporary English-language haiku artists have largely abandoned the 5-7-5 structure,and tend to gravitate toward shorter syllabic counts more representative of the verbal length of their Japanese counterparts. Additionally, in light of many people living in urban centers, the nature of seasonal references has been broadened beyond the traditional canon. At DailyHaiku we strive to represent a wide range of contemporary haiku and have a bunch of fun doing it.

For further information about the structure of modern and traditional haiku (and related forms), a concise and extremely useful set of definitions has been put forward by the Haiku Society of America.


Resources

If you'd like to dive a little further, there are many excellent online haiku journals, websites, and resources. Here a few that we suggest:

Another excellent resource for writers of all kinds is Duotrope's Digest, an online site to explore the writing market (fiction and poetry, both online and print) and track submissions.


Contributors and Submissions

DailyHaiku features the work of six authors presented over a six month time frame. Each week, the work of a different author from the current contributing team is featured on this site. The contributing team at DailyHaiku changes twice per year—once in April and once in October. We accept submissions between February 1 and 28, and August 1 and 31 ONLY. Submissions received at any other time will not be accepted.

All contributed work will be also put into consideration for our yearly print journal. Published once a year in the early fall, the print journal features the work of the previous two contributor teams. One exemplary week of contributed haiku each year will also be awarded the DailyHaiku Editors' Choice Award and featured prominently in the print edition. No submissions are paid, but contributors will receive one contributor's copy of the yearly print journal featuring their work.

Are you interested? Please note: submissions are closed until further notice, and we will not be accepting any new submissions in 2016. Any received submissions will be immediately returned to their authors.

For when submissions do re-open, here are our guidelines:

how and what to submit

In the body of a single email, please include:

Email submissions to: desk@dailyhaiku.org

general guidelines

when you'll hear back


Thanks

Thank you for your interest in DailyHaiku!

Patrick M. Pilarski and Nicole Pakan
Editors — DailyHaiku
Contact DailyHaiku here.