Haiku Journal is a celebration of haiku devoted to the patient art
of haiku — poems that hold a season, a glance, a single ordinary wonder.
In so few heartbeats
our world must open and close
soft as falling dusk
— Glenn LyversCelebrating the living art of the 5 / 7 / 5 haikuseventeen syllablesone breath into transcendence
The 5 / 7 / 5 pattern itself is ancient and Japanese. It reaches back through
Bashō, Buson, Issa, and the renga tradition centuries before them,
where the opening verse (hokku) counted five, seven, and five
on — the short sound units of classical Japanese poetics.
When haiku traveled into English in the twentieth century, translators and
teachers mapped that pattern onto English syllables, and a simple, teachable
rule was born: three lines of five, seven, and five. Generations of readers
first met haiku in exactly that shape, and for many of us it is still the
shape the form takes in the ear.
Some contemporary journals have moved away from strict 5 / 7 / 5, arguing
that English syllables and Japanese on are not quite the same
measure. We respect that view — and we have chosen a different one. Haiku
Journal is a happy, unembarrassed home for the 5 / 7 / 5 haiku as it is
loved and written today: a small, disciplined frame that still has room for
a whole season, a whole glance, a whole quiet thought.
Recently Published Haiku
Recently published haiku
A small selection of haiku chosen for their quiet precision and honest attention.
late evening spring breeze
wind chimes' melody rings out
tree frogs joining in
Nicholas Gentile
Paw prints in the snow
Two old dogs out on the trail
Many miles to go
Jack Zetlin
to be an acorn
falling to musty humus
cracking Earth open
Mary Catherine Harper
I want, in darkness,
to see your eyes before me,
in bed, flesh fused, firm.
Tracy Ahrens
only half awake
arising now bound to one
who hears spring showers
James Penha
snowfall in stillness
consuming all other sounds
softening my ears
Herb Kauderer
About the Journal
A patient home for small poems.
Haiku Journal began as a quiet project among readers who loved the form and
wanted to give it the presentation it deserves: generous margins, careful
typography, and an editor willing to wait for the right poem. We publish work
that earns its silences, and we treat every accepted haiku as the centerpiece
of the page it occupies.
— the editors
i.
Read
Explore the current issue and wander the free online archive of past volumes.
Selected haiku from our online issues are gathered into slim paperbacks
printed on uncoated stock. They are unhurried, tactile objects —
intended for a shelf, a pocket, a gift, or a long evening.