I Wish I'd Written This

More treats from tinywords 

(one of the poetry sites which I subscribe to by email, also featured previously)

paperback romance

 a bend in the spine

 at the sultry part

-Alexander B. Joy

another funeral

for a childhood friend

flickering campfire

-Joan Prefontaine

lingering jet lag –

the clunk of a foreign coin

in the clothes dryer

-Julie Bloss Kelsey

glassy lake

flocks of snow geese

pull up the moon

(haiga)

-Debbie Strange

https://tinywords.com/2018/06/28/27333/ (for picture)

summer breeze

the scent of juniper

in my tumbler

-Jeff Hoagland

morning light

painting over

my painting

-Debbi Antebi


tinywords publishes 'haiku and other small poems'.

I love all kinds of micropoetry, and hope you enjoy them too!

I think it is very, very hard to write a really good haiku. I keep trying. Meanwhile I like to read other people's attempts.

Opinions still differ as to the rules for haiku. In line with current thinking about English-language haiku, I like short/long/short lines of fewer than 5/7/5 syllables, which I am assured is more approximate to Japanese units of sound. And I think they must be more than merely descriptive verses; they need to have some kind of 'aha!' moment.

Traditionally they must be about nature, with the season indicated, and they must contain a pause between juxtaposed images. In Japanese haiku the pause happens via a 'kireji' word which has that function. In English-language haiku it can be indicated by punctuation, such as a dash, or the haiku can be written in such a way that it's obvious.

Of course some of these above are senryu, which deal with human behaviour, often with a touch of humour.

For those who may not know, a haiga is a combination of haiku and picture. Do click on the haiga link above; the image is spectacular.

Material shared in 'I Wish I'd Written This' is presented for study and review. Poems, photos and other writings remain the property of the copyright owners, usually their authors.

I Wish I'd Written This

Pleasures of the Inbox 

1: tinywords

the

 librarian

 shakes

 sand

 out

 of

 [...]

-Sally Biggar

Muscle Beach

the effortless lift

of terns

-Bill Gottlieb

a call to prayer

by the sea

the scent of wild roses

-Dan Curtis

the real world

within the real world

tide pools

-Joy Reed MacVane

free Wi-Fi . . .

each to their

own device

-Sam Bateman

Hiroshima Day

hydrangeas

bent low

-Bryan Rickert

a breeze beyond rhetoric rippling meadowgrass

-Matthew Moffett


Like everyone, I'm drowning in emails, but some are welcome. Luckily my Gmail sorts the incomings into categories. Having subscribed to receive tinywords by email, I can see them all together in my 'Forums' box – a small pleasure with which to start my day, or I can save them up and read several at once at my leisure. I usually delete them after that, but I sometimes choose to archive the ones I love the best. The standard is high, and the styles and topics varied. The above are just some I picked at random from the most recent. I'd be very happy to have written any of them.

'tinywords is an international, daily magazine of haiku and micropoetry' says the 'About' section, and adds, 'Our goal is to publish excellent poetry whose ambitions and effects far outstrip its small size.'

It began as a magazine of haiku, but has since broadened its scope. The founder, d. f. (Dylan) tweney is interviewed here about its origin and history. It began as a nice way to use phone texts! (When they were restricted to 160 characters.) This preceded haiku on twitter – it preceded twitter itself – but now the tinywords appear on twitter and there are also some printed editions drawn from the magazine.

Starting in 2001 as a small email list of a few friends, it grew so rapidly that by 2008 it was described by the Haiku Society of America as 'the largest-circulation journal of haiku in English'. This became so overwhelming that it stopped for a while, but then resumed with two co-editors and submissions restricted to the months of February and August.

Contributors range from the inexperienced and unknown to leading lights among contemporary haiku poets. (Mr tweney mentions his gratitude for help from the late Bill Higginson in the magazine's early stages.)

I am delighted to see that there is what I consider a very sensible policy on submissions: while they prefer work not previously published, 'Appearance on Twitter, personal blogs or online poetry discussion forums is no impediment to acceptance'. 

(I keep thinking I must give it a try and submit something some day; but I seldom submit anywhere any more, and so far haven't done so here. I must, I really must. So might you, dear readers, if you're into micropoetry.)

The editors are more interested in good poetry than what does or doesn't constitute haiku, hence the 'broader focus on micropoetry and miniature poetry of all kinds, including but not limited to haiku'. As a reader, I appreciate this! I happen to love both traditional haiku and modern, evolving variations – but above all, I want to read good poetry.

I hope you enjoy these few I've shared with you and are interested enough to read more, and to look at the interview linked above. There's also an interesting podcast interview (by Dave Bonta, of The Morning Porch, who has himself been featured here in the past).

Material shared in 'I Wish I'd Written This' is presented for study and review. Poems, photos and other writings remain the property of the copyright owners, usually their authors.