Visit our Editor Interview on Duotrope to read about our process and what we look for in submissions!

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What is single-line poetry and what do we publish?

English-language haiku, tanka, and other short poems often have line breaks that create tercets, quatrains, quintets, or other line configurations. Japanese haiku, however, are often printed in a column to create a vertical single-line poem. The poem of a single line is not a new technique, but a traditional presentation of haiku made new again in English.

Unlike poetry with line breaks, single-line poetry does not rely on physical enjambment to enhance the meaning of the poem. As such, one-line poetry can have more than one break in syntax to create multiple meanings. Single-line poetry can be a slippery lizard or a long-necked swan. 
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The single-line poetry published in whiptail includes monostich haiku, one-line tanka, poetic fragments, and one-line micropoems. The poems can be one word in length up to a column’s width, written horizontally, vertically, or as a concrete poem in any shape a line may take. When used, punctuation should be purposeful. No titles, please. We also publish haiga, shahai, taiga, and vispo that employ a one-line poem.


What is NOT single-line poetry?

Single-line poetry is not a sentence of prose. Single-line poetry is not a multi-line poem placed onto one line. The form should serve a purpose in the delivery of the poem.


Resources:

“Haiku: Walking the Fine Line” by Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith

“From One-line Poems to One-line Haiku Part One: The Invitation” by William J. Higginson

“The Shape of Things to Come: Form Past and Future in Haiku” by Jim Kacian

“one-line haiku” by Marlene Mountain

“Monoku: Historical Perspective and Experimenting with Structural Style” by Pravat Kumar Padhy​

“Travelling the single line of haiku” by Alan Summers
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“Line” From A Poet’s Glossary by Edward Hirsch on poets.org
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“Hatching a Kinetic Sculpture” & “Into the Undefined,” zipperku sequences by GRIX and Kat Lehmann