(hands weeping with morning’s mercy by Debbie Strange)
A note from the editors:
Issue 7 includes a whiptail Challenge for vertical haiku. We were delighted to receive not only a deluge of thoughtfully-created vertical poems but many poems that ventured into (or fully embraced!) concrete forms. These atypical, non-horizontal works comprise half of the issue and create a beautiful and noteworthy trove of vertical works in the English-language haiku genre. We are honored to receive the fruits of your explorations and are happy to consider single-line poems of any shape in future issues as well. We hope you enjoy the challenge as much as we do!
Issue 7 includes a whiptail Challenge for vertical haiku. We were delighted to receive not only a deluge of thoughtfully-created vertical poems but many poems that ventured into (or fully embraced!) concrete forms. These atypical, non-horizontal works comprise half of the issue and create a beautiful and noteworthy trove of vertical works in the English-language haiku genre. We are honored to receive the fruits of your explorations and are happy to consider single-line poems of any shape in future issues as well. We hope you enjoy the challenge as much as we do!
contributors
Robbie Gamble
Lorraine Haig Nick T John Pappas Bryan Rickert Rowan Beckett Ann K Schwader Joseph P. Wechselberger Farah Ali
Aidan Castle P. H. Fischer Donna Kaplan Kristen Lindquist Ruchita Madhok David McKee Tim Roberts Brad Bennett
Randy Brooks Engin Gülez Keiko Izawa Michael Nickels-Wisdom Chad Lee Robinson Richa Sharma Joseph Salvatore Aversano
Jo Balistreri Antoinette Cheung Seth Copeland Cherie Hunter Day Ganesh R. Kati Mohr Dan Schwerin lolo elleri
jim kacian |
Norma Bradley
M. R. Defibaugh an mayou David McKee Polona Oblak Bernadette O’Reilly m shane pruett Anthony Q. Rabang Rowan Beckett Stefanie Bucifal
Bruce H. Feingold P. H. Fischer Kim Klugh Ellen Kom Kristen Lindquist John Pappas Margaret Walker Joseph Salvatore Aversano
Deborah A. Bennett Randy Brooks Anette Chaney Cynthia Hendel ron scully C.X. Turner Susan Burch
Anette Chaney Bruce H. Feingold Kerry J Heckman Julie Bloss Kelsey Michael Nickels-Wisdom ron scully Carly Siegel Thorp Christopher Peys
Mary Stevens Jessica Wright |
regular features
We met on zoom to create a beautiful river of whiptail poems! The recording of our reading is uploaded for your listening and viewing pleasure along with the list of poems and poets who participated! Enjoy! |
From The Haiku Foundation’s New to Haiku: “Reading One-Line Haiku with Kat and Robin: Blurring the Boundaries,” 3/12/2023. From The Haiku Foundation’s New to Haiku: “Reading One-Line Haiku with Kat and Robin: Feeling the Real within the Impossible,” 1/15/2023. “Shhh, Don’t Tell Anyone: The Backstories of Two Vertical Haiku” by Chuck Brickley, 3/17/2023. “Slip-Realism Across the Single Line of Haiku” by Alan Summers, 3/3/2023. We now have 29 interviews published in our feature in which Vandana Parashar asks poets we’ve published to share their thoughts and practices about writing one-line poems! This series has become a trove of the various ways poets approach this sub-genre! We are going to take a short break from these interviews but will be sharing some more in the future. Enjoy! |
Pris Campbell was selected for our first Reader's Choice Award for her “scattered dandelion” poem from whiptail Issue 6! Read her poem and the commentaries submitted by our readers for this and other selected poems. Be sure to vote for your favorite three poems from Issue 7! Because we care about the opinions of our readers, we want to give you the opportunity to weigh in on the poems you found to be the highlights of Issue 7 (June 2023). There are a number of ways to think about which poems rise to the top or which poems keep you coming back to re-read them again. Do you love the poem for its deep-diving truth, its subtle beauty, its effective use of a poetic technique, or for another reason? Maybe you feel the poem expands the haikai form or uses an established technique better than others. Respond by June 15 to have your vote included! We will share the results on the whiptail site, along with your comments! Poets whose poems receive the most votes each issue will receive a whiptail Readers’ Choice Certificate. |
We are totally geeked out to share our whiptail merch with you! We are very thankful to Raghav Prashant Sundar for his work creating these awesome lizards for our numerous designs!
whiptail Issue 7 was edited by Kat Lehmann, Robin Smith, and guest editor Marcie Wessels. All three read and selected poems. Kat, Marcie, and Robin equally took part in making final selections. Kat and Robin sequenced poems and formatted the issue.
Credits for page titles:
“sky gone hollow” - “winter crows” by Ann K Schwader
“blue note scale” - “blue note scale” by David McKee
“butterscotch moon” - “butterscotch moon” by Tim Roberts
“before the morning after” - “before the morning after” by Margaret Walker
“scaling the wind” - “scaling the wind” by Chad Lee Robinson
“wormwood stars” - “bitter pleasures” by C.X. Turner
“even after” - “magnolias dripping” by Kati Mohr
“syncope and collapse” - “syncope and collapse” by Bruce H. Feingold
“dreamscapes” - “she's come to prefer still pools to a mirror” by lolo elleri
“soon just a speck” - “soon just a speck” by Christopher Peys
“sky gone hollow” - “winter crows” by Ann K Schwader
“blue note scale” - “blue note scale” by David McKee
“butterscotch moon” - “butterscotch moon” by Tim Roberts
“before the morning after” - “before the morning after” by Margaret Walker
“scaling the wind” - “scaling the wind” by Chad Lee Robinson
“wormwood stars” - “bitter pleasures” by C.X. Turner
“even after” - “magnolias dripping” by Kati Mohr
“syncope and collapse” - “syncope and collapse” by Bruce H. Feingold
“dreamscapes” - “she's come to prefer still pools to a mirror” by lolo elleri
“soon just a speck” - “soon just a speck” by Christopher Peys