Resources
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, except for sequences or multi-ku.
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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:
Single-line Poems:
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“Line” From A Poet’s Glossary by Edward Hirsch on poets.org
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Single-line Haiku:
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“whiptail monoku series” articles at The Haiku Foundation by Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith
“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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Haibun and Other Hybrids that Include Single-line Haiku:
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where i leave off by Jim Kacian (PDF)
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Nanoku (4 words or less including poemwords):
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whiptail: journal of the single-line poem, Issue 5: As the Now Takes Hold (November 2022)
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Single-line Tanka:
whiptail: journal of the single-line poem, Issue 5: As the Now Takes Hold (November 2022)
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Vertical and Concrete Single-line Poems:
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whiptail: journal of the single-line poem, Issue 7: Shape-Shifting (June 2023)
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Sequences Using Single-lines:
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“Hatching a Kinetic Sculpture” a zipperku sequence by GRIX (Robin Smith) and Kat Lehmann
“Into the Undefined” a zipperku sequence by GRIX (Robin Smith) and Kat Lehmann
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Multi-ku Using Single-lines (some use obvious single lines and some do not but were included as there are so few examples of multi-ku):
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“Controlled Chaos” a series of Meandering Haiku by Robin Smith
Sudo-ku, a multi-haiku form created by Kat Lehmann
Trailblazers Contest 2023 Winners (John Pappas, GregoryPiko, Julie Schwerin)