Failed Haiku – A Journal of English Senryu

Starting January 1, 2016, Michael Rehling started to publish Failed Haiku – A Journal of English Senryu. It was published on the 1st day of every month for the first eight years. In that time, Failed Haiku has had several co-editors and a number of distinguished guest editors. Starting in January 2024, Bryan Rickert will be the sole editor and will reformat Failed Haiku to be a bi-monthly journal.

Here is what Michael Rehling, the founding editor, says about senryu and Failed Haiku:

Many years ago, at a haiku meeting, someone asked me what my definition of a senryu was, and I said: “It is just a failed haiku is all.” It was a flip answer, not particularly literary, but I have grown to like it for both its brevity and its lack of preciseness, both of which fit the spirit of senryu perfectly.

I have always felt that an editor’s job in evaluating poetry is overrated. The way I see my role is NOT to pick poems that I like, or that fit some personal definition of the form, but ones that readers will appreciate, learn from, quite possibly debate, and most importantly enjoy. Publication is not an endorsement of the poem, just an acknowledgment that it worked at some level. If you read one and don’t like it, move on to the next. Simple as that!!!

The goal is to get interesting and diverse senryu read by the largest number of people. You don’t need to mention your publication by us of any poem if it is subsequently published elsewhere, but gosh we would love it if you did. In short no bullshit, just some good poetry, published in a way that reaches the maximum number of people. I know how to get the word out, and I want ‘da good shit’ to get to the most people possible.