Another large issue of Failed Haiku! This project is all about the poets, and that is what it has become for me, showing them in the best light possible. Included in this issue are some of the very best senryu/haiku poets, as well as some poets that are new to me. The most fun I have every month is reading the work of these fine poets, many of whom are my idols!

A wonderful group of haiga in this issue, some highly creative haibun, and some of my favorite poets. What could be better? Here is the link to the new issue:

http://www.haikuhut.com/FailedHaikuIssue3.pdf

Feel free to share this link with others, post it on your blogs or Facebook pages, or Tweet it to your Followers as well. We want the word to get out. Be sure to follow our Twitter feed:@SenryuJournal, and our Facebook page as well.

Thanks to the poets and artists who feed the machine!!!

Mike

Well, the 3rd issue is a doozy, and for a short month we set another record! I want to thank everyone who reads, but particularily the poets who submit. You inspire me, and it is NO WORK at all to read your work . It truly is an honor when you share your work with me. The 3rd Issue will be posted at Midnight Eastern Time on March 1st. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me in this project.

Cast List for Issue 3

Dave Read
Gregory Longenecker
Kashu
Jesus Chameleon
Ella Wagemakers
Devin Harrison
Meik Blöttenberger
Ramona Linke
Rachel Sutcliffe
Julie Warther
Reka Jellema
Mohammad Azim Khan
Elaine Andre
David J Kelly
Bhet Naieem
Lovette Carter
Elmedin Kadric
Ken Sawitri
Chen-ou Liu
Olivier Schopfer
Sandi Pray
Martha Magenta
Gergana Yaninska
Madhuri Pillai
Ola Lindberg
Catherine LoFrumento
Tatjana Debeljacki
Helen Buckingham
Archana Kapoor Nagpal
Mary White
Polona Oblak
Maya Lyubenova
Lynette Arden
Terri L. French
Nina Kovačić
Pat Geyer
Mark Gilbert
Yesha Shah
Eva Limbach
Myron Lysenko
Shloka Shankar
Marianne Paul
Sandip Chauhan
Roberta Beary
Sondra J. Byrnes
Duncan Richardson
Bruce Jewett
Marietta McGregor
Bob Lucky
Michael Schepers
Willie R. Bongcaron
Keith Woodruff
Joe McKeon
Jan Benson
Matthew Moffett
Jens Petter Kollhøj
Debbie Strange
Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy
Barbara Kaufmann
Mary Kendall
Robyn Cairns
Samar Ghose
Steve Hodge
Elizabeth Alford
Jill Lange
Christine L. Villa
Roman Lyakhovetsky

With this issue we have greatly expanded in size, adding thirty more pages for your viewing and reading. There are many repeat poets, for which we are very appreciative, and some new poets for which we are equally thrilled!

You can go to this link to download: http://www.haikuhut.com/FailedHaikuIssue2.pdf

Feel free to share this link with others, post it on your blogs or Facebook pages, or Tweet it to your Followers as well. We want the word to get out. Be sure to follow our Twitter feed: @SenryuJournal, and our Facebook page as well.

I want to thank all of our readers, and most certainly our poets who have provided a mix of high quality and eclectic senryu for this issue. Submissions are now OPEN for Issue Three, so read our Submission Guide on the header above. We would love to read your work!

Mike

Well, I have put a ‘lid’ on this issue. Any submissions from here on out will be for Issue 3. Issue 2 will be at least 150% larger than the first issue, and the number of poets is up at least that much.

We have had over 2800 ‘downloads’ of the first issue, and over 11000 views of the page. The 2800 people who downloaded is more than subscribe to MH and Frogpond combined!!! Now many also emailed, posted it on their websites, and viewed it online as well. I guess we answered any questions about the ‘need’ for another journal. I want to thank you all, readers, poets, and ‘interested’ parties who participated in any way in this launch issue.

We will be posting for your reading pleasure Issue 2 on February 1st at 12:01 AM. You can get the link on our Facebook Page, in our Twitter Feed (@SenryuJournal), or at http://www.failedhaiku.com.

See ya all then!!!

Mike

First, let me wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our first issue exceeded my own expectations. I am very thankful for all the poets who submitted their work for this new effort. Senryu is a form that can often be ignored, and is considered by some a ‘poor cousin’ to the haiku. Not so!

You will find 53 pages of senryu in this our first issue. I actually hope to grow that number in the future. Failed Haiku is published in PDF format. You can read it online by bookmarking the URL below, download it to your own computer and create a folder for this and future issues, and have access to the work published here whenever you wish. You are also encouraged to share this link with anyone, and help spread the word to others. We will also be Tweeting the poems so that others can read the work as well in that medium. So many people don’t understand senryu, and this is one small way we can expose them to the form in English. I am not the type of editor who wants to ‘control’ the product, rather I would like it to be READ by the largest number of people! By using all the means available on the Internet we are shooting for a circulation in the tens of thousands for each issue over time. Help me get it ‘out there’!

Currently I am accepting submissions for the next issue out February 1, 2016. We look forward to reading your work.

I hope you enjoy this issue, and any comments or suggestions you may have are welcome. You can reach me best at:  editor@failedhaiku.com.

You can read or download the fist issue here:  http://www.haikuhut.com/FailedHaikuIssue1.pdf

Mike Rehling– ‘Failed’ Editor

Failed Haiku – A Journal of English Senryu

Starting January 1, 2016 I will publish Failed Haiku – A Journal of English Senryu. It will publish every month on the 1st day of every month, promptly. I hate missed deadlines, so you can count on us to never fail you. The one exception will be the November issue, which will publish on the 5th of that month in celebration of my favorite failed anarchist, Guy Fawkes! That issue will explode with failed haiku!

Senryu alone, or included in haibun, haiga, and in any line arrangement, with or without a kigo, will be acceptable. Haiga can have an image that directly relates to the poem or one that is just ‘kool’ and/or thought provoking. Either way, and every way in between, is acceptable. I will also entertain essays on the subject of senryu. You will get a reply from me personally, within five business days, no more. I hate waiting for editors to ‘get around to it’, and I assume most of you do to.

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 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!!!

We will start accepting submissions on December 1^st, and submissions can be previously published, unpublished, and anything in between. If previously published NO acknowledgment will made by Failed Haiku to the prior journal, I simply don’t have the time to feed other editor’s egos. Failed Haiku reserves the right to Tweet, post on Facebook, or include any poems accepted in future electronic anthologies we may chose to publish. Any money charged for those anthologies will be minimal, and any money we do make will go directly to the American Cancer Society. I will never take one penny, and want no donations whatsoever, just good poetry.

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.

Alright now, go look over your poems, and send them in starting the 1^st of December for the January 1^st 2016 issue to: editor@FailedHaiku.com. No more than 10 entries a month, and if we get too many for any single issue we reserve the right to accept them for the next issue.

Peace,

Mike Rehling

Your Amateur in Chief, Webmaster, Proofreader, Art Director, and all around mensch.

http://www.FailedHaiku.com