Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

Maybe it was the early autumn pulverisation of the human psyche or the insistent sound of predictable ‘ancestral voices prophesying war’ that immobilised or transfixed even the haiku mind, but there has been a very late flood of submissions intended for the pages of the journal - so many that some of what came in for December has just had to become the starting point for Blithe Spirit 12/1. From another angle, this demonstrates a continuing enthusiasm for submitting high quality haiku to Blithe Spirit and an enthusiasm to engage in keen dialogue.

But you might like to consider the plight of the Editor who has constantly to focus on ‘the space that’s left’ and watch it dwindling on the disc as the heap of splendid haiku gets higher and higher. My process is day by day ‘select and fill’ from the date of one issue till just before the printers need the masters for the next issue - a posh way of saying that I’ve been operating a ‘first come first served’ policy; this might have implications for when you decide to send your submissions now.

There are four ‘new series’ in this issue, to three of which you might like to submit; the fourth depends on the direction of the wind from Japan!

There’s a delicate and sensitive piece from Wim Lofvers on how he became involved with haiku and Martin Lucas has done a deft job of editing tape recordings of a conversation with Haruo Shirane, influential haiku thinker.

Stanley Pelter’s ‘Pensées 4’ is another very small selection from a rather large text which, I’m told, will emerge as a purchasable book probably next spring. Several readers of Stanley’s ground-breaking book of what I suppose have to be called ‘erotic’ haiku (which will be reviewed in Blithe Spirit 12/1) have commented that his ‘Pensées’ make a lot more sense when read with his haiku in mind.

*

Articles, thoughts, haiku, lanka -
closing date for submissions for the March journal is the 1st February 2002 (but see above).
The SEASON for the March journal is WINTER -
haiku for this section should skirt judiciously round the word ‘winter’…