Haiku by Alan Summers becomes an Editors' Choice Selection in a leading American haiku magazine.

The Heron’s Nest
Editors' Choices
Volume XIV, Number 4: December, 2012


lullaby of rain
another pinch of saffron
in the pumpkin soup

Alan Summers



Interestingly enough the above haiku is set in a 5 syllable 7 syllable 5 syllable pattern of English-language syllables which is rare amongst published haiku writers.   These haiku are possible if there is no padding out in words merely to make the syllable count, and where line breaks are utilised in a natural poetic fashion.

More about haiku as it's written today was studied in depth at:
Haiku and Tanka: Amazement & Intensity

Alan's Teacher Profile:
http://www.poetrycoop.com/poetry-workshops/teaching-artists
    
Alan also runs regular and popular online courses in haiku; tanka; haibun; and tanka prose etc... at With Words.

For further information, and quotes from previous participants: karen@withwords.org.uk


More about the haiku magazine:
The Heron’s Nest
"where tradition and innovation meet ... and complement each other"

The Heron's Nest, now in its fourteenth year of publication, is a quarterly online journal.

It is our intention to present haiku in which the outward form of each poem has been determined by two important elements.

The primary element is the poetic experience, faithfully and uniquely evoked in words.

The second element helps to shape the first; it is the poet's knowledge and respect for traditional haiku values.

When well balanced these elements result in work that is distinctively and unmistakably haiku.

"Poetic experiences" are those that inspire us to express ourselves creatively with words.

"Haiku values" are the traditional underpinnings, both Japanese and Western, by which haiku sensibility has evolved into what it is today, and which will continue to shape haiku traditions in the future.

—John Stevenson, Managing Editor

Here is my book review of John Stevenson's Live: Again

Previously published in Blithe Spirit, Journal of the British Haiku Society, and reproduced online at Haijinx magazine:
http://www.haijinx.org/IV-1/reviews/liveagain.html


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