|
About six months ago, Mark Brooks (referred to as "I" or "me" from here on out) was working on haijinx I:3 (aka "the lost issue") and received an email from Takashi Nonin, our staff contributor. Apparently, a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I stopped and spent the morning watching TV.
During the winter, my family and I passed around bug after bug. In fact, I was the lucky one. My wife and my boys ended up with a mild pneumonia at different times. Since I'm the person who cares for the sick in the house, my time was limited. And since haijinx is understaffed in the web department, that meant delaying the issue even more.
And now here we are at haijinx II:1. A fresh start.
In this issue of haijinx you’ll find:
Haiku and haiga. More than 80 haiku written by more than 50 authors from around the world. We used a very strict selection process that involved multiple evaluations and long nights of reading. The haiga have circled the globe many times before they have been accepted. For this issue, we have done away with the asterisk for previously published haiku. You can still read credit information either in the author bio (click on an author's name under their haiku and go to their bio) or in the list of contributors to this issue.
Well-known haijin have written things that have made us laugh. We like to introduce some of these folks to you in each issue. Spotlight authors also share their thoughts on humor and haiku.
This time around, we have:
Janice M. Bostok from Australia writes on "To Laugh Or To Cry".
Peggy Willis Lyles of the United States contributes "What's So Funny?"
Ryu Yotsuya of Japan shares "harmony".
During the production of this issue, two of our friends have passed away. Bob Spiess, the long-time editor of Modern Haiku, is remembered by Billie Wilson in Mentor to Many. Niji Fuyuno, a talented poet and wife of Ryu Yotsuya, passed away in February. Niji is remembered by Serge Tomé in Lightness and Grace.
This issue of haijinx is dedicated to Ryu and Niji.
There are two articles:
Patrick Gallagher discusses a dictum of Yatsuka Ishihara in "Tell About the Truth As If It Were False".
William J. Higginson resumes a discussion of Bashô’s humor with "Cosmic Humor".
We have continued to expand our list of regular features. New in this issue is "juxtaposé" where Mark Brooks will juxtapose two haiku, one classic and one modern, to create an exposé of their intertextual relationships. I present two haiku, talk a bit about the history of each one, and see how they compare. This month we have fun with Bashô and Michael Dylan Welch.
"light seasonings", a dialog between Takashi Nonin and Carmen Sterba, returns with a discussion of cherry blossoms (sakura). This is also available in Japanese.
And "editors' picks" is back with our favorites from haijinx I:2.
haijinx now publishes reviews. In this issue, read about Flamingo Shapes by John Barlow and Thunderbolt by Takatoshi Gotoh
. Also, take a look at our materials received section and find out how to send your items to us for future notices and possible review.
In addition to the spring issue, we are expanding haijinx in many ways. First, there is the editor's blog. A blog is a "web log" or journal (in the "diary" sense). They are gaining in popularity with editors of online journals. In fact, I'm not the first haiku editor to have one. Jane Reichhold is. In the blog, you can see pictures of my kids, read silly quotes, and all the other stupid stuff Internet users have come to expect in this kind of personal indulgence. Seriously, I post haiku info there as I get it, so it should be of some use to folks.
Second, the haijinx weekly wire (hww). hww is at its core an alternate distribution of the haijinx journal. We split each issue into equal segments and send the text out in weekly emails without any graphics or attachments. This is in direct response to reader requests. Now those who wish to read less in a sitting, to print out content easily, or to spend less on connection fees, can receive haijinx content in their email box each week. If you wish to subscribe to hww, just click here.
Since hww goes out each week, we decided to combine it with haikai news and announcements. The hope is that this will be of service to the online haikai community. Linda Robeck, our production manager, and I will be managing hww.
Finally, the haikai.info | haikai.org (hiho) project aims to be a premiere clearing house for haikai (haiku, haiga, haibun, renku, senryu, etc) information on the web. The initial content is primarily from "Mark's haiku place" on epiphanous.org which is returning to a personal site. hiho now hosts specialized content from that site as well, such as the unofficial newcomer's guide to haiku mailing lists, select contemporary articles on haikai, and the haiku reading group.
In addition to this seed material, hiho contains redirect links for haiku organizations, journals, and other sites of interest. For example, http://www.haikai.info/hsa/ takes you to the Haiku Society of America's web site and http://www.haikai.info/bhs/ takes you to the British Haiku Society's web site.
There are many benefits to this system. The most important is that you do not have to keep up with changing URLs (web addresses), we do it for you. While that's true of most "links" sites, hiho creates a direct web address for these sites that will not change even when they move.
[editor's note 2010: those domains were lost in my time away from haikai. if you have a grand each, they are apparently available for sale.]
Combined, these projects give haijinx four aspects
| news as it happens: editor's blog |
| weekly newsletter: haijinx weekly wire |
| quarterly journal: haijinx |
| "permanent" information: haikai.info | haikai.org (hiho) |
We are also very pleased to formally announce the john crook award for haiku with humor. As many long-time readers know, john was one of our first spotlights and he was a great friend to all of us here. He was in hospice care while we created that first issue. At the time, we discussed a plan for a memorial award in his honor to partly benefit the hospice. john and his wife Celia loved the idea and now we are honored to go forward. Read the details and place your entry today.
As part of the release of haijinx I:2 (summer 2001), we offered t-shirts of the "fin" haiga (a Bashô haiku illustrated by our own Kuniharu Shimizu). We plan on adding to the t-shirt collection with each release of haijinx, so you can now order a t-shirt of the "fin" haiga from haijinx II:1 (spring 2002). This time it is a Buson haiku again illustrated by Kuniharu Shimizu.
Ah, but there is more. There are two new products. You can also order a tote bag or a tile coaster with either haiga. Order your haijinx memorabilia today!
Thanks for reading haijinx. I hope you find both quality and something worth laughing about.
|
"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."
— e e cummings
|
by Mark Brooks
March 28, 2002
|
