Ah, well here we are again dear readers with another issue of haijinx, its first issue since 2002.
haijinx ceased publication after an attempt to move to print in 2003. In February 2010, Mark Brooks (I) decided to re-open the website and slowly began adding the archived issues as well as select new content. Then, with Alan Summers and Carmen Sterba back on board, we decided to relaunch the online quarterly journal with a summer issue. Christopher Patchel quickly joined the team and Jerry Dreesen came on as our artist-in-residence for the year.
Unfortunately, the summer relaunch of the journal had to be delayed when my family closed our business and relocated. As I am the only web tech haijinx has, there were many delays - all of which fall on my shoulders - from our weekly news feed to our columns. The editors and I eventually decided to collapse this year’s schedule to a single issue, the one you have before you now.
My sincere apologies to those contributors affected by the delays.
haiku and haiga. More than 65 haiku written by more than 25 authors from around the world. Credits for previously published haiku can be found on the contributors page. All of the haiga in this section were created for submitted haiku by our artist-in-residence, Jerry Dreesen.
selected haiga. A new section this issue containing haiga in a variety of styles from several talented artists. The selection process was handled by Jerry Dreesen with Mark Brooks.
spotlight haiku. An old friend of the journal, Dhugal J Lindsay, returns with a selection of his haiku written in Japanese and self-translated into English. All of these haiku were previously published in Fuyoh.
spotlight haibun. We have not published haibun in the past, never having an editor who felt well-versed enough in the form. However Penny Harter offered us this piece for our relaunch and we knew we needed to include it.
rengay. Likewise, haijinx did not previously publish rengay, but this time we have an editor, Christopher Patchel, with knowledge of the form. There are three of his recent pieces here, including one written with Alice Frampton and one written with Michael Dylan Welch.
renku. As a renkuphile, I always wanted an active renku section in haijinx. I could never find the right editor. Then, when we were moving to print, Bill Higginson agreed to take the job before the journal closed. So, it’s with some pleasure that I include Kala Ramesh’s article, “An Aesthetic Contemplation”, which attempts to co-relate the mind and the Indian theory of rasa with the principles in haiku and renku. The article is accompanied by The Awakening, a kasen renku composed across the internet.
reviews. Christopher Patchel reviews Montage: The Book and where the wind turns: RMA 2009 while Carmen Sterba shares her thoughts on hortensia anderson’s The Plenitude of Emptiness.
event notes. Merrill Gonzales shares the joys of her visit to The Haiku Circle in June.
During the production of this issue, the exceptional and dearly beloved Peggy Willis Lyles, a current issue contributor, past spotlight author, renku partner and dear friend, passed away. This issue of haijinx is dedicated to Peggy.
And so we hope you enjoy this issue of haijinx for 2010. After speaking with Alan Summers and Karen Brooks, it’s clear that haijinx will return in some form in 2011, even if not as a quarterly journal. The rest of 2010 will be spent cleaning up the website, releasing some overdue columns, and finalizing those 2011 plans. So, please check back for announcements in the next few weeks.
