poetry

Thank You For a Great Summer!

Haiku by Christina Chin, Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff, Barrie Levine, Sangita Kalarickal, Monica Kakkar, Michele Rule, Lorraine A Padden, Nancy Brady, JL Huffman, and Hannah Mahoney

Allyson Whipple

01 Sep 2023 — 2 min read

Photo by Peter Nicola on Unsplash

Dear Poets and Readers,

Thank you for making this project a success beyond what I originally imagined.

I started with the idea less than 24 hours before launch, and spent the first few days publishing my own poems before I got a few submissions. Throughout June, I was still supplementing issues with my poems, but by July, I was getting so many submissions, that was no longer a concern. By the end of August, I had received more poems than I could reasonably use given the timeframe. What a great problem to have!

I learned a great deal about publishing a daily periodical. Even just publishing a few haiku a day requires a great deal of thought. Sometimes, I had haiku that did fit a theme, but I decided to gamble on them being a better fit later in the summer. I also figured out the ups and downs of Substack, a platform I’d been meaning to try for a while. This was an educational summer, and I’m so glad I chased my wild idea. I enjoyed it so much that I plan to bring it back in 2024.

I want to close with big selection of assorted haiku. These sat in the draft queue through July and August. They were poems I had every intention of using, but couldn’t get enough similar haiku to build an issue. I felt that since I’d planned to use them, they deserved to be published in this bonus post. This space will be dormant for the time being. Check back in 2024 for updates regarding themes and submission guidelines (and maybe opportunities for guest editors?).

Thank you for reading, commenting, and sharing these posts. Thank you for submitting your work, and for helping to make this project a success.

Sincerely,

Allyson Whipple
Founder & Editor

sand crabs
crawl up the burrow
crispy fried

snapping scallops
caught in the nets
hotpot soup

sea-salt breeze
at fish vendor jetty
pickled jellyfish

Christina Chin
Malaysia

what stays packed
on a family vacation
hermit crab

inside an ocean
hearing
the shell

Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff
Dubuque, IA, USA
Instagram: @valoriea

pirate’s breath
at the bottom of the sea
conch shell

Barrie Levine
Boston, MA, USA