Thank you for another excellent summer!

Dear Readers,

You didn’t think I wouldn’t finish out the week, do you?

Because I aim to keep each daily edition small, I end up with a list of haiku in my “To Publish” queue that, by virtue of timing or other factors, didn’t make it into a daily issue. These are pieces I enjoyed so much that I hate to simply send them back to their respective owners, so here they are! But before that, here are several paragraphs of gratitude for everyone who helped me make this another successful year.

A publication does not exist without writers, so first and foremost, thanks to everyone who sent in work. We had nearly double the number of submissions we had in 2023! Even if your work didn’t get chosen, please know that I got a little endorphin boost every time I was notified of a new submission.

Thank you to the 2024 guest editors:

• Korie Beth Brown, PhD
• Carol Dorf
• Jennifer Gurney
• Barrie Levine
• Michele Rule
• Jessica Allyson
• Nancy Brady
• Katherine E. Winnick
• C.X. Turner
• Lakshmi Iyer

I loved seeing each of your approaches and the haiku you selected. I feel like I’ve really gotten to know you better as poets based on what you published each day. Thanks also for being patient as we dealt with some logistical and technical issues. Thanks also for offering a week of your time, amidst everything else in your life, to help with this project.

Next, I would like to thank our most recent tip jar contributors. These folks donated between August 18th and August 31st.

Thanks to these tip jar contributors in the second half of August!

• Katja Fox
• Kimberly Kuchar
• Kathryn Haydon
• Betsy Hearne
• Wilda Morris
• Anonymous

Of course, I have to extend another round of gratitude for every tip jar contributor throughout the 2024 journal run. While the technological overhead for this publication is thankfully low, the time investment is high. While I love Haiku Girl Summer enough that I see myself running it for a long time, I am thankful for all the financial support people have been able to offer for my time, and the time of the 10 guest editors I got to work with this year.

I’m also grateful to everyone who liked a post, made a comment, restacked on Substack, or posted issues to your various social media platforms. I appreciate that you took the time to share these wonderful haiku, and to let us know when a particular issue resonated with you. Just as a publication cannot exist without writers, it also cannot exist without readers. Many haiku practitioners believe that a poem is not complete until someone reads it. Thank you for helping us complete these poems.

While this space will be mostly dormant until 2025, I will make occasional updates about next year’s guest editor slots, updated guidelines, and a new submission link. I hope the rest of 2024 is kind to you.

Sincerely,

Allyson Whipple
Founding Editor

ballerina tutu
cottonwood seeds
edge the lawn

Sangita Kalarical
Minnesota, USA

dark of the moon—water runs in the irrigation ditch

*
some reader, not me,
marked this haiku by Bunson
about a monsoon

Miriam Sagan
Santa Fe, NM, USA

breaking the tedium
of 100-degree heat—
dust devils

Julie Bloss Kelsey
Germantown, MD, USA
Instagram: julieblosskelsey
Twitter: mamajoules

lime racing stripes
a Texas whiptail
whips inside the house

Claire Vogel Camargo
Austin, TX, USA

jacaranda blue—
the scent of memories
going back home

*

just a dandelion—
the last wish should not be wasted

Maria Tosti
Perugia, Italy
Website: https://mariatosti.wixsite.com/mariatosti

heady blossoms nod
in the blanketing heat
flower bed

EJ Craft
Seattle, WA
Instagram: ellenjcraft

one petal trampled
loves me
loves me not

*

pluff mud the shoes left behind

Margaret Walker
Lincoln, NE, USA

private beach
the taste of strawberries
tiny & wild

kjmunro
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada
Website: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com

shimmering heat—
the rise and fall of voices
at the domino table

*

dandelion sun—
a girl in the outfield
lies down

Sandra Simpson
Tauranga, New Zealand
Website: https://breathhaiku.wordpress.com/

thunder rumble . . .
the softness
of a calf's lashes

*

moon dance . . .
a shimmer at the edge
of the crane's pond

Theresa A. Cancro
Wilmington, DE, USA

all those petals
that have flown away
tax declaration

Marie Derley
Ath, Wallonia, Belgium

wind-whipped afternoons
heavy-petaled sunflowers
hold each other up

Tracie Renee Amirante Padal
Illinois, USA
Links: https://linktr.ee/tracie.renee

early beachcombing
what the tide brings
sand still cold

Lisa Billa
San Jose, CA, USA