Dos Gatos Press Anthology: Submissions Open

Photo by Leaflet

An old friend of Lilliput Review, Constance Campbell, asked me to pass along the following information about a forthcoming anthology of haiku, senyru, and haiga that focus on the Southwestern U. S. You don't have to be a resident of the Southwest to submit and, since there is no fee for submitting (on principle, I won't pass along information where the poet is charged a fee), I am more than happy to pass the info along.      

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Dos Gatos Press

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Scott Wiggerman & David Meischen, Publishers
1310 Crestwood Road, Austin, Texas 78722
editors@dosgatospress.org www.dosgatospress.org 512-467-0678

SUBMISSIONS OPEN!

A New Anthology of Haiku/Senryu and Haiga

A new Dos Gatos Press anthology will feature original, previously unpublished haiku/senyru and haiga that focus on the Southwestern United States. Scott Wiggerman and Constance Campbell will serve as editors. Penny Harter will write the preface. We anticipate a 2013 release date.

You need not be a resident of the Southwest to submit. The arrangement of the anthology will be by seasons, though the poems need not include a kigo, or traditional “season” word.

You may submit haiku/senryu or haiga or both.

Submissions Window: September 1, 2012–January 15, 2013

For all submissions:

· Dos Gatos Press accepts submissions through Submittable, our online submissions manager. We no longer accept submissions by mail. We do not accept submissions by e-mail. http://dosgatospress.submittable.com/submit

· Do NOT put your name or any other identifying information on the document that holds the poems you submit. We follow a “blind” reading system: our editors read all poetry submissions without knowing who wrote the poems.

· Please use Times New Roman 12 pt. for the text of your submission. Single space your poems; double space between stanzas.

· We welcome the expression of diverse voices, diverse cultures—including poems partly or entirely in Spanish. Please include an English translation of a poem written in a language other than English.

· No previously published work. We consider a poem published if it has appeared online or in print, including personal blogs/webpages and/or social media sites.

· No simultaneous submissions.

Haiku/Senryu

Submit up to two haiku/senryu per season (e.g., if you submit two for each season, you can submit up to eight poems). Use the labels Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer to identify your haiku/senryu. You may submit haiku or senryu or both.

What we look for in haiku/senryu:

· Haiku do not traditionally have titles, dedications, or epigraphs noting location and date. We prefer that they not for this anthology.

· The same goes for metaphors and similes; let images themselves do the work. Think simplicity!

· We especially like haiku that juxtapose two images in new and startling ways. Often two of the lines, with a slight pause used as emphasis, will be juxtaposed with the third line to create an aha moment.

· Haiku may have up to seventeen syllables in one to three lines. We do not require a traditional 5-7-5 syllable count.

We like the definition of haiku expressed by Modern Haiku:

“Haiku is a brief verse that epitomizes a single moment. It uses the juxtaposition of two concrete images, often a universal condition of nature and a particular aspect of human experience, in a way that prompts the reader to make an insightful connection between the two. The best haiku allude to the appropriate season of the year. Good haiku avoid subjectivity; intrusions of the poet’s ego, views, or values; and displays of intellect, wit, and facility with words.”

We recommend reading more about haiku at the website of Modern Haiku, as well as at the following: Daily Haiku, Frogpond, The Heron’s Nest, Simply Haiku, and Tinywords.

We also recommend excellent how-to articles by Jane Reichhold:

http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiku.htm

Haiku books worth reading:

· The Haiku Handbook—25th Anniversary Edition: How to Write, Teach, and Appreciate Haiku (Higginson & Harter)

· Haiku: A Poet’s Guide (Gurga)

If you have any questions about submitting haiku, feel free to contact Scott Wiggerman.

Haiga

Haiga is a digital or scanned image artistically integrated with haiku. The haiku complements the image; the image complements the haiku. The placement of the haiku is important, as is the choice of typeface or the style of any lettering done by hand.

We recommend reading more about haiga at the following websites:

DailyHaiga, Haigaonline, Reeds: Contemporary Haiga, and Simply Haiga.

See an excellent how-to “workshop” on haiga images by Ray Rasmussen: http://www.haigaonline.com/issue13-1/issue.html

Note: This link takes you to a welcome page. The menu is at left. Click “haiga workshop” there.

Our Guidelines:

Submit up to three haiga. Each haiga will include an original image and an embedded haiku—both created by the individual submitting the haiga. Because we use a blind reading process, you will not include a byline/signature on a haiga when you submit it.

Image Guidelines:

Black and white images only—no color images.

Printable space on a page will be 4.4 X 7.25 inches. A vertical haiga might take up an entire page. A horizontal haiga will be limited to the width of our page; we will not rotate a page 90° to accommodate a horizontal image.

Digital Images:

Minimum width for an image: 1320 pixels.

Scanning images:

· Scan non-digital photographs at 300 dpi or higher.

· For pen and ink, line art, or type as line art, scan in bitmap format at 600 dpi or higher.

NOTE: If one of your haiga is accepted, you will need to submit separate files to us—one for the image itself (without the text) and one for the text itself (haiku and byline/signature)—so that we can work with our printer to achieve the best possible print quality. At this point in the process, you will include your byline/signature on the haiga.

NOTE: Managing Editor David Meischen works with our printer to achieve high quality images. If you have any questions about how to create the image file you submit, please contact him: managingeditor@dosgatospress.org

Save files as: jpg (use high/best compression level) or tiff


NOTE: Before you submit an image, be sure that the file extension is .jpg (not .jpeg) or .tiff (not .tif).

Dos Gatos Press

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what delicateness!
a snake too sheds
his worldly robe

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don 

PS.Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 135 songs

Michael Newell & Constance Campbell: Wednesday Haiku, Week 43

Photo by Scott M. Liddell

Most eloquent
when simplest
the grammar of touch.

     Michael L. Newell

to be like the dragonfly:
busy and strong

  Constance Campbell

the distant mountain
reflected in his eyes...
dragonfly

    Issa
    translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

PS  Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 126 songs

Subscribe to Lilliput Review

Constance Campbell: Monday Twitter Poem

even in daylight, these shadows find me

       Constance Campbell
                     from Lilliput Review #173

our shameful shadows!
in the long night walking
in vain

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,

Don

PS Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 119 songs

Subscribe to Lilliput Review

2nd Annual Bashô Haiku Challenge Winner

After weeks of working through nearly 500 haiku from 99 poets, I've made a final selection of 56 poems to be published in the 2010 2nd Annual Bashô Haiku Challenge chapbook. Though I received 3 times as many entries as last year, the task seemed a thousand times more daunting. I set no particular limit or had no particular length in mind for the chapbook, so the final selection represents only the highest quality of work I received. Last year's chapbook contained 25 haiku, making this year's over double the size. I would have been happy to publish another chap of the same size, but the quality of entries demanded a weightier book and I am even happier to oblige with that.


The winning poem comes from William Appel of Japan:

Leaf
falling off
the mountain

William Appel

I will let William's poem speak for itself, only saying that to evoke the entire macrocosm via one of its smallest components, in just 5 words, is a daunting accomplishment and the stuff of great haiku, indeed.

The five runner-up poems, each of which will receive a book from Jim Kacian's red moon press (page down a bit at this link for the titles), plus a 6 issue subscription to Lilliput Review and two copies of the chapbook upon publication, are as follows:




waiting for you --
the window changes
into a mirror

Jacek Margolak

Up the river –
a boat splits
the Milky Way

Eduard Tara

in and out
of the ambulance's wail
birdsong

Terry Ann Carter

standing among the aspens just one of the grove

Peter Newton

a cloudy night
only croaking of the tree frog
gives shape to the bush

Dubravko Korbus

Choosing these 6 poems among the 56 selected overall proved to be quite a challenge, so the title, Bashô Haiku Challenge, swings both ways, for the editor as well as the poets. I'd like to thank everyone who participated this year and say sincerely that, though the task was massive, it was well worth the effort. The work brought great joy, sadness, and the myriad gamut of emotions that move between.

Part 2 of the "daunting task" begins with the shipping out of the 6 prizes and 6 issue subscriptions to all 50 plus poets whose work will be included in the forthcoming chapbook. I anticipate publication of the 2nd Annual chap to be sometime mid-year 2010. I sincerely hope to get all of the new subscriptions out in the mail over the next 4 weeks. Since this happens to dovetail with the new issues going out to current subscribers, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to pull it all off. Bear with me, folks - all good things are worth the wait, as the cliché goes.

One last note for the moment about the contest; I'd like to particularly thank the online haiku community for embracing and promoting the challenge. The amount of international submissions I received (and accepted for the chapbook) was truly amazing. Thanks particularly to haiku societies in Australia, Canada, Croatia, and Great Britain and, I'm sure, others I wasn't even aware of that sent out notices about the challenge. Thanks, too, of course to all who submitted and the stateside folks, such as Jim Kacian at red moon press, that really gave the whole idea a nice lift. I'm sure I've forgotten someone but you get the idea: I am grateful, indeed.



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The new issues, #'s 171 and 172, begin going out this week, contributors having just received their copies. With an additional 50+ copies to be printed, collated, folded, and stapled (see above), it will be awhile before they all get in the mail. I'm hoping to post the majority of them over the next 4 weeks, but chances are it may take a bit longer.

Ah, the price of success of a one-person operation.

This week's featured issue is #169, from July 2009. With next week's feature, almost all of the anthology issues from the last 20 years will have made been highlighted on the blog over the years. I've been thinking about what direction to go in future posts. More about that soon. Meanwhile, enjoy these highlights in their attempt to counter the darkness of the coming season:

A good poem
Should smell of tea,
earth or newly split wood.
A few words piled together
To make something of a hut.

Dennis Maloney

there was a time
when thinking of sunflowers
sunflowers appeared

Constance Campbell

My childhood flowered :: with a color I can't finish

Grant Hackett

Oh

rose
that blew
apart

Stephanie Hiteshaw

And the master's final word:





in autumn frost
lushly blooming again
roses of Sharon

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

Helen Vendler, Peter Pauper, and the Meaning of Everything

Best to get the important stuff out of the way first: the Meaning of Everything. This should clear up everything nicely. If, perchance, there are any further questions, try here. Or here. Not quite: how about here? Surely here (which may be continually refreshed). How about a little old school? Perhaps a tad older? No? Yes?

Let this be the last word on that ... And now for something completely different ...

Every once in awhile, something will just leap up from behind a rock to scare or surprise the bejezus out of us. As I may have mentioned previously, in my paying job I spend a great deal of time reading literature reviews, most of which are functional at best and run of the mill most of the time. Word limitations are the culprit in many cases, so it is sometimes a pleasure to read lengthier work when time allows. This week I stumbled across a Helen Vendler review of a new book by Charles Wright in the New York Review of Books (March 6, 2008). Always insightful, Vendler manages to at once balance particular detail with the larger picture of Wright's career to make for pleasurable reading in and of itself. In the midst of her precise, lyrical explication the following arrested me in mid-work mode:


"Like Yeats, he (Wright) thinks that each of us, poet and non-poet, must invent the unfolding choreography of his own life. The choreography that non-poets trace is a virtual poem---the same, although silent, as the spoken poem of the writer."


And the review continues from there. It felt like one of those emergency early warning system tests one still hears occasionally on the radio (on the what?), only this one came in the middle of a book review. Followed by the new Tommy James and the Shondells song. This has only been a test. Ms. Vendler now returns you to your regular work mode. And somehow that Tommy James song just never sounds the same.

In the midst of a rather busy week and a 12 hour work day Monday, shuffling between two jobs, I managed to pick up a little something to read in the off free moments while grabbing a bite etc. I was looking for something light (weight-wise; I had a two mile walk ahead) yet filling. And I ran across one of the old Hallmark editions of haiku on the library shelf, as pictured above, so gave it a go. It reminded me of how, for so many people, the first introduction to Asian poetry came in the form of these Hallmark/Peter Pauper editions, many of which were charmingly illustrated:




What is most impressive about this particular volume, Silent Flowers: a New Collection of Japanese Haiku Poems, is the fact that the translations are by the master haiku sensei, R. H. Blyth, whose 4 volume magnum opus on the haiku is still the standard that translation should be measured against. Here are a few examples from the patron of this site, Issa:



Just simply alive,
Both of us, I
And the poppy

A world of grief and pain:
Flowers bloom;
Even then ...

"The peony was as big as this"
Says the little girl,
Opening her arms.

Reflected
in the eye of the dragon-fly
The distant hills

Spring begins again;
Upon folly,
Folly returns.

Cover by Cornpuff

This week we arrive at Lilliput #146, from October 2005. Hope something from these samples grabs you. As always, copies of this and any other back issues are available for one buck each, less than a pocketful of change.

the tall trees remind me

how much less I could say

than I do

Constance Campbell

field of sunflowers

far as the eye can see

farther

Anne LB Davidson

Silence spreading
across the ridge
after the hawk

Carl Mayfield

To Rise

Lily buds
curve,
hum
secrets.
Again,
o wet pale loop of swan's logic.

James Owens

Autumn wind -
sidewalk leaves whirling
a perfect enso.

Greg Watson

Finally, a bit of news. The contributor copies of the new issues, #161 and #162, will begin going out in the next two weeks, with the full subscriber run hitting the mails during the month of March. FYI, it takes about a full month to send the entire run out to subscribers, what with notes to be written, apologies to be proffered, and praise to be lavishly distributed.


best till next week,

Don