The Heron's Nest
Christopher Herold, Editor
816 Taft Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368

http://www.theheronsnest.com/

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Managing Editor:

Christopher Herold
theheronsnest@cablespeed.com

Millikin University students have researched various magazines publishing haiku and haiku related poetry.

This is a profile of Heron's Nest magazine, gathered by Maureen Yates from the Fall 2002 Haiku Writing Roundtable class.

You can email your haiku to one of the following editors:

Associate Editor: Ferris Gilli
treefrog.house@comcast.net

Associate Editor: Robert Gilliland
theheronsnest@austin.rr.com

Associate Editor: Peggy Willis Lyles
turtlerock@worldnet.att.net

Associate Editor: Paul MacNeil
theheronsnest@yahoo.com

Submissions can also be sent via regular mail (please include SASE) to:

Peggy Willis Lyles
The Heron's Nest
2408 Wood Creek Court
Tucker, GA 30084

Paul MacNeil
The Heron's Nest
5231 SE 17th St.
Ocala, FL 34471

Ferris Gilli, Assoc. Editor
The Heron’s Nest
2686 Bennington Dr. NE
Marietta, GA 30062

Robert Gilliland, Assoc. Editor
The Heron’s Nest
3204 Lipscomb Street
Austin, TX 78705

Submission Guidelines:

Please submit your haiku for The Heron's Nest. We recommend that you send 5 to 15 poems at a time. Sending less than 5 is okay but more than 15 is burdensome to the editors.

We accept both traditional (approximately 5-7-5 with a seasonal reference) and three-line modern haiku.

Poems should be unpublished and not currently under consideration elsewhere. Please include your city, state, and country for our author index.

A new edition of The Heron's Nest will be posted at the beginning of each month. Included will be five pages of haiku and one page presenting three "Editors' Choice" haiku. One of these three will receive The Heron's Nest Award and be posted on the home page as well as the Editors' Choice page. This haiku will receive special commentary and the poet will be sent a certificate. In mid-February a special Valentine Awards issue is published. It features favorite poems and poets of the previous year as voted for by our readers, and three favorite poems selected by the editors.

Philosophy:

It is our intention to present haiku in which the outward form of each poem has been determined by two important elements. (1) The primary element is the poetic experience, faithfully and uniquely evoked in words. (2) The second element helps to shape the first; it is the poet's knowledge and respect for traditional haiku values. When well balanced these elements result in work that is distinctively and unmistakably haiku. 

"Poetic experiences" are those which inspire us to express ourselves creatively. "Haiku values" are the traditional underpinnings, both Japanese and Western, by which haiku sensibility has evolved into what it is today, and which will continue to shape haiku traditions in the future. There are many ideals equated with each of the various haiku forms. No one poem can embody all, or even a majority of these ideals. Each of us must decide for ourselves what is important in the writing and appreciating of haiku. To help you decide whether or not to submit your work, we'd like you to know the qualities we regard as important to haiku. 

• Present moment magnified (immediacy of emotion)
• Interpenetrating the source of inspiration (no space between observer and observed)
• Simple, uncomplicated images
• Common language
• Finding the extraordinary in "ordinary" things
• Implication through objective presentation, not explanation: appeal to intuition, not intellect
• Human presence is fine if presented as an archetypical, harmonious part of nature (human nature should blend in with the rest of nature rather than dominate the forefront)
• Humor is fine, if in keeping with "karumi" (lightness) - nothing overly clever, cynical, comic, or raucous
• Musical sensitivity to language (effective use of rhythm and lyricism)
• Feeling of a particular place within the cycle of seasons