The Heron's Nest

where tradition and innovation meet

How to Submit

Submission Deadlines

  • March 15 (for the June issue)
  • June 15 (for the September issue)
  • September 15 (for the December issue)
  • December 15 (for the March issue)

Haiku may be sent at any time for consideration for the next available issue.

Guidelines

Please read all submission guidelines carefully, as they may differ from those of other journals.

How to Submit
  • Paste your haiku in the body of an email as we do not open attachments.
  • Send submissions to only ONE of the five associate editors and to the SAME editor each time for ease of record keeping. (All the editors will have a chance to review your work at the appropriate stage in the selection process.)
What to Submit
  • Submit 5-15 unpublished poems at a time and only once per submission period. (Please do NOT number your haiku. Two spaces between haiku are sufficient.)
  • Include your name exactly as you wish it to appear should we select one or more of your haiku for publication. (Please include this information with EACH submission.)
  • Include your city, state, and country for our author index. (Please include this information with EACH submission.)
What We Publish

You can read the current issue of The Heron's Nest on our homepage and browse past issues in our archives to get a feel for the kind of haiku we publish.

We welcome both modern, freestyle haiku, and haiku that adhere to a syllabic structure of 5-7-5 with the inclusion of a seasonal reference. To The Heron's Nest, it is far more important for a poem to embody the spirit of haiku than for it to cleave to a particular, pat form. Certainly form is important; each expression of an experience demands one. It's up to the poet to find the form that fits.

Although we enjoy senryu immensely, we wish to focus on haiku. There are, of course, poems that fall into a gray area between the two genres. We'll certainly select some of these if the spirit in them seems in keeping with our ideals.

We are not accepting renku, haibun or tanka at this time.

Rights

The Heron's Nest requires first publication rights, including first electronic rights, for work accepted.

Poems that have been previously published in print or on the Internet, including publication on personal web sites or blogs, public video and/or photo sites, and public forums, are not eligible for submission to our journal. Any work that can be found in a Web search is considered previously published. Poems submitted to us must be the original work of the submitting poet and must not be under consideration by any ther publication or contest. Following on-line publication with us, all rights revert to the author (The Heron's Nest retains the right to reproduce the work in the annual print edition that recaps each year's on-line ssues).

Essential Qualities

Here are some qualities we find essential 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

Editors

Please send submissions to one of the five following associate editors: