Issue #3 Coming Soon!

Happy Spring! The sun is out, leaves are unfurling, birds are singing, and vaccinations are popping up with the randomness of crocuses.

I’m delighted to announce that the next 2 issues of Kingfisher will feature cover art by Annette Makino! Annette is a skilled haiku poet and a brilliant visual artist who resides in Northern California. Please check out her work here: https://www.makinostudios.com The cover art she created is an awesome collage of a Belted Kingfisher. I absolutely love it and I hope you will, too!

Thank you to everyone who submitted haiku and senryu for issue 3. I received 246 submissions this time around (an increase from issue 1 and issue 2), and I’m happy to report that the process of reading and responding as I went along (rather than waiting until the end of the submission period) went pretty well. Regrettably, I felt behind toward the end, and I’m grateful for everyone’s patience. I hope to improve my response times during the next submission window (August 1–31).

Last week was spent sequencing all 166 haiku/senryu. I know that sounds like a long time and someday I would like to get faster at this part, but I can only sequence for 3–4 hours a day before my brain turns to mush. Some poems fall into place with ease, others involve considerable rearranging before I find that perfect spot, but either way, it’s a joy to spend so much time with these haiku/senryu.

The next step will be completing the layout so I can get it to the printer later this month. If all goes well, I hope to be mailing out copies by mid-May. If you haven’t subscribed or renewed your subscription, I would be grateful if you did so within the next couple of weeks as that will give me more accurate numbers when I’m placing the order with the printer. https://kingfisherjournal.com/subscriptions/

I’ll announce when issue 3 is ready to mail. In the meantime, I hope you’re all continuing to stay safe, soaking up what sunshine you can, and writing lots!