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!