Summertime and the livin’ is . . . well, congested, in my case. I caught a cold in June, which turned into a “super cold” a week later, and just when I thought I’d recovered, I went to Cincinnati for the Haiku North America conference and came home with COVID (at least a dozen of us did). I’m still recovering from that and from the dregs of the previous cold, so my summer has not exactly gone off with a bang.
But HNA was lots of fun. There was lots more glitter and sequins than usual due to an influx of Swifties for the two Taylor Swift concerts in town, but that just added to the general feeling of joy at seeing so many dear friends in person after four years. Equally joyous was meeting new folks, people whose names I recognized from journals, or who I’d only ever seen on Zoom calls, and especially poets who’ve been in Kingfisher. Zoom has been a great way to sustain and build community, but nothing beats in-person. There was a lot of hugging and it was wonderful.
Although this was my fourth in-person HNA, this was my first one being an editor of a journal, and I very much enjoyed the different perspective and discussions I had as both a poet and as an editor. I encouraged everyone I spoke with to send me their poems in August, and I encourage you to do so, too! Yes, the next submission period starts in 3 weeks, and I’m very much looking forward to reading the influx of haiku and senryu! Please check out the Submission Guidelines to brush up on what I’m looking for in submissions: https://kingfisherjournal.com/submissions/ Enjoy the rest of your July (be it summer or winter where you are) and write some fabulous haiku!