Welcome to February! As I wandered through the house flipping each calendar to a fresh page, I felt a small sense of renewal. January was a lot. On one side, I quietly celebrated being around for half a century and the Portland area saw an unprecedented number of sunny days for this time of the year. On the other side, fires ravaged Los Angeles and surrounding areas, and there was an inauguration with ongoing fallout. The rest of 2025 is shaping up to be just as much of a rollercoaster.
Which is why I’m particularly excited that Kingfisher is open for submissions this month. I can’t wait to discover new haiku and senryu that dazzle me, and share them with you in issue 11. It won’t make the bad news go away, and indeed, I expect (and hope) some of these poems will address current issues, but I know that through sharing them, we can make it through the first half of the year together. Full submission details can be found here: https://kingfisherjournal.com/submissions/ Hang in there, everyone.