Woodnotes — #28

With issue #28, Woodnotes began its new life as an independent publication, no longer being published by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. In “A Note from the Editor,” I observed that “Despite a very quick deadline after issue #27 [which had been delayed], we received a record number of submissions for this issue.” The “Beginner’s Mind” column continued with four new contributions, we had a record number of five haibun (identified as “an increasing trend” in my editor’s message), and this issue’s cover was also unique, using a metallic silver ink printed on purple paper. Of particular note was Yvonne Hardenbrook’s overview essay, “Haiku in North America,” reprinted from The Study and Writing of Poetry: American Women Poets Discuss Their Craft. And with “A Pre-Electronic View of the World,” Paul O. Williams offered his thoughts on haiku in the so-called information age. Also announced in this issue was a new procedure for selecting the Woodnotes Award, which would now be chosen by the winner from the previous issue. To make this transition, even though we’d already had a Woodnotes Award in issue #27 (chosen from poems in #27), issue #28 included another Woodnotes Award chosen from issue #27, so that future issues could select the winner from the previous issue. This new process also engaged new participants in making selections. Another new development was my announcement of the “Woodnotes International Haibun Contest,” to be judged by Tom Lynch and Cor van den Heuvel. This endeavor was the first haibun contest ever to be held in English, and it resulted in the Wedge of Light anthology that I edited and published in 1999.

Staff

• Editor: Michael Dylan Welch

• Associate/Haibun Editor: Gail Sher

• Tanka Editor: Pat Shelley

• Art Editor: Cherie Hunter Day

• Typesetting and layout: Michael Dylan Welch

• Cover and interior art: Cherie Hunter Day

Pages 56

Haiku/Senryu 125

Tanka 14

Haibun 5

Essays 7

Reviews 2

Mini-Reviews 9

Editorials 1

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