0. Welcome to confluence

Welcome to the confluence, a haiku journal centered on innovation and community.

With so many haiku journals out there, you might wonder why we're starting a new one. We see confluence as making a unique and lasting contribution to the haiku community in a way that differs from other journals in three key ways.

First, in contrast to the typical journal that publishes hundreds of haiku by different poets, confluence issues are small and centered on just 1-2 poets. Each issue will feature a representative selection of the poet's work—set the context of the poet's biography, essay on their haiku philosophy, and commentary by the editors and other poets. Our intention is not only to introduce outstanding haiku, but also to introduce the poets, and to allow readers to know and appreciate each poet's distinctive voice.

Second, we really value community, and we think it's one of the best things about English language haiku today. Unlike other journals where poets' interactions are limited to submitting work and reading the journal, poets featured in confluence write commentaries on each others' work, collaborate on new work, and participate in a public reading. We recognize this is a much bigger commitment than just collecting a dozen poems and hitting submit, and we hope to attract poets who are just as excited as we are about connecting with others in the haiku community.

Lastly, we feel that English language haiku has become an insular bubble in recent years, and we want to break haiku out into the wider spheres of English language literature. We intend to promote the journal widely in non-haiku circles. We hope that confluence will become a gateway for new readers to the haiku form and perhaps even to poetry, given that haiku is uniquely accessible to non-poets with its brevity and simplicity.

We are open for submissions between June 15 to July 15. And whether you write haiku or not, we hope you'll join us on this journey by signing up below.

The Editors
Ryland Shengzhi Li
Antoinette Cheung
Aidan Castle