Tribute to the Haibun

Conversation with
Lew Watts

The Spring 2025 issue features what might be the most dynamic form in contemporary poetry—the haibun. Developed by Basho in 17th-century Japan as a way to combine haiku with travel journals, the variations on the form have exploded in the English-language haiku community over the last few decades, revealing how important a sense of movement is to poetry. The issue features a conversation with haibun poet Lew Watts, along with a large selection of open poetry.

	Haibun
	Roberta Beary	A Short History of the Birds and Bees
	Katie Beswick	What Did You Call Me?
	Tim Cremin	Act IV
	Amy Dougher-Solórzano	After the Overdose
	Seth Friedman	Trenches
	Engin Gülez	Absence
	Kat Lehmann	Category 5
	Bob Lucky	At the Cemetery, the Church of St. James, Porto
	Annette Makino	Migration
	Hemat Malak	Aerodynamic Drag
	Tanya McDonald	Fourth of July
	Debra Murphy	Left Fielder
	Ginel Ople	What Remains True after the Golden Anniversary
	Lorraine A. Padden	Reading the Room
	J.B. Penname	Leprosy
	Carla Schwartz	Impact
	Alan Summers	The Moon Is in My Torch
	Namratha Varadharajan	Threadbare
	Lew Watts	Mannequin
	Michael Dylan Welch	Step Quota
	Valorie B. Woerdehoff	Clean-up on Aisle 4
	Rich Youmans	Brain Teaser
	..
	Open Poetry
	Kim Addonizio	Pima Canyon
	Nancy Beagle	Second Time Going
	Jim Burrows	The Elevator
	Susan Cohen	Self-Portrait Surrounded by Doves
	Arlene DeMaris	Seventeen
	Sonia Greenfield	Storage Spaces
	David Kirby	The Queen of Quirk Says Goodbye to Her Not-Me
	Lance Larsen	Why I Petted the Cat
	Michael Lavers	There Is a Fire
	Dominic Leading Fox	Down in the Gully
	Matt Mason	I Owe You a Poem
	Chelsea McClellan	Sestina Sophia
	Joseph Mills	Guttering
	Richard Prins	Natural History
	Kelly Sargent	Haiku and Senryu
	Prartho Sereno	Almost
	Carrie Shipers	Things I Found While Cleaning Out My Parents’ House
	..
	Conversation
	Lew Watts
	..
	Cover Art
	Kimberly Kelly Santini (web)