teetering grass . . . 
just moments ago 
a dragonfly

Don Baird

Hokku are poems of a long tradition.  While they were primarily introduction poems to longer works, they came to be known as stand-alone poems during Basho's era. Today, they and variations of them, are more often written on their own than as introductions.

Under the Basho editors look for the following qualities:

• phrase/fragment - a comparison, juxtaposition or disjunction.
• cut-marker (kireji)
• season indicator through kigo or zoka ... zoka being the cause of seasons, all activities of nature, and the original source of kigo.  This includes festivals and other annual events that take place regionally - not just in Japan. See the article Zoka by editor Don Baird.
• short/long/short line format - three lines (we will make an exception at our discretion  if we feel the hokku warrants it)
• poems that include Basho aesthetics such as zoka, koto, ma, yugen, wabi, sabi, kokoro, makoto and so forth (these are poems of the old generation aesthetics)

Hokku - poems about nature; while they are not "nature poems" they are poems about nature, about the Tao, about the activities of the Universe - the comings and goings of all things - the cosmic tide. They carry within them the natural rhythm of creativity.

With "UtB Submission - Hokku" for the subject,
please submit up to 10 hokku in plain text within the message body of an email to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.