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Frogpond 33.1 • 2010

Museum of Haiku
Literature Award

Haiku & Senryu

Revelations Unedited

Essay 1 - Hackett

Essay 2 - Scifaiku

Haibun

Rengay

Renku

Tan Renga

Book Review

From the Editors

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From the Editors

In the Spring/Summer issue (32:2), we reported on the listing of Frogpond in the MLA International Bibliography, and in the Fall issue (32:3), we announced the journal’s inclusion in Humanities International Complete. Now we have some more good news: our new President, Ce Rosenow, has arranged for the American Literature Association to add the Haiku Society of America as one of its affiliated societies. This means an increasing exposure of haiku and related forms to a wider arts and academic audience.

Some of our older readers might have wondered whether their vision was blurring while reading this issue. Others might have suspected that our printing company was scrimping on ink. Rest assured: your eyes are fine and we have all the ink we need.

In the last issue, we experimented with using gray shading for a variation in visual experience. In this issue, we have used it extensively. For most readers, the most significant change will be in the “fourth line” of the haiku—the name of the author. Some people believe that knowing who wrote the poem influences how it is perceived. Others say they want to read the haiku before they know who wrote it—and a bolded name precludes this. Editors of some journals and anthologies (hard copy and online) have printed the haiku without the fourth line, putting the authors’ names elsewhere. We addressed this issue (beginning in 32:2) by reducing the size of the typeface for the authors’ names; now we have reduced the intensity of the color to 60%.

Elsewhere in the issue—for instance, the Renga/Renku section— we have also used gray for initials and explanatory material in order to place focus on the poems. In the three sections dealing with awards, however, the winners’ names are in bold italics for obvious reasons.

Tell us what you think. Meanwhile, we continue to congratulate ourselves for not making any feeble jokes about gray power. We hope that you enjoy this issue of 128 pages, the most of any Frogpond to date.

George Swede, Editor
Anita Krumins, Assistant Editor

E-mail: gswede@ryerson.ca

George Swede
Box 279, Station P
Toronto, ON M5S 2S8

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