confluence is a Japanese short-form journal centered on innovation and community. Our mission is to make a significant and lasting contribution to haiku, tanka, and related literary forms.

confluence is a Japanese short-form journal centered on innovation and community. Our mission is to make a significant and lasting contribution to haiku, tanka, and related literary forms by:

• Publishing outstanding work that stretches the possibilities of the forms,
• Providing a venue for emerging poets to showcase a representative sample of their work and receive readership and recognition,
• Creating a vital, global community of poet Fellows, that collaborate together and engage deeply with one another’s work, and
• Introducing Japanese short-form poetry as a vibrant literary form to new readers and writers, outside the current niche of haiku and tanka poets.

 

confluence haiku

<i>confluence </i>is a venue for emerging and innovative Japanese short-form poets to showcase a representative sample of their work and receive readership and recognition. We will feature between 1 to 2 poet Fellows per issue, and publish no fewer than 15 poems per Fellow so that the poet’s distinctive voice can be appreciated. 

The Fellows form a vital, global community of poets who collaborate and engage deeply with one another’s work. Unlike other journals where you submit work, get published, and are done, each confluence Fellow is invited and expected to participate actively in the community during the Fellowship year (October 2026 – July 2027). Upon completing the Fellowship year, poets become Senior Fellows who may choose to remain an integral part of the community, including by participating in collaborative writing events, nominating new Fellows, joining the editorial team, and more.

We are open for submissions through August 31, 2026, and will make final decisions by September 30. Fellows will be featured in monthly, online issues throughout the Fellowship year; we may also publish your work in a future anthology, social media, and other ways. 

confluence haiku

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