Dylan Tweney is the editor and publisher of tinywords, which has been serving small poems daily since 2000. The Haiku Society of America has recognized it as the “largest-circulation journal of haiku in English.” Dylan is also a senior editor at Wired, in charge of gadget news, new product reviews, and other ultra-geeky topics. The motto at the top his website reads, “If you’re bored, you’re not paying attention.” I spoke to him last month by phone, and got him talking about everything from how he handles a large volume of submissions on a part-time basis, to what he learned from studying poetry with Louise Glück, to why he decided to live-tweet a Wagner opera.
Here are a few of Dylan’s favorite haiku and micropoems from the past ten years of tinywords.
- the junkyard crane… [haiku]
- Another weekend over… [one-line poem]
- gnarled banksias… [tanka]
- hail storm… [haiku that spawned a 316-poem renga in the comments]
- prairie sunset… [haiku]
- A boy swims alone… [haiku]
- cherry-petal shells… [haiku]
- cardiogram… [haiku]
Tinywords is currently accepting submissions (through September 30) for the next issue, on cities and urban life. If you’re on Twitter, you can follow the magazine: @tinywords as well as Dylan himself: @Dylan20.
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Theme music: “Le grand sequoia,” by Innvivo (Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike licence)
I’m looking forward to listening to this one! It’s a small internet sometimes; Dylan and I share an alma mater (indeed, I think we were both religion majors at Williams, a few years apart) and once upon a time I knew his brother Chris (who was my year at Williams, and who wrote gorgeous poetry) pretty well.
Cool! Glad to hear of that connection. Small web-world indeed!
Hey Rachel! I don’t think we knew each other at Williams. But I’ve heard your name, and I know Ethan. I’m pleased to run into you here!
Re Dylan’s comment (and with respect): “But to say ‘I am going to be a professional haiku poet’ [chuckle], I think that it’s just so laughable, that it’s not something anybody could conceive of doing.” What is the laughable part, please? Was it the “professional” designation? or the fact that any poet – haiku, for this discussion — (from the beginning of time) who has ever earned a living outside the genre or been subsidized, could not be considered a “certified/full-time” poet?