The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku (RMA), the most honored series in the history of English-language haiku, was founded in 1996 by Jim Kacian, owner of Red Moon Press and Editor-in-Chief of the RMA. Volume 29 will be released early this year, likely in February or March.

As will Volume 20 of the Contemporary Haibun anthology, also published by Red Moon Press. The Contemporary Haibun Series, currently edited by Rich Youmans (editor-in-chief of the journal contemporary haibun online), is dedicated to presenting “a ‘state of the art’ overview of the haibun, tanka prose, and haiga published in the preceding year” from around the world. The series focuses on how these centuries-old forms are developing.

With heartfelt gratitude to the following poets for publishing with MacQ, I’m pleased to post my nomination lists for the Red Moon anthologies. Drawn from the five issues of MacQueen’s Quinterly published in 2024, MacQ-21 thru MacQ-25, and submitted to Red Moon Press on 21 November 2024, these nominations are listed below in alphabetical order by author’s last name.

Best-of-luck wishes to all of the nominees!

First, haiku and senryu nominations:

1. (“when does a ladybird”) [senryu + photograph] by Phil Barnett
   
   
2. (“the hornbeam”) [senryu + photograph] by Phil Barnett
   
   
3. (“Venice—”) [senryu] by Sharon Ferrante
   
   
4. (“toes in the sand”) [senryu] by Sharon Ferrante
   
   
5. (“graduation day—”) [haiku] by Goran Gatalica
   
   
6. (“spelling her name ...”) [haiku] by Goran Gatalica
   
   
7. (“January storm”) [senryu] by Stella Pierides
   
   
8. (“when the going gets tough”) [senryu] by Stella Pierides
   
   

Next, my nominations of haibun and haiga.

Updated 31 July: Three nominees from the following list were selected by the Red Moon Press editorial team for publication in Contemporary Haibun 20 (March 2025): “Grief: The Uncut Version” by Roberta Beary, “The Portugese Lessons Finally Pay Off” by Bob Lucky, and “Birds of a Feather” by Kelly Sargent.

See also my note below this list, for two nominations by outside editors which were also selected for the anthology.

1. Van Gogh’s The Potato Eaters, 1885 [haiku sequence] by Farah Ali
   
   
2. Deluge [split sequence] by Cynthia Anderson
   
   
3. (“ripples, reflections”) [collaborative shahai] by Phil Barnett and Gary S. Rosin
   
   
4. Grief: The Uncut Version [CNF haibun] by Roberta Beary *
   
   
5. (“this gnarled tree”) [collaborative shahai] by Scott Ferry and
   Gary S. Rosin
   
   
6. Finding My Belly Button [anomalous haibun] by Emily Fortney
   
   
7. Foramen Ovale [haibun] by Terri L. French
   
   
8. Local News Bulletin from Good Grief, Idaho [ekphrastic haibun] by Seth Friedman
   
   
9. On an unmarked grave [anomalous haibun: sonku] by Hazel Hall
   
   
10. The Desert Sea Suite [haibun story + visual art] by Kendall Johnson
    
    
11. Downstream [haibun] by David J. Kelly
    
    
12. Chocolate and Maple [ekphrastic haibun] by Maureen Kingston
    
    
13. Winter Wings [anomalous haibun] by Margaret Koger
    
    
14. Baby Toe [anomalous haibun] by Kat Lehmann
    
    
15. Cut to the Quick [haibun] by Michael H. Lester
    
    
16. The Portuguese Lessons Finally Pay Off [haibun] by Bob Lucky *
    
    
17. That Ship Has Sailed Again [haibun story] by Bob Lucky
    
    
18. Holding On [ekphrastic haibun] by Jacqueline Pearce
    
    
19. Untitled (“last light”) [haiga] by Kala Ramesh
    
    
20. A Victimology of Hair [haibun] by Marybeth Rua-Larsen
    
    
21. Birds of a Feather [haibun] by Kelly Sargent *
    
    
22. Flat Pack [anomalous haibun] by Lew Watts
    
    
23. Rumors [haibun] by Scott Wiggerman
    
    
24. Priceless [ekphrastic haibun] by LL Wohlwend
    
    
25. Untitled (“That old screen door”) [shahai] by Christopher Woods
    
    

Note: Thanks so much to outside editor(s) for nominating the following haibun from MacQ, which were also selected by the Red Moon Press editorial team for publication in Contemporary Haibun 20.

• Samhain by Margaret Dornaus and Marjorie Buettner
  
  
• Prologue to an Epilogue by Mark Meyer
  

I’m deeply grateful to Jim Kacian, Rich Youmans, Ron C. Moss, and the six editors of the RMA editorial team for their time and efforts in considering thousands of pieces—and for then creating such lovely books to showcase their selections!

Links to MacQ’s nominations for the Red Moon Anthologies in previous years:

RMA 2023

RMA 2022

RMA 2021