‘i am pro-title haikus’
‘submission guidelines clearly state:
‘do not title haikus’…’
—well, fuck you
‘on telling Joseph Fulkerson about receiving scathing rejections because I title my haikus’
he says, ‘of course people
are upset, tohm… you’re
challenging tradition.’
‘i am the pro-title haiku master’
fuck tradition, fuck rules—
seventeen syllables and
always titled
‘the ultimate declaration’
now listen up: all titled
haikus are henceforth
called ‘bakelakus’
‘environmentally conscious poet’
rather than waste paper
i place three haikus on
each page to save trees
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Tohm Bakelas is a social worker in a psychiatric hospital. He was born in New Jersey, resides there, and will die there. His poems have been printed widely in journals, zines, and online publications all over the world. He has authored twenty-five chapbooks and several collections of poetry, including Cleaning the Gutters of Hell (Zeitgeist Press, 2023). As editor of Between Shadows Press, he’s curated two editions of the notorious journal, ‘Haikus, Nearkus, Fauxkus, Fuckyous.’
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