Submission Guidelines

Only Human is a digital journal that publishes English-language senryu, kyoka, and senbun. A brief explanation of each of these forms can be found at the bottom of this page. 

While we recognize that the line between haiku and senryu (or tanka and kyoka, haibun and senbun) is blurred and much-debated, Only Human focuses on poetry with humanity as the focus, using traditional Japanese short-form poetry to explore some aspect of the human experience. We are willing to interpret that loosely—e.g., there doesn’t have to be a person “on the page”—but we are not interested in nature poems for this journal. If you aren’t certain if your poem is a senryu but think it might fit, don’t self-reject!

We appreciate humor, even sharp and satirical humor, but we’re not interested in cruelty. In humorous poems, the editors prefer satire that is punching up, not punching down.

We value both traditionalism and experimentalism, though we are not interested in “5–7–5” poems (for an explanation as to why that is, read this essay). We are open to one-line poems. Form and function should work together to create a cohesive poem. Above all, we want poems that show us what it is to be only human.

In haiga, the editors love works in which the image and the text resonate, neither too similar or too far apart. We prefer works that are not merely an illustration and a caption, but a text and image that amplify and add meaning to one another in some way.

Only Human nominates for awards, including Touchstones, Pushcart, and Best of the Net.

Publication Schedule

Only Human publishes three issues a year in April, August, and December. Submission windows for each issue are as follows:

April Issue: Submissions open throughout February

August Issue: Submissions open throughout June

December Issue: Submissions open throughout October

These windows will open at 12:00 a.m. Central Time  on the first day of the month and will close at 11:59 p.m. Central Time on the last day of the month. Submissions received outside of the submission windows will be deleted unread. We aim to respond to submissions within one month of receipt of the submission. If you have not received a response by that time, please feel free to query by emailing submissions@onlyhumansenryu.com. If your submission is rejected, please wait until the next submission window to submit again.

Format

Submitted poems should be the author’s original, unpublished work. The editors consider “published” to encompass not only work that has been curated by a journal, but also poems appearing on personal websites, blogs, and social media. The editors do not consider works shared in “closed” environments—forums, emails, etc.—to be “published,” and we encourage poets to use these tools to workshop their poems with others. AI generated work will not be considered (we are, after all, Only Human). We do not accept simultaneous submissions. We will reject submissions that do not follow our guidelines. Please do not resubmit senryu previously rejected by Only Human.

Please send a brief cover letter and your submission to submissions@onlyhumansenryu.com. The email subject line should read: SUBMISSION | [YOUR NAME]. Both the cover letter and submission should be in the body of the email in a legible font such as Times New Roman or Calibri—no attachments or wingdings, please. Cover letters should include your name as you like it to appear and confirmation that your submission consists only of original, unpublished senryu made without the assistance of generative AI. Please do not stress about the cover letter.

Senryu/Kyoka/Sanbun

Please send 5–15 senryu, kyoka, or sanbun.

Haiga

Please send up to five haiga. Submitting poets must own the rights to both the poem and the artwork of the haiga they submit. The images should be attached as .png or .jpg. Images should be no larger than 1000x1000 pixels.

Art

Only Human accepts cover art submissions. Please email submissions@onlyhumansenryu.com containing up to five images in .png or .jpg format and using the subject line “SUBMISSION | ART | [YOUR NAME].” 

Rights

We claim exclusive first world electronic English language rights for six months. All other rights are retained by the author. If the author wishes to republish the work after the period of exclusivity ends, Only Human asks for the courtesy of crediting Only Human as the original place of publication.

Payment

Only Human is a passion project of the editors that is provided to readers at no cost. As such, the journal is regretfully unable to offer payment at this time.

A Note on Forms

Senryu

Senryu is a poem structurally similar to haiku but with a focus on human life. Senryu may or may not contain season words. Senryu have historically been humorous or satirical, including observations about oneself, but many modern senryu explore human life without humor. Satire is welcome, but so is empathetic humor.

Kyoka

Similarly, kyoka are poems structurally similar to tanka, but with a focus on human life.

Senbun

Senbun are the human-focused equivalent of haibun, with blocks of prose juxtaposed with poetry.

Haiga

Haiga are senryu coupled with art. Only Human considers haiga to be all pieces in which poems are juxtaposed by art, including paintings, drawings, photographs, or other forms of two-dimensional visual art.