Poetic Journal

A poetic journal is a literary genre combining aspects of poetry with the daily, or near daily, takes of journal writing, born of twin impulses: to track change in daily life and to memorialize experience. Poetic journals owe allegiances to Asian writing, particularly the Japanese haibun of Matsuo Basho, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon and the poetic diaries of Masaoka Shiki, as well as to Objectivist poets and writers in Donald Allen's anthology The New American Poetry 1945-1960. Unlike traditional diaries, which focus on recounting a day's experience, poetic journals emphasize the act of writing itself, taking their cue from post-Jack Kerouac writers such as Bernadette Mayer and Clark Coolidge to aim at being all-inclusive, timely and attentive.