The winning haiku can be found here
Write a haiku on any topic and post it in the comments section below. The haiku must adhere to the traditional parameters of a haiku to qualify (and may be deleted if it does not). It must…
1. Be three lines. The first line must have five syllables, the second seven syllables, and the third five syllables. Seventeen syllables total (5-7-5).
2. Contain a nature or seasonal reference: the crumbling leaves, the cold air, the smell of manure, the taste of fresh black berries, the cicadas’ buzzing.
3. Be in the present tense (swims rather than swam).
4. Be subtle and observational.
5. Contain some sort of twist in the third line: a shift in perspective or mood, a surprise, a new interpretation of the first or second line.
Read more about writing a haiku here.
When: Now until Saturday August 8, 2020 midnight EST. Winners Announced August 15, 2020.
Who: Anyone in the world, any age or background, may participate. From within the Society, anyone, including Advisory Board Members, not involved in judging the contest may participate. (If you are outside the United States, you will have to have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts U.S. checks to receive the prize money if you win.)
What: Each entrant may submit up to three haiku. Any topic. Must conform to traditional haiku rules above.
Where: Post your haiku in the comments section below.
Prize: $100.
Judge: Mike Bryant
Entry Fee: None
●
street light
on two poles
two crows
●
midnight storm
under mom’s blanket
garden chicks
●
hairpin bends
on road turns
trees too
(1)
the moonless night
a door is being shut
even the distance farmland
(2)
strewn in the morning
upon the lawn
night fallen stars
(3)
sprouting leaf carrying dew drops
quenching the thirst
universe consuming small housefly
Dying pet dog
Eyes shows clearly
The past memories..
1. the buds get dried
and falling before blossom
in the hot summer
2. the midnight rain
has shoved the beard
to the guard doll
3. moon raising tomorrow
worn with disappointment
seeing the dried wells
plein air oil painting
the grapevines keep the pose
despite the tastings
dinner on the grass
nude in honor of Manet
the hornet doesn’t care
evening museum
in front of the Sleeping girl
whispering softly
(1)
deep dhyana on mist
a tree shades the lone monk
nothing but vacuum
(2)
on mountain peak
a monkey sings my voice
the mouthorgan
(3)
end of a rain
with a drop on moustache
a snail travels
hail hurdled at grapes
vines weakened and rotting fast
no champagne this year
when the river floods
on each side of the highway
fields turn to ocean
algae blooms in mid june
proliferating, excess
kills fish, flourishes
No birds in the sky
Nothing moves on land or sea
Life frozen by heat
Hot day, vacant chairs
Empty, waveless, subdued sea
Empty resort sighs
#1
refugee convoy
a pregnant lass looking for
a four leaf clover
#2
shooting rapeseed field
I quickly remembering
that epiphany
#3
other speech of praise
a flock of sparrows chatting
in a cherry tree
Covid19 corona cases crores
We are fighting over in terrible force
Fearand faith are onour nose
#1: Raindrops trickle down
Wandering, leaving wet trails
They change so quickly
#2: Hawk calls in the sky
We want to escape on clouds
True escape or hide?
#3: Leaves crunch underfoot
Once brilliant red, now dull brown
When life fades…what?
(forgot to add last syllable to #3. Please use this revised haiku.)
#3: Leaves crunch underfoot
Once brilliant red, now dull brown
When life fades…then what?
Three Haiku
Bluebird on white oak
Whisperer of promises
Winging morning fan
© 2020 Sherri Jens
Dragonfly on glass
Glimmering transformation
Mirroring my wink
© 2020 Sherri Jens
Lemon butterfly
Flitting ‘round the refuse pile
Disparate partners
© 2020 Sherri Jens
a man was die yesterday
The corpses of tomorrow to be carried funeral
for go to silently today
our birth is beauty full
our living a life is beauty full
our death is beauty full
Beaming rays, long days
Salty seas serene and clean
But no one can leave
Whispers from the leaves
Moonshine, feeling so sublime
Lit up midnight crime
Oh to feel your touch
Icicle limbs, numb and sharp
6 feet underground
1. Landless People
Jobless Life
Endless Journey
2. Blackberry seller hand extends,
Payments were at down, Walking heads are straight
3. Pregnancy pain,
Insurance limit,
The first cry.
I.
Humans reign the world
A perfect storm of screw-ups
Natural beauty
II.
Spring awakening
Endless shells of guarded chicks
Hatching open hearts
III.
Like a lion’s roar
On battlefields of spirit
Love will always win
Peaceful Pot
Hot coals sit below
Fine leaves rest in mesh
Bitter but calm steam
Patient Plate
Traveling from oak
Crystal thin disk solemn white
Waiting for its friends
Cheerful Cup
Releasing handle
Greetings given plate and pour
Soft breeze and a kiss
The lilac blossoms
It brings hope and slight despair
It, too, cedes to time.
Golden autumn days,
Fire-crackling frost-fingered nights,
the season unfolds.
THE NIGHT’S DIRGE
The night mourns the stars
In tune dirges with the frogs—
Insomnia walks in.
TEARFUL TREES
Trees weep their losses
In tears for the inhume leaves—
Autumn rises up.
THE REBORN SPINE
Cactus grow their spine
Newly and wonderfully—
Just when the spring woke
1.
its rusted anchor
surrounded by withered grass—
foreclosed restaurant
2.
morning newspaper
wet with a midsummer rain—
empty rocking chair
3.
blackberry picking . . .
behind her mask mother hums
a Celtic folk tune
roses bloom on cheeks
morning dew spills from eyes
Why is beauty pain
Anarchists rampage
when sunbeams melt to twilight
and our leaders sit.
Ignatius the Pig
could hardly be rounder. A
four hundred pounder!
I’d be an aesthete —
except my aesthetic is
purely cosmetic.
the night cityscape
stare in awe at the backdrop
of someone’s labor
the song of scops owl
shuddering sigh of blue moon
her window darkens
i feel less alone
when they knock on my window
rain pitter patters