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
-Light vs Dark-
The wind sings behind
Sun glimmers through the curtains
My eyes close to black
‘Rona’
Fear covers her face
Contagions fill the dense air
She stands strong for them
‘Goodnight’
In the grass, bear sleeps
A quiet day full of peace
Shot all for a game
White feathers fluttering
soar curving in blue above
red squirrel “whhurring”
1.
Passing a river
a smell of antiseptic.
Did you wash your hand?
2.
The empty snail shell
reminds of old defences –
not needed, but missed.
The sun and the surf,
Summer’s traditional turf,
Uninhabited.
The birds and the bees,
Virus carried by the breeze,
Fly oblivious.
Prejudice in stone,
Carved warmly, but now grown cold,
Returns to the earth.
Earthquake in the sea
Triggers tsunami on land
Radiation spreads
Incessant rainfall
Inundates village cottage
Snake befriends human
Himalayan monk
Meditates for lord Siva
Snow submerges hut
1.
Evening’s glow enchants
Waves crash through the setting sun
Final gasp for air
2.
Currents flee turtles
Bears of white swim through waters
Global Warming’s grasp
3.
A torrential rain
Children splash in new puddles
Museum’s new Oil Painting
Haiku #3 Correction:
A torrential rain
Children splash in new puddles
Museum’s Oil Painting
Crew Haiku
It is autumn now–
My son sculls on the river.
I am left behind.
#1
Wild wind, where’d you go?
Over oceans, through windows -
home is in the flow.
#2
Sheer curtains flowing,
the moon peeks in to kiss me
goodnight — quietly.
August occasion,
bells toll for school to resume—
my pupils contract.
Haiku Sequence
Yellow butterflies
Flitting across green meadows
Like dancing sunshine
The insect monarchs
Skimming with orange and black wings
Holding court in spring.
Butterflies resting
In the shade of the oak trees
Like forest jewels.
Hanna Hosannah
Hurricane havoc hoists his
Horrid wall; hurray!
2020 Haiku Competition
Spring
The box trap, submerged,
frozen winter long, thaws, and
the squirrel within.
Early Flower
Dawn’s rose I give you
for morning’s when you wake to
skies of steel gray.
September Sunrise
Steam from my coffee
ascends to the painted sky,
watering it down.
During chilling winds,
Birds recall halcyon days
To remember warmth
Haiku 1
A solar death kiss,
Yet the potted pansies thrive,
Quaff pandemic tears.
—
Haiku 2
Tilt your axis, Earth,
Towards equinoctial rebirth–
Vernal virus lurks.
—
Haiku 3
Stoic hawk screeches
Like a kettle left on flame.
Somewhere, mountains dance.
When my Japanese
friend gives me homemade rice balls
they taste like summer
A threatening sky
predicts a violent storm.
Garden under threat
The leaves are falling:
hazelnut trees, now undressed,
shiver in the cold.
The grass is too wet.
Idle gardeners are glad:
no more lawn mowing.
1.
the sun celebrates
as flowers dance in sweet warmth
but the ice queen lurks
2.
the smells of earth grow
a new adventure begins
she gives Death a kiss
3.
smoky clouds signal
the sparks and embers glisten
up in flames I go
1}
Winter pink cheeks
came along withe a
gift for the princess
2}
Withering leaf
fell into many places as
landscape of mind
3}
Polar lights of night
thundering sound brings the
shades of human
Wood nymphs flittering
All faerie wood emblazon
Day lends length to night
Twilight summons wings
Chasers falconing the chased
Footprints on a lake
Haiku 1
on the Zambezi
I float dragonfly-easy
laze like crocodile
Haiku 2
hot shamal blowing
hillocks and wadis cracking
the Red Moon dwindling
Haiku 3
the red-faced mud snake
glides over the fissured earth
without faltering
1. “Watery Mirrors”
She is lying there
Raindrops pelting her grave frame
Now above, I’m her.
Flower petal lips
Attached to the one he loves
Wither six feet deep