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Winners announced here.
Write a haiku 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. See traditional haiku requirements here. Note that a haiku is like a a painting of nature. If your 5-7-5 poem is focused solely on human nature and is more cynical or humorous, then it is technically a senryu, not a haiku. However, haiku do concern human activities in relation to nature. The required seasonal word can refer to seasonal sports, holidays, entertainment, gardening, housekeeping, or visits to special places. Although this contest is held in summer, haiku dealing with any season are acceptable.
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WHEN:
Now until Saturday August 28, 2021 midnight EST. Winners Announced September 5.
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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.)
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WHAT:
Each entrant may submit up to three haiku. Must conform to traditional haiku rules above.
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WHERE:
Post your haiku in the comments section below.
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PRIZE:
$100.
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JUDGE:
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ENTRY FEE:
None
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EXAMPLES
See last year’s winning haiku here.
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I see him daily
Spread out across the highway
Rest in peace old Toad
toad’s legs hit the frying pan.
Spring in the hedgerows.
Magpies busy cancelling
Fresh twitter accounts.
Temporary leaves
Trees stay longer than you do
Makes world beautiful
bleached skies of summer
flavoured in bitter and sweet ~
lavender honey
blueberry jewels
see-through silk of weeping skies ~
midsummer blues
darkness doesn’t fall
it stumbles on the threshold
of another dawn
A slow stumble onto a new horizon!
magnolia buds
litter on my garden path ~
frostbitten yearnings
shadow of a crow
bounces in a bobbing line
bird itself flies true
Yellow walnut leaves
burn like candles on the road.
Summer’s final gift.
Must be such a bright yellow! nice
Fat walnut fruit falls.
Nature’s greenest marbles. Step
on them—see the sky!
The brown hills, crumpled
pancakes. Syrup ponds warm with
spring’s late thaw. A calf.
no two are alike—
the children’s play park shapeshifts
into snow angels
Sounds of the ocean
rolling waves over the rocks
Lullabies for me
Death rides on the air
Brought by an ancient half-life
Evil grows in hearts
Corrected:
Death rides on the air
Brought by an ancient half-life
Evil grows in our hearts
Revised to better conform to form and referring to SARS-COV2:
Death on summer’s air
Brought by an ancient half-life
Glance upward in hope
Another fine tune:
Death on summer’s air
Ancient life has awoken
Glance upward in hope
One last try to get the 5-7-5 meter:
Death on summer’s air
Ancient life has awoken
Cooling rain brings hopefulness
Another try:
Death on summer air (5)
Cooling rain brings hopefulness (7)
Ancient life awakes (5)
Revised to end on a switch in perspective relative to the first two lines.
Death on summer air (5)
Ancient life roams the Earth (7)
A light rain brings hope (5)
Death on summer air (5)
Ancient life wanders the land (7)
A light rain brings hope (5)
Summer’s come
Heavy wet days hang on
I stick to my leather chair
Till fan breezes blow
Gentle friend
Tapping my arm
My furry companion speaks
Reverse the last 2 lines…perfection! here kitty kitty
All’s well in the world
When woken by a dogs nose
Snuffling through my dreams
Real dog, real dreams, blended. nice scene!
As I woke up to
Honey on my countertop
Bees danced like summer
Revision:
As I wake up to
Honey on my countertop
Bees dance like summer
The moon shines so bright
No one can ever tell me why
It hurts my brown eyes.
It’s the sun’s refection..lol! nice
Flowers cover cars
Spring vomited in my carport
Cats wonder in it
Revision:
Flowers cover cars
Spring vomits in my carport
Cats wonder in it
Cats could wonder or wander in the ‘spring vomit’ nice!
the scent of absence –
some flowers of lilac on
a hospital bed
desolate alley –
the winter moon is sneaking
in the old street lamp
early spring thawing –
on the snowman’s cheek trickles
one tear two tears three…
He is crying for the end of winter of life as he knows it
strawberries rampant
in the old cemetery
late summer twilight
Nice
The first day of Spring
cuckoo woke up with a leap
to start her concert.
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migratory birds
from West to Indian lakes
their romantic spas.
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first rays of the Sun
falling between timberlines
laying golden path.
Beautiful imagery!
Hundreds of faces
Turning to sun and to seed
Imperceptibly
Wildfire razed our field
Wildlife fled or burnt to death
Then herons feasted
Sorry, I had not realized it was mandatory for the poem to be in the present tense, so:
Wildfire burns the veld
Wildlife flees or dies in pain
Then the herons feast
Haunting images…but I know herons to be water birds not scavengers, so I’m a little confused(?)