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Our 2023 Haiku Competition is on now HERE.
WHO
Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate. Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not resident in the United States, must have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts US checks, in order to receive prize money.
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PRIZE
$100
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JUDGE
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WHEN
Now until August 15, 2022. Results to be announced August 30, 2022.
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WHERE
Post your entries in the Comments below.
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WHAT
Each competitor may submit up to three haiku of traditional form: three lines per poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 in the third. Entrants are recommended to conform to other traditional haiku requirements outlined HERE. They should be new poems, written since the closing of the 2021 haiku competition. Although this competition is held in summer, haiku dealing with any season are acceptable.
If you want coaching on haiku features, please read the examples and explanation before submitting your entries. Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment. This is permitted until the competition closes, but do take reasonable care to complete work to your satisfaction before you enter it. Please do not use the Comment area as your scratch pad. That is discourteous to other competitors, to interested readers, and to the judge and will disqualify you.
Entries that do not meet basic traditional haiku requirements may be deleted. Anyone who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.
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PAST WINNERS
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Here are my haiku submissions:
Woven bracelet, words
Of old becoming, new birth
Yes, I am undone
Twins’ twinned eyes, laughter
Here the call of summer bird
Freckles and honey
My mother and tea
Bright mint leaves on hot water
I drink my childhood
Thank you for your consideration.
Pretzel Haiku
I caught a pretzel
With my clean, bare feet today
Shall I eat it now?
Bedtime
Laundered crisp bed sheets
Dirty unwashed unsocked feet
Soil a good night
Or for those who pronounce soil with one syllable:
Soil a good night’s sleep
The Creek
the creek water does
not question – it just flows, goes
it knows all is well
sudden August rain . . .
a boy hastens his footsteps
towards the puppy
rumbling and thunder —
the sound of church bell after
the covid lockdown
blossoms of the spring . . .
two high school children fighting
for the window seat
sudden August rain . . .
a boy hastens his footsteps
towards the puppy
rumbling and thunder —
the sound of church bell after
the covid lockdown
blossoms of the spring . . .
two high school students fighting
for the window seat
A pike catching fish
Aiming to have a great meal
To be caught by me
A bird lands beside
I feel it has to like me
But seeds are nicer
I leave jars in woods
Walk further away proudly
Trip over bottles
Jellyfish Moon–clouds
trail like tentacles trapping
stars for her supper
Full moon spies between
my blinds. A voyeur deprived
of earthly delights
Examining trees–
gnarled branches hold stories
like my weathered heart
1.
(Ekphrastic) Haiku
FUJIWARA no Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight
Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
amidst the tall grass
notes take flight to hunter’s moon
beguile the wicked
2.
single barren branch
against winter frozen tears
burns cardinal’s heat
3.
decades of advice
incomprehensible spring
now echo their worth
Suzanne S. Austin-Hill
Freeing a caged bird
the rescuer gains merit
Destroy the cages!
While grain may sustain
it’s the chaff that seals your fate
Winnow carefully!
steam rises off heads
chill morning meditation
monkeys in hot springs
daughter wife mother
a life of hibernation
from being herself
willow tree branches
husband’s hands around my hips
swaying with the breeze
coming home to you
is laying in a patch of
sunlight that can’t fade
geese are overhead
angry, cacophony honks
mad the sun still shines
Climbing the cliff’s edge,
I pause to look at the stars,
Unafraid to fall.
Girl walking at night,
You ask if she’s alright—
Fox eyes, blood-stained grin.
Dark descends sooner,
Bringing a chill with the wind—
Pumpkin spice returns.
Hi, Jennifer Elise Wang,
I read your third haiku several times, until the lines conceptualized, and I could imagine shorter days in proper season and almost smell the nutmeg and ginger in the air. Wonderful traditional haiku with proper theme and structure consistent with the brief. Thank you.
the milky way course
endless stars drift in and out
the impermanence
breeze through window
wind chime twinkle fills the air
dream of (b)right summer
flutter…kite flutters
little kids freely follow
where butterfly flits
(1)
midsummer morning–
visiting sparrows play hops
on my porch tiles
(2)
new life past the drought
withered tree among the greens
declines second chance
(3)
after the rainstorm
the rapid rushes downstream
to gather itself
Kindly consider the revised versions below as my entry poems:
(1)
midsummer morning–
visiting sparrows play hops
on my checkered porch
(2)
new life past the drought
withered tree among the greens
declines second chance
(3)
after the rainstorm
the river rushes downstream
to cleanse herself off
Thank you.
Thanks very much for your entries.
Brought down by the wind
Destroying the raven’s nest
Shelter for the mouse
Cooling the turbine
A backward flowing river
Energy wasted
The barriers failed
A full moon and a spring tide
The flood plain reformed
Cracking of a stick;
One by one, worried heads turn —
A mass exodus.
Drowsily awake,
wiped the foggy window, and
from end to end — white.
A strong gush of blood;
People come together with
a strong gush of joy.
Cheryl Licata
August 11, 2022
seeds sprout grow droop fall
decayed orphans not chosen
bees sip apple juice
marshmallow fluff clouds
icy blue popsicle sky
wings lick confection
rapacious seagull
soaring scavenger seeks crumbs
spies youngster’s sandwich
Way to go, Cheryl!
You are too much, Suzanne!!! You know, I love all your poems…
Yes, I can be a bit much. But, thanks for hangin’ out with me all these years!
hard not to notice
how the sun feels stronger
with each looming year
Strolled through Central Park,
Stepped on pigeon eyeball—yikes—
Now haunted by grapes.
Gentle water flows
Sunlight illuminating
Rocks rounded by time
Sunlight elucidates
Casting light upon new life
An explosion of colours
Light across the sky
The weight of thunderous air
A storm approaches
reflecting two worlds
before the wind and after
dandelion seeds
the goldfish glowing
in a bowl that quietly
annihilates it
looking at the moon
not sure where to put my hands
so they just dangle
one hundred starlings
silhouette the falling night:
last songs of summer
lost in perfumed air:
a small skipper is crossing
the wildflower sea
leaden calls of gulls
drifting through the morning port
the shimmer of snow
ENTRY 1: SPRING AGAIN
Lipstick red Poppies
Flirt with bachelor’s Buttons
Weary of creepers.
ENTRY 2: WATER AEROBICS
Young swimmers witness
Gray heads bobbing to oldies–
And stay in their lane.
ENTRY 3: THE LAST RECONCILIATION
I nod and agree
When he says he’s through with me
Let it be. I’m free!
Winter #1
Amber light dances
Leaving shadows in its wake
White ash falls like snow
Winter #2
Branches reach to blue
Bare skin trembles from the cold
You pull me closer
Winter # 3
Coffee in my cup
My sundried lips part for it
Sugar bites my teeth
A poem so short
One of the finest it is
Yet it qualifies
Simplified writing
Of three lines a poem told
Five, seven, five pattern
Have a guess my friend
What could it be: Sonnet, Ode?
‘Haiku?’ Right answer
Her hand reaches me
And mine swallows the fire
Drunk in my embrace.