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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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.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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Falling Autumn tears –
painting in a dark colour
exquisite sorrow
A summer desert –
my feet make waves in the dunes
– an ocean of sand.
Frothing and frothing
Would have stopped it if could—
I cry, she froths the more.
Night cold’s hell for her;
Winter nights all the more hell:
She sneezes to tears.
A tribute to my favourite season –
#1
Vibrant brolly tops
paint the bazaar’s bustling streets
veiled by charcoal skies
#2
Little paper boats
drift in water logged bylanes;
Chai and charcha thrive
#3
A congregation
Of lusty frogs is singing;
Raucous monsoon choir
love the third one!
Thank you so much 🙂 I appreciate you 🙂
#3 – third line has six syllables
I and many others pronounce long /i/ words such as “choir” and “fire” as one syllable. Thus the syllable count in “raucous monsoon choir” is five. But I am aware that others pronounce these words with two syllables. In this contest, where we have variants of English from all over the world, I do my best to accept regional pronounciations, even if they are not my own. Thanks for letting me make my policy known!
You’re welcome. My pleasure.
Thank you for sharing your feedback Suzanne. I myself tend to break it into 2 syllables, but from reading a lot here, I’ve come to understand that more people read it as a single syllable than as 2. Margaret has answered it wonderfully 🙂
Takes all kinds (and pronunciations) to make the world go ‘round.
Thank you so much for clarifying Margaret – both the syllable count and the policy. That is really kind of you 🙂
Who can sew and darn
or better yet, embroider,
in this dystopia?
Third line has six syllables
lost innocence
intimacy violated
a life destroyed
heart on fire
love flows elusivily
fingers that caress
perfume in the park
the scent of limeblossoms
i get lost in you
jeer
Netherlands
russet leaves alight-
pennies rustle in delight
Autumn’s butterscotch
barbed balls drop, roll, peep
chestnuts, autumn’s chocolates
nutty, it struck me
golden philamot
calloused leafs a bass choir
grey nightingale t(h)rills
Second Haiku – second line has 6 syllables. We don’t typically say choc-o-lates.
Thank you, Suzanne. I hear it now 🙂
Thus, my second haiku is:
barbed balls drop, roll, peep
chestnuts, autumn’s chocolate bites
nutty, it struck me.
Wonderful (and tasty)!
sparrow in her palm
the impossible angle
of its perfect head
a misty hillside
tea leaves ready for picking
the scent of bright green
a little tug boat
emerging from the grey mist
tows spring behind it
combing her mom’s hair . . .
in the distance, waterfalls
ripple with silver
bleak suburban street
even the skinny sparrow
searches for a friend
small yellow flowers
bees, brown moths and butterflies
giddy from their feast
alone with my pod
in the kitchen, shelling peas —
Covid holidays
Yes, there is a dove
sitting in a tall oak tree.
I hear a high coo.
You ask, “Who would name
a groundhog Woodchuck Norris?
Well, would Chuck Norris?”
Diddly, zilch, nada,
naught, nil, goose egg, zip, nix, aught…
Nothing comes to mind.
Technically, these are senryu. Good senryu, but not classical haiku
Thanks for your comment, Eric. It will help me explain what I accept as haiku a little further. Let me assure everyone reading this that I appreciate your contributions to the study and writing of haiku. I may contradict some of your expressions, but that does not diminish my regard.
I responded to Barbara L Silberg, because she told Michael Lowenberg that his entries in this haiku contest were good senryu rather than classical haiku. This made it necessary for me to say more precisely what I accept as haiku in this contest, lest Michael or anyone else presume by my silence that entries like Michael’s do not meet the requirements. Notice that I am NOT judging Michael’s poems by what I say here! I do not judge entries while the contest is going on. Rather, I clarify my idea of what a haiku is.
Beyond the 5-7-5 form, haiku must have a seasonal reference (kigo) and allude to nature. Haiku can use language artistry of any kind that fits the form, so as to achieve its special effect.
My view comes from reading thousands of haiku. I will once again state that there is no sharp distinction between haiku and senryu. Eric, you say that the distinction is thematic, but I say no themes are off limits to haiku. It is not the topic or the mode of discourse that makes a senryu. It is the lack of kigo and nature. There are plenty of witty, satirical, and storytelling haiku. Do you know the one about the icicle hanging from Buddha’s nose? Excellent haiku with a sardonic tone critics would like to reserve for senryu! But it meets every requirement for haiku, and shows how much freedom of expression haiku have. Never think the requirements of poetic form diminish freedom of speech!
I’ll give another splendid haiku to demonstrate. This was written by 18th century Buddhist nun Chiyo-ni, and translated by me.
Look at clear water.
Considering front and back,
it has neither one.
“Clear water” is a summer kigo, and water itself is an element of nature. But this isn’t a description of nature, it’s a philosophical poem about non-duality–or as one interpreter says, “the coemergence of all phenomena as one.” There’s no landscape and no time of day. For readers who must have a nature sketch as haiku, or witty cynicism about human frailty as senryu, it is neither one. Non-duality, as the poet said.
We have many haiku in varied styles in this contest, and I’m glad you’ve enjoyed them, Eric, so much as to make comments on several. That’s something I as contest judge cannot do, and I’m sure the poets appreciate your attention.
Thanks, Barbara, for bringing up the distinction. There is, however, no sharp dividing line between haiku and senryu, even among the works of the Japanese masters. For this contest, I accept as haiku any poem in haiku form with reference to a season and alluding to nature in some way. Seasonal reference is often achieved by simply naming an animal or plant associated with a season. Language artistry such as Michael Lowenberg’s puns can contribute to many different kinds of poetry, including both haiku and senryu.
Hi, Margaret; it’s Eric. I enjoyed your response to Barbara concerning “Lowenberg’s puns;” however, if I may, I find that while Lowenberg’s puns fit easily into either form category (haiku or senryu), Lowenberg blurs the “dividing line” with thematic hybrids, touching on nature and cynicism in the senryu form, where reference to a season is not required. The dividing line even among Japanese Masters, has always been thematic rules requiring season and time of day for haiku, whereas senryu was allowed more freedom of expression in a witty, tavern, storytelling sort of way to poke fun at human frailty. I agree, however, both forms are haiku structurally and syllabically, and both are otherwise distinct by restrictions required in haiku versus their absence in senryu. I applaud your work and caring critique and will continue reading the talented contributions to the competition. I hope this helps.
Sincerely,
E. Owen
Eric, my reply to you somehow went higher up in this thread than I expected. Please take a look immediately below Barbara Silberg’s comment.
Please i need help, i can’t find the comment section. Here is my poem, and hope it’s considered
Chilling with the cold
Unquestionable downpour
Beating… blabbing rain.
A duel with my chi…
Parading the market square
It’s masquerade festival.
The eagle’ talon
Piecing on the Y image
Giant of Africa.
Yes, Adekeye Oluwasegun Lukman, it is difficult even for me sometimes to navigate this large number of poems. I am very glad to see your haiku, and they are officially entered. Thank you!
Entry 1 –
Snow blankets the day
Creatures seek comfort and warmth
Waiting for the sun
Entry 2 –
Thunder beats the sky
Lightning strikes the ground, tremble
We all run away
Entry 3 –
Floods break through the land
Offering devastation
Everything is wet
Covid’s come to stay
Man, unable to curb its power
Crazy, odd cosmos.
Time alters everything
Slow-moving, rippling water
Transcends humanity.
Age is but a stage
Performance glistens briefly
Leaving empty void.
Time alters everything
Slow-moving, rippling water
Transcends humanity.
Age is but a stage
Performance glistens briefly
Leaving empty void.
an old abandoned chapel ‒
an hot offering of light
lies among the ruins
wedding ceremony
the snow that assimilates
the meadow and the path
it is so strictly short
the life of the butterfly ‒
intensity of a farewell
Please i need help, i can’t find the comment section. Here is my poem, and hope it’s considered
Chilling with the cold
Unquestionable downpour
Beating… blabbing rain.
A duel with my chi…
Parading the market square
It’s masquerade festival.
The eagle’ talon
Piecing on the Y image
Giant of Africa.
Excuse me:
it is so strictly short
the life of the butterfly ‒
intensity of farewell
Please consider this as the third haiku. Apologies, thank you very much
it is so strictly short
the life of the butterfly ‒
intensity of farewell
never before and
never again – this moment
is a solitaire
Gold cloud which is now seen there above the green.
Inextricable
A wild rose, a hawthorn tree
Like Rodin’s lovers
Ice covers the pond
I stamp a hole with my heel
Now the birds can drink
A majestic wind
Sweeps down the wide avenue
The trees bow and scrape
Good to see you on the SCP pages Tony! Well done.
Indigo eyes still
Open in the deep valley
Waiting for true love
dark sunrises start
the day off cold and dreary
sunsets come too soon
Winds rip the gray clouds
Blowing mist collides with rocks
Freedom overcomes
Sodden rolling clouds
give birth to silvery veins
lightning strikes again
Miniscule shelled troops
ingested by the ocean-
Genesis of life
Blistering syrup
oozes from the Earth’s belly,
what an eruption!