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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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.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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IN RETROSPECT
of most importance
only realized once lost!
even dust settles
FILMED BEFORE A LIVE STUDIO AUDIENCE
claustrophobic gaze
amplified when the curtain
reveals my stage fright
I’m sorry for this mistaken entry – Could this one please be deleted/disregarded, as I misunderstood the rules when posted and I realize it doesn’t fit? May I please have this one considered in its place? :
BIRTH
fresh february
to be a bud newly bloomed!
sweet tooth vanity
Thanks for your three entries and your note, Gwendolyn. “Filmed” will not be counted, but it will be left here. Deleting it might also delete “Birth” as part of the same comment thread.
CAREGIVER
how miraculous
tiny skull fits in my palm…
gulliver or god?
Welcome Bell
Remaining hopeful
The old dusty welcome bell
Waits prepared with cheer.
Born Again Alone
With the oak hollow
A new womb, the fledgling owl
Learns to hunt alone.
Shudder!
My new taste for prunes
Stir memories of Poppa
In Summer’s loincloths.
Fair casing of frost
Preserves stout boughs while indoors
Flames consume their kin
Legs taut, the lone ant
Drags his load ‘neath blazing sky
No one comes to help
Some mourn the descent
But wisdom sees leaves return
To their place of birth
Waves of twittering
Ancient spells and rituals
loud praises and adieus.
a shift in the air
scent of dying wildflowers
August cruelest month
new growth maples, pines
farmer’s forgotten stone wall
a forest reclaimed
ombre sky, cool air
twilight comes to the mountain
lone hawk circles, keens
Birds on this branch, that
branch, those connect. Sing loudly –
not loud enough yet
Sea-buckthorn berries
Leaves falling, roots fixing sand
How much can you hold?
Millipedes, woodlice,
a mycorrhizal network
Light in a dark place
June trees full of life
Cicada shells left behind
Their songs haunt the night
Daylight breaks the sky
and reaches for my window
with stories to tell
Forest reflections
hypnotize in waves below
Beckoning me home
1.
a cicada’s husk
grandfather in his best suit
hands folded, eyes closed
2.
mid-autumn river
a lone boat ferrying the
moonlight back to port
3.
graduation day
the twisting river reaches
the vast open sea
Beautiful.
Hi, Ngo, as you may already know, conceptualization is one of traditional Haiku’s most important components for delivering its meaning. Pieces 1 and 2 not only delivered on conceptual imagery but added the difficult contrast of stillness and anticipation of rebirth in poem 1 and conceptual motion which many find difficult to master in poem 2. You did both quite well. I was extremely impressed and enjoyed both pieces. Thank you.
Cerulean sky
above yellow sunflowers.
The smell of burning.
Poor Ukraine…
Hedgerows pulse with life
The worm’s wriggle is futile
Young mouths open wide
Snow-muted landscape
Creatures slumber in silence
Waiting for Spring’s call
Bales festoon the fields
The farmer labors and waits
For the sun’s magic
local train station—
quenching summer’s thirsty throats
a sudden downpour
a lump of cold clay …
the shape of a calm Buddha
in meditation
cold sniper’s bullet …
the thud in the chest pocket
where her photo is
In waning winter
a dried thistle bloom appears
on my snowy path
Open your mouth wide
red-winged blackbird and yodel
Spring’s joyous return!
Cascading down rocks
a woodland stream finds its way
giggling as it goes
Summer moon streams in
Silver light across the bed
There, the cat once lay
In dark, cool water
white swan glides, leaves in its wake
summer moon fragments
Poised swan, moving feet
Poised summer moon, moving Earth
Illusion and grace
The winter sun sets…
Pure crystalline icicles
prism twilight’s death
Crimson maple leaves
Floating in the temple pond
Blush at cold, bare trees
Bursts of spring lightning
Illumine plum-tree spirits.
Blossoms rend the wind
What is quietude?
Do you will heart not to break ~
Squeeze tight and shatters?
Rocking chairs lull me ~
But I cry on them sometimes
When the sun’s hues dull
In thick summer air
Swarmed ravenous mosquitos
Undeterred by rain
Birds splash in the lake
Catching fish that try to flee
The snap of a beak
Orange wings flutter
Colors fleeting like a song
Monarch butterfly
Rosemary was a
Sage-Femme, yet, when she had Thyme,
used Dill though, s’Parsley !
Image result of black cat
Hieroglyphic Haiku
Four Paw Faux Pas
(with translation)
∞ § ¶ • ªº
–≠ ß ∂ ƒ˙ ∆˚¬ Ω
√ ∫ ˜µ ≤≥ œ
Lame cat walks across
QWERTY keyboard creating
Hieroglyphic Haik-
∞ § ¶ • ªº
–≠ ß ∂ ƒ˙ ∆˚¬ Ω
√ ∫ ˜µ ≤≥ œ
Lame cat walks across
QWERTY keyboard creating
Hieroglyphic Haik-
cyclone
the wind carts the refugee boy’s teddy bear
and back
windy Sabbath…
a praying mantis slips
from the crucifix
Mount Emei
an orphan-bird navigates its fate
in Buddha’s palm
Dear admin,
Kindly find my new submission orderly arranged. I noticed the first submission I mistakenly pressed the enter key which made “and back” come down eventually distorting the form. Thank you.
1.
cyclone
the wind carts the refugee boy’s
teddy bear and back
2.
windy Sabbath…
a praying mantis slips
from the crucifix
3.
Mount Emei
an orphan-bird navigates its fate
in Buddha’s palm
Thank you, Gabriel, for making the correction and clearly displaying your poems.
children play hopscotch
amidst a bright horizon
a stone’s throw away
on this Autumn eve
geese fly into the sunset
and there is order
Wet cement sky leaks
the hills melt into red sludge
banana plants mould
Savanna noon sun
licks the grasslands beige with thirst
lone elephant migrates
The charcoal milk goat
purple mouthed lies on a mat
of African pears