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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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.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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1.
A gush of chill wind
Golden hour with no gold light
Plain greyness in sight
2.
The absence of sun
Evening adds pinch blue to greys
Cooling down stillness
3.
Greens turn to light brown,
Light rolls down the floor tiles,
The smell of winter.
Lips turn deep blue hue
Gentle white snow, flakes fall
Cold wind ousts bird calls
brown rug, crunching steps
winding roots, they dare to trip
back down, it’s green up
Soft, pink, delicate
moisture leaves flower, finds tongue
savoring each drip
Interrupt the form:
What stars? What rain? What meadow?
Describe the abyss
Oak looms under sun
Over grove of flowers
Dapple gilds lily
Darron, this poem doesn’t seem to describe the abyss, as Phoebe asked. But if this is a reply to her, please confirm that it’s not a further contest entry. I find your three entries above at July 19, with a correction on July 21. Thanks.
Margaret, yes this was a reply. While not a direct answer, the intention was to show the emptiness of a dark gesture on the openly enlightened, so illustrating a vast void.
Submitted for the haiku contest.
fly velocity
is two wing beats faster than
my swinging swatter
leaves droop and curl
fainting breezes swirl hot air
shaded breaths shallow
little river low
soundlessly meandering
living tucked away
282 Buena Vista Rd.
Fairfield, CT 06825
[email protected]
Ed Ahern resumed writing after forty odd years in foreign intelligence and international sales. He’s had four hundred stories and poems published so far, and six books. Ed works the other side of writing at Bewildering Stories, where he sits on the review board and manages a posse of nine review editors. He’s also lead editor at The Scribes Micro Fiction magazine.
https://www.twitter.com/bottomstripper
https://www.facebook.com/EdAhern73/?ref=bookmarks
https://www.instagram.com/edwardahern1860/
fan of eyes shivers
hypnotic blue suitor struts
dull peahen’s bored gaze
Warm honey once more
nurturing light feeds the skin
yet the sun must set
–
Fruitful and fertile
bloom fights the icy ennui
promising new birth
–
The sun bids farewell
bloodcurdling cicada croon
singing summers end
Butterfly
Each spring when time wings
silently by, my butterfly,
will you cocoon me?
Ice
The molecules of water
join hands each winter–so cold…
they can’t even move.
In August
Like a rock holds the
heat of the sun through the night
I hold your memory
#1 Spring-
I place bets in rain
Only watching the windows
For raindrop races
#2 Summer-
You always yell “cows”
Sleeping spots on the green field
Our road trip comfort.
#3 Fall-
I pity the snow
That never lands in Autumn
Nor sees the leaves change.
sultry summer hum
white hives buzz in the orchard
winter’s honeyed toast
the ghost crab scuttle
dance of dark on warm wet sand
reel with tide and foam
Winter grips us still
Icicle soul siesta
Drip me back to life
how full is the moon
on this blissful August night
shining down on me
now here comes the sun
welcoming in the daylight
bringing me to life
the wind in my hair
as I dance with the flowers
in the lush meadow
the sunless heavens mourn
like hopscotch players that cry
rain on summer’s end
Hi, Jan,
If I may, I liked this poem and use of simile, but if it’s okay, you would nail this haiku form if you drop the article (the) in the first line, and perhaps add balance to the simile by choosing a two-syllable word that speaks to your intent in place of “that.” For example, try ‘lament’ and replace “rain on summer’s end” with “rain at summer’s end.” Hope to see more from you.
walking with a crutch
my urban foot feels the sand
of this quiet beach
Title: Mr.Softee
Watch the sprinkles dance
Twirl around the ice cream swirl
My block was chosen
Title: NYC Summer
Walk outside, all eyes
Sun-kissed thighs under blue skies
Door knockers glisten
Title: Bodega Blues
Where there are corners
Bodegas are always found
Only when you “Yerrr”
Triplets
Over grassy dunes
Sea Oats lash at sun-burned legs
Sand spurs prick my heel
Surfers slice through waves
Pelicans swerve through troughs
A gull steals my chips
A speck of ship bobs
On sea and sky horizon
I am a sand grain
Peter, someone who appears to be your lower-case avatar posted a beach haiku on July 4. Only three contest entries per poet are allowed. Please let me know which three you prefer, or disclaim identity with peter venable. Thanks!
Plodding uncut lawn.
Where to, so purposefully,
I ask? Turtle knows!
Wistful Goldenrod,
trembles in the dusting snow.
Calling back summer.
Decomposing leaves
rest on symbiotic soil
Survive forever!
blue bowl sky scrubbed clean
clouds wrung out and pinned to air
all hung out to dry
*These are taken from Fartfist’s fourth volume of literary works
“Seventeen Haiku For Humanity”* (Which were written in 2021)
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Ignorance is one
The bowl, before the water
How much can it hold
~ eight
Opportunity
This is two, like sun and moon
It is there always
~ nine
Willingness to act
Is three; like the spring flower
Interested in living
~ ten
Entry #1 Devil’s Breath
Blist’ry wind’s revenge,
ashen snow falls heaviest
in nuclear winter.
Entry #2 Famine to Feast
Hot rain pours over
tainted fields long abandoned.
Resurrections spark.
Entry #3 Blood Orchid
One crimson drop spilt
feeding the seed sown below.
From death, petals bloom.
Linda Bell entry
Flute longs for its branch
Violin longs for its tree
Soul sings to the sea
Rain on glass tapping
Pooling, catching green or red
Is now wiped away
Bald squirrel prostrates
And gnaws a ripe potato
Must be a chipmonk
Leaves powdered with frost
Icing for caterpillars
Glint in autumn dusk
Squirrels
A lone squirrel works.
Two or three chase each other,
Playing around trees.
Nature Reveres Itself
Winds blow and trees bow –
Thanking clouds for bringing rain
That nourish sacred trees.
wistful white blossoms,
how gold you look in the sun!
night falls with you here.
daisies strung in chains,
tangled in the robin’s crest.
singing, winging, gone.
the last fallen rose
wilts sweetly, lightly, slowly,
blushing so faintly.
To join nature, this noon.
To be a bird on Spring’s tree,
Singing songs, flying free. Away.
To the colourful tweeting birds_
I woke, from my fairytale dream, beholding,
A sunny sky, summer’s day.
Dancing fish, out of water.
Wriggling and twisting, left and right. Yearning.
Splash! It feels water again.
Thank you for telling me about this contest . You go girl!
Water beads trickle
down my neck and down my glass
of lemonade and jazz
レモン果汁
首とグラスに
垂れてゆく
Blanketing asphalt
Frozen layers
of snow, slush, salt
アスファルト
凍てつく層の
雪と塩
Petals kiss my nose
Mountains wear pink blush and smile
Blossom rise and fall
花にキス
山も笑顔に
ピンクのチーク