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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 a U.S. resident, must have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts U.S. checks, in order to receive prize money.
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PRIZE
$100
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JUDGES
J. Thomas Rimer, Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature, Theatre, and Art at the University of Pittsburgh; former chief of the Asian Division of the Library of Congress.
Margaret Coats, Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University; retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others.
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WHEN
Now until September 16, 2023, 6 pm EST (New York time). The original Sept. 15 deadline has been extended for those in other time zones. Results to be announced September 29, 2023 (corresponding with Tsukimi—the Japanese Moon Festival).
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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.
IMPORTANT: By submitting haiku to this contest, the contestant declares that the poems are his or her own work, and that they were written after July 2022. Please submit using your first and last name, as we may find it difficult to distinguish between contestants who have similar first names.
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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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 a white ice box
a rigid celery stalk
readies a lank neck.
August always brings
dewy lawns at crack of dawn
dog-day afternoons
visits to the swings
last trips to the swimming pool
young ones starting school
college kids take wing
crickets singing in the night
dance under the moon
autumn gardening
schedules become usual
summer ends too soon
Sun from the heavens
shines as the light comes this way
Keen revelation
Light in the garden
glows for a happy birthday
Speaks celebration
Seen in perspective
lifelong pursuit of today
Dreams of elation
Waking in the mist
falling leaves are damp and gray
shrouded in a cloud
Orchestrated twist
hazard on a holiday
silence in the sound
Feel the frosty kiss
death imparts a dreamlike sway
memories renowned
Shari Jo, you have submitted ten haiku, but only three entries are allowed. Please pick your best three, and withdraw the excess haiku, to keep your chance to win!
Stream washes a rock,
Except a lone leaf, trembling.
What keeps me around?
extinction event
brimstone hurling through the sky
crapasauraus rex
Haiku I:
Mourning morning,
The golden sphere is hidden
And the grass does shine.
Haiku II:
On the horizon
I float – between Sky and Earth –
Afraid of falling.
Haiku III:
Life’s an asymptote
Near and near but way too far
Never satisfied.
Life slouches cornered
Desperate, dreary, damped eyes,
A withered flower.
Existence on ropes
Moistened eyes, shivering lips
Rains quiver lilies
Life withdraws itself
Sunrise gives no happiness
Cactuses prick love
thirteen chickadees
on a snow-covered hedgerow,—
the coffee’s bitter
a red-winged blackbird
sits on a cattail besides
the highway’s violence
brand-new concrete pool
yet thick with moss already
a frog plunges in
Flying for the sun
they seek the warmth of grace –
a visage of self.
Windswept golden manes
flaunt their lordship o’re the land –
all the feral bow.
Thus, she flies away,
fond farewells for thee we bid –
au ‘voir, good Reason.
missiles kill mother
things fall from Spring sky like rain
life now in Ukraine
-Gerald Seniuk
Hint of periscope
rises to blue-feathered grace
Pleasure here on earth
Birds, high on the wire
are synchronized no longer
our feathered mirrors
Whistles skirt the sky
winged predator follows
pity before kill
Moonlit oaks in ice
Spread cursive shadows on snow
A script for silence
Summer’s prickly pears
Sustain thirsty coyotes
Enflame human tongues
Crystals from sprinklers
Spatter through blue August skies
Jewels for a child
Moonlit ice and oaks
Spread cursive shadows on snow
A script for silence
Summer’s prickly pears
Sustain thirsty coyotes
Enflame human tongues
Crystals from sprinklers
Spatter through blue August skies
Jewels for a child
This entry was a mistake. I meant to enter only once.
The hearts of the dead
Might still be pumping if they
Had exercised more
In Fall he stutters,
Stalwart legs turned wet noodles,
Old dog done with days.
Little hands clasping
Acorns too large, unwieldy,
Eyes gleam victory
Gruff voice in mem’ry
Fades, time turning your presence
Into my own voice.
ah, blazing blue moon
why must you pose hazily
for my camera?
a squirrel’s tail furls
around a fallen birdbath …
the world in my yard
blizzard conditions
a young cat circles into
a wool granny square
Revised first haiku:
ah, blazing blue moon
must you pose so hazily
for my camera?
today the rain falls
I drive through the shining spray
where will the clouds go?
uproar of feathers
I too heard the distant clang
birds flee as I freeze
peony blossom
the bloom, a flurry of noise
rambunctious, benign
So falls tired summer:
Flowers give away their blooms,
Promises unclasped.
—-
Deep in the green seed
Grows a mystery of life,
Grief in the making.
—-
Time does not relent –
Its plough turns upon itself,
Drives ever onward.
rectangle phobia
cocooned in my sleeping bag
a caterpillar
brushing on the veins
of a herbarium leaf
the rustle of spring
vanishing skylight
the cicada’s song softer
than grandma’s whisper
Earth Glowing
by
James T. Struck
Leaves Flying in the Sky
Birds Glowing around the Ocean
Earth Burning Ever larger
Universe sinking always Inward
My three . . .
Mountain waterfall
Drift off to secluded thought
The thunder returns !
With dad at the park
Roughhouse, tree climes, leaf pile dives
Mom sips tea at home
Perseids last night
After midnight few meteors
But what cosmic thoughts
Evergreen Slope
Line of dark green spruce
Cuts the sky into a graph
Only birds can read
Stone Wall
Rocks shaggy with moss
Once fit to hold something in
Now hold only Time
Full Moon
Silver ornament
Illuminating night walk
Without glare or heat
Through the milky night gown
the summer moon is caressing
the phoetus in the womb
The visage of a child
stuck against the window pane
o look at the moon
Sitting all alone
in the front of a white paper –
behind me the moon
Mary Harwell Sayler
(3 haiku written in 2023)
Summer storm cuts off
power and credit cards, but
releases prayer.
In summer, silence
can be loud with longing as
our tears speak volumes.
Summer moon-drops float
like *pearls on the water.
Oysters go to bed.
(*Note: “pearls” are meant to have 2 syllables here, but if you think not, we can make them “white pearls.”)