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The Winner and Runner-ups are listed HERE.
WHO
Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). 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.
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 2023. Please submit using your first and last name, as we may find it difficult to distinguish between contestants who have similar first names.
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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 15, 2024, 6 pm EST (New York time). Results to be announced September 29, 2024.
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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.
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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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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Leafless night summons
Old World Sparrows wheel away
Footfalls in the snow
Strike poems one and two submitted 08/10/2024. Consider the last submission on 08/12/2024.
Thanks!.
High cliff’s apple tree.
Lightning, falling, screaming nest.
Apples splash — silence.
Still emerald pond.
Howls of wolves. A deer jumps in
Splashing waters red.
Red sun, ruby lake.
Two cranes swipe with bloodied claws
While ladies sing.
Thank you for your consideration – Dismas
holiday romance
I walk along the white sand
infested with crabs
Perched on wires
Birds are separate, askew
Man’s mirror image
Through his prison bars
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
Iron is obscured
White clouds battle black
On Virgin-blue arena
Armageddon waits
demonstration ground
a child holds a leader’s head
on his white t-shirt
shape of oasis
defying the sun’s strong threat
the umbrellas here
New Year’s reunion;
on the train with my mother
and her Alzheimer’s
Shelter from the rain;
I run a sakaki leaf
across your lips
crossing the threshold,
she forgets to water them:
the chrysanthemums
I like the first a lot. It’s very simple and almost factual but under the surface there’s a lot of complexity and feeling.
I am reading through some of the entries. I particularly like the first and last. Chrysanthemums have so much symbolism. And now I feel guilt for neglecting my plants.
on a cold stone floor
a candle burns to its end
ashes mark the day
in the thickened air
fireflies stitch the night with light
a trail through the fog
atop a mountain
a monk tears another page
in his diary
I. in our kitchen
friend brings a bouquet—
one week later, still golden
I can hear her laugh
II. gardening
the cucumber blight
bleeds wormholes through thriving vines
no salad tonight
III. visitor
lizard on our wall
drinks the drenching summer sun
at dusk, he is gone
August goosebump breezes
signal ocean’s upwelling—
autumn’s drawing near
waning crescent moon
smiles on Equator’s dung huts—
Maasi sleep soundly
childhood memories—
a rosary of prized pearls
sweet as bay oysters
an August evening…
cicadas buzz in the trees
vibrating their leaves
summer vacation–
on the top of the Rockies
sisters play in snow
autumn equinox
the Milky Way ribboning
across the night sky
Nancy Brady, 2024
chanced upon sketchpad
in autumn light the countless
pathways forsaken
bee balm touch-and-go’s…
between feeds the monarch stops
and refuels a soul
meandering stream
a tiny toad on a leaf
takes a carefree path
Candelabra Lily
splash of life like blood
stains through fallen acrid ash –
stem and leaf and bud
Ekphrastic haiku for three paintings
Monet’s House
Inviting me in
to images not yet seen
but to the artist
Tidal Marsh
Misty summer hues
weave litany of visions
times past spent dreaming
Todd’s Garden
Muted colors blend
forming a seamless display
with a path ahead
Under arched prisms
Kaleidoscope of jeweled strokes
God’s contract endures
hands scratched and juice-stained
after blackberry picking
spiders re-spin webs
heavenly blue drapes
over fields of sunflowers
the buzzing of drones
Respite from the heat?
No chance. Among the ruins
seeds await the rain.
Like them all, but especially the first.
Thank you for your kind comment.
I love these Haikus, sir. They remind me of Robert Frost. The first one especially is remarkable, and reminds me of After Apple Picking
I agree with Alan and Joseph. These are lovely, especially the first. Thank you for sharing them here.
Thanks to both you and Joseph for your appreciation.
in the biting wind
a pregnant girl wraps her coat
around her belly
Blessed are the sightless
Who being but blind believe.
Eyes they shall receive.
Blessed are the hopeless.
Homeless this side of heaven.
They are our leaven.
Blessed are the broken,
Hearts hallowed by human tears.
For joy moves the spheres.
fall meditations–
my hands move the rake until
the rake moves my hands
water reflections–
my face the face of someone
with a lotus life
dewdrops and sunlight
a kind word once in a while–
we thrive with little
taking in the view,
bees in purple-petalled rooms;
hyacinth hotel
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hibernating bug
under tree-bark’s shingle roof;
icicle ice picks
***
not the way it thinks
each beast of burden’s burden ends;
Fluffy the collie
Michael Edwards
A Lovely Flowerstrewn Meadow
Ugh! how — how grisly —
to walk up on the carcass
of this calf, long dead.
Lurkers ’til lunchtime
Speckled sparrows spy from pine
Sunflower lady
Hummingbird hovers
Staring at my teal-green eyes
Seeing its same shade
Bright blues on deep reds
Large jays feed in apple tree
Sweet sensory feast
Thank you for this lovely contest, I had fun writing these poems .
Poem 1: My Firefly
Like a firefly;
You bring light to my dark life,
Guiding me back home.
Poem 2: Mighty White Willow
Mighty white willow,
Thy noble shade never fails;
always generous.
Poem 3: Bid Farewell
Mellow crispy air,
Time for trees to bare their souls,
Bid farewell to leaves.
Lavender heather
an elegant instrument
ringing with insects
Feathery grasses
a ring of spikey thistles
divergent neighbours
The delicate earth
longs to shed its blistered skin
grow a harder shell
on the woodland path
bracken bends to catch the wind
and then lets it go
I’m reading through the entries, and like this one very much. I can picture it in my mind.
Thanks Natalie