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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 in the last twelve months and therefore are not a repeat submission from a previous year. Poems written using artificial intelligence (AI) are not allowed. 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
$200
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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 August 15, 2025, 6 pm EST (New York time). Results to be announced August 28, 2025. Please check back on August 28 or after to view the “Best Haiku of 2025” selected from this competition. NOTE: THE HAIKU CONTEST HAS ENDED! No more entries, the comments have been closed! Thanks to all who entered!
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HOW
Post your entries in the Comments below.
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WHAT
Each competitor may post in the comments below 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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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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With the water’s pace
pilgrims slowly make their way
to the warm spring’s call
Life’s winding path
like this curving mountain road
seeking peaceful rest
Path’s summit reached
warm comfort in a tea cup
green calm now finds you
summer solstice
on the historic river
poets, tears and dumplings
on the radio — war
on the table a couple’s
new wedding letter
Chinese New Year do
In the red packet money
and his love letter
summer solstice
on the historic river
poets, tears and dumplings
on the radio — war
on the table a couple’s
new wedding letter
Chinese New Year do
In the red packet money
and his proposal
Two hearts enfold each
other: origami of
love, union, fate, life.
a pregnant spider
swaying in the highest branch–
the breath of morning
the old cherry tree
blossoming in profusion–
little girl blushing
a missed encounter–
sighing through the narra leaves
the wind of summer
Felicity !Owoses
A Falling Leaf
The Tree’s Despair, Nature’s Quilt
There She Bud Again
Joanne Gram
Steps in the driveway
Crisp autumn oak leaf passing
me at my window
stillness in the pond
a dragonfly splits the light
without making sound
first frost on the grass
the morning sun slowly lifts
a veil from the earth
abandoned temple
moss climbs the forgotten gods
green reclaiming stone.
cast from a garden
as faint shadows on this earth
longing to return
a leaf folds and bends
to the pressure of rain drops
finding their way home
Sunlit dreamy days
Float through golden summer haze
Into memory
Musky amber scents
Swirl in sultry wistful air
Infusing my mind
White virgin snowdrops
Winter’s gems whisper to me
Immortality
casting light tackle
high into the wind above
crashing sounds of surf
ocean winds’ fingers
trace playful shapes in the sand
stirring gulls and tears
Hunter’s supermoon
somehow we forgot what we
mean to each other
Birds are yet to see
Through Shrubs home for pedes to be
Leap of faith unsought
Haze-Slogged mind and tired
Of weary words, uninspired
The sky cried today
Sky’s elocution
Moonless nights and scorching suns
Found calm in your storm
Title: The Sound
I always wonder
why it beated like that, now
I know why it bled…
sixteen million years
these white waves meet black cliffs.
My friend lies near death
Old trees, old darkness
summer nap on cool mosses
Trees are drinking light
it’s his song, whose choice?
“Video” or “Figaro”
wren’s familiar voice
1. Late summer dusk
dragonfly at dusk—
its wings catch the last warm light,
gone before I speak
2. First snowfall
hush of first snowfall—
lantern’s glow on empty road,
footsteps far away
3. New moon
bare branches shiver—
somewhere a new moon rises,
no one to see it
Diyora, please place your last name in reply here, to assure your haiku are entered in the contest. Thank you!
Bare trees do not speak.
The sky forgets your first name.
Even crows have gone.
Snow swallows the path
the one you once walked with hope,
now lost in the drift.
No fire, no sound here.
Just your breath against the glass,
clouding what once was.
Amie, please place your last name in reply here, to assure your haiku are entered correctly. Thank you!
summer thunderstorm
jumping in new puddles then
footprints to the door
chickadees return
five spotted eggs in the nest
until the jays come
waves erase the beach
starting anew highlighting
a single starfish
Bela J.
August 6, 2025
the old Turkish rug –
footprints over its patterns
lead far off this world
autumn cherry trees
mist veiling the bare twigs
the coolness of touch
Sweet bird sing a song
With horizon’s color hues
Paints blissful morning
I see ants’ long line
I look at the clouds and run
Heavy rain pours down
Trees are magical
Singing, dancing and alive
Paradise delight
Hot green chillies grow,
In cold northern hemisphere,
Climate feeds longing.
a warm summer rain
the green grass stands glistening
like the sky has sweat
This replaces
summer rain
grass glistens from
the sky’s sweat.
Thanks
mother cries softly
muted white chrysanthemums
muffle your musings
brilliant sunset views
painting red and yellow hues
chase away my blues
flying fireflies
flashing love of fantasy
fanning fairy dust
high half moon glow
Serenity Buddha
and my raised head
paper moth
rustles in sheets
without mating
last year’s cat
bell in grass–
one more spring
Jesse Self
dew on the cool grass
the fog clears in dawn’s new light
take me to the lake
Grey hair in hijab—
rain beats on her umbrella,
frog steals the puddle
*
Final hour in spring—
Newborn wails for mother’s milk
The swallows silent
*
Summer sun scarlet—
Lover’s hands loosen soft strands
New hair-do undone
Heart bloom-
a scarlet coxcomb unravels
in my hands.
Lovers are like Wines
Now Róse, ‘morrow Merlot
Shiraz as they Age
not yet autumn but
seed pods blanket parking spots
even now – they fall
cool summer morning
the singing birds bear witness
to the first gold leaf
summer rain
grass glistens from
the sky’s sweat
a warm summer rain
the green grass stands glistening
like the sky has sweat
Walking down the street
Our eyes meet at this moment
No one makes a move
Now time has passed by
Living two different lives
Making memories
But just one moment
Asking myself this question
What if I said “Hi”?
warm campfire coffee
one end of the wooden bench
covered with wet moss
•
fingertips over
scales of a fossil lizard
who remembers me?
•
Labor Day picnic
a checkered tablecloth spread
under a parked jet
•
Eric Owen
Never have I been
where hot springs peep through the soil
Even in winter
Verdant rolling hills
Geothermal salty ash
I wish I were there
I made my peace with
steely shapeless wandering
Hot spring under foot
summer butterfly
an automated email
from classmates dot com
spotted rose petals
discovering acne scars
on his school photo
the fading glitter
around an unread poem
a snail’s silver slime
Today’s not like old
In each era we’re told
The truth? Now is gold!
—
Aged, father time
In future still far will chime
Meanwhile, you’re fine
—
I just don’t know how
It has all vanished somehow
And when was it now?
I’m working on translating all my March poems about birds into haiku, and here are three of them:
Lank-winged as Ravens
Snow-flurried pairs of Crows
Claim their landscape share.
Sunny and springlike,
Snow almost gone from the fields –
Starlings’ sudden song.
A springtime Redtail
Upright on a flat-topped pole
Scans Cattails for prey.
She was narcissist
I was chauvinist for her
storm in the tea cup
He is playing guitar
strings vibrate his notations
feathers play thin air
“Goodbye”, she exited
“I am not your care giver”
Umbrella nodded
yellow tulips
among the bomb survivors
stains of blue
blooming chestnuts
white and pink mixture
forgetting myself
storks kissed by frogs
a never ending story
at the old lake
monsoon evening
a bulbul flutters its wings
to the breeze’s rhythm
—–
first monsoon rainfall
the river and clouds unite
in throes of passion
—–
autumn evening
the candle sheds waxy tears
a flame on its head
—–
hiss of meadow grass
a water strider drifting
across the horse trough
the scent of diesel
where the tractor crossed the lane
drifting willow seed
derelict farmhouse
a cloud of bats emptying
into the half-light
to err is divine
as if a wink in its eye
an elm tree squirrel
unceasing rustling
of leaves in the autumn breeze . . .
our search for housing
a rainbow appears –
in touch with expatriates
all over the world
golden eagle nest
a small miracle on top
of that mountain there
vultures waiting for
the remains of sacrifice
on the temple tree
knocking emptiness
I cross the valleys within
now stand at stone gate
on the river’s bank
his soul is lighted for peace-
lantern in the sky
Truth is uncovered
Wolves have gone away to feast
Men are abandoned
Sad dandelion
Met his certain destiny
Be gone with the wind
Sometime long ago
When birds were first in this world
People still had dreams
facing an ocean
alone on the promenade
grief comes on in waves
sheep in pouring rain
hard against a drystone wall
huddling together
Beautifully done.
A lone oasis,
beckoning parched travellers.
Water wrought from sand.
Carved by millennia.
Under the Saharan sand
a desert rose blooms.
Above the yellow
of undulating sand dunes –
infinite blueness.
Before time began
Water formed a thought of life
We bob in the waves
Before time began
Ripples in a Spring puddle
An ancient mirror
Before time began
Not in galaxies far off
I meditate still
meeting the in-laws —
the magpies in the yard at
their best behaviour
the silent treatment —
brooding thunder rolling in
on june beetle wings
making a big fuss
about the smallest of things — singing cicadas
Humorous haiku are always fun to read. There are poignant, deeply spiritual haiku and then there are the everyday simple life haiku. For me, they both have a place. Good job. Here is a haiku I wrote about Cicadas:
Evening cicadas
quiet rest before next song-
Good, good vibrations
Good luck on the competition.
still pond at twilight
a small frog contemplates
on a drifting leaf
*
sunlight and shadow
white lily gently drifting
across mirrored calm
*
warm June afternoon
beneath the golden sunlight
a frog claims its throne
heatwave on the land
if I am the main problem
how can I help her?
Approaching twilight
The dust from the cattle hooves
Beckoning banshee
Glistening like pearls
Adorned with water droplets
Purple lotuses
A wood-fired oven
Pepperoni and four cheese
Gossip aplenty
Storm clouds glowering
Dark foreboding shadows loom
Cut by bright rainbow
you forget they’re there –
the sacred spaces among
the inspired words
a raw green rainfall
and in the yellow kitchen
the chicken sizzles
myriad flowers
for one tablespoon honey!
but she likes her work
I am withdrawing these haiku from the contest and will post three new ones below.
Thank you and sorry for any inconvenience.
Like a beard of ice
Preparing for a sun shave
Frost begins to weep
Solstice signals change
The seasonal shift complete
Shadow and light play