.
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.
.
PRIZE
$200
.
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.
.
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!
.
HOW
Post your entries in the Comments below.
.
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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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.
.
PAST WINNERS
.
.
one by one falling
the chestnut leaves making room
for more emptiness
A quiet morning
In the garden, young kitten
Catches butterflies
Walks by the river
Old man with an Irish hound
Geese call for winter
Wind rolls red petals
In the shade of a temple wall
Old robots tell tales
park bench in shadow
a boy sings to a sparrow
braiding sun through leaves
first frost on the stoop
a girl with torn shoelaces
waits for the school bus
spring rain on gravestones
a man rereads the same note
until it blurs ink
Why it hurts this bad
I wish we could just re-start
As strangers in school
——
Close your eyes and dream
A world filled with happiness
And good memories
——
A doubtful mother
Tries having faith in her child
Is that much to ask
Wintergreen upon
A crimson spilled abandon
Reclaiming blossoms
Vermillion shards
Overcast the mountainside
Amongst the Moon’s tears
Fields of petals lie
O’er my tired body now
Never two allowed
Tempest arguments
Dad firm, mum with deluge cheeks
Children’s howling screech.
Fingers trace my spine.
“I’m in Arcadia, too,”
Death whispers, hollow-eyed.
photographing ghosts
as they drift by unnoticed
carefree of life once lived
two doors, but one choice:
above, blissful ignorance;
below, truth and strife.
peeling back the year
every step on the mountain
autumn wind and I
accompanying me
one last time down the mountain
farewell autumn winds
not the autumn wind
that wound me up to the lake
breathless campsite night
Leaves flutter around
In the dewy spring morning
For another day
night sky fill with stars…
a silent predator flies
with prey in talons
at a florist shop
she practices ikebana
–an orchid corsage
a complaining crow
at the top of an ash tree
–rainy afternoon
Metaphor for death:
One soul abandoned in a
Vacant furnished room
Jealous verdigris
thoughts enter my brain and play
in my dead effigy
Synopsis of faith:
I believe in the unseen
and things I can’t feel.
My dad made nectar,
fermented for hummingbirds
to buzz when they fly
An iris opens
Frilly white edges surround
the deep purple base
The gossip of priests
is deliciously naughty,
delectable sin
The establishment
Insists that you refrain from
Showing compassion
Harper, thanks for these haiku! Please let us know which THREE of them you would like as your entries in the competition. That’s easy to do; you can reply here.
Amber orbs aglow
Beneath frostbitten fingers
Playing with fire
Summer sunlight shines
Upon sky blue waves of change
Paradise on earth
Crystal shards conceal
My deepest, darkest secrets
For your eyes only
out before sunrise
the stars keep me company
until their bedtime
worn-down path outlined
by lilies-of-the-valley
poet’s grave marker
birches intertwined
creaking, clinging together
against winter winds
#3
who can remember
when the stars first sang for joy?
the sound still carries
The yellow leaves were
dervishes at my window
till the rain started
Footpaths and tire
tracks obliterated by
parachuting flakes
Snowmelt discloses
a winterkilled fawn still in
geometric spots
parade floats idle
in stopped traffic—clusters of
crab apples pinken
.
crystal interlock
of water’s piscine quills: each
little wave, a leap
.
sun on the surface:
silent Roman candles in
rapid explosion
Here is my submission–
Yellow butterflies
Flitting above green meadows
Like dancing sunshine.
you’re not a body
with a soul, you’re a soul in
a sacred garden
haiku 2
homeless hermit crab
takes shelter in empty shell,
gulls squawk overhead
haiku 3
wistful willow tree
unique forgotten fortress
weeps with gratitude
Dear judges, please may I withdraw haiku 3 and submit this version instead. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
wistful willow tree,
unique, forgotten fortress,
weeping gracefully
1) Halfway, then again
she chases what flees the mind,
dust rising in spring.
2) Snow melts as she runs.
Each step closer is farther,
the world holds its breath.
3) All race toward stillness.
He counts motion with a blade—
leaves fall, unmeasured.
july thunderstorm
her funeral procession
finishes faster
watering roses
they slowly lower their heads
unrequited love
the smell of caught fish
a hungry cat creeps closer
mom scares off burglar
Three submissions read separately or together:
To be read shelf.
Infinite years divide books.
Will I finish them?
Words comfort my years
Shelter in safe hard cover
Writer and reader
Find grace in pages.
Solace with pens and journals.
Heartache soothed silently.
these spring showers again
with the softness of blossom
edging our footsteps
the musk of a deer
already belonging back
in the forest’s crisp ochre
rowanberry dusk
where the deepest clouds drift by
with every lost dream
Yellow crab spider
on a beach of greenery–
mayflies the seagulls.
Calm in her stony
Hermitage, the mason bee
Mocks the rowdy swarm.
Dreaming of nine days’
Majesty, the dragonfly
Bides three years his time.
Butterfly’s shadow,
Borne away on morning’s wings,
But so beautiful.
from a leafless limb
the empty swing remembers
the long, hot summer
~Patricia Carragon
after the tempest
the silence of fallen trees
roots severed from hope
~Patricia Carragon
storm clouds overhead
hurricane winds travel north
no relief in sight
~Patricia Carragon
as temperatures soar
slumber shuts the feral’s eyes
solace from the sun
~Patricia Carragon
with eyes half open
the cat curls up for a nap
feet and tail at ease
~Patricia Carragon
Please disregard my earlier comment. I’m submitting these three here:
from a leafless limb
the empty swing remembers
the long, hot summer
~Patricia Carragon
as temperatures soar
slumber shuts the feral’s eyes
solace from the sun
~Patricia Carragon
after the tempest
the silence of fallen trees
roots severed from hope
~Patricia Carragon