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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 Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment.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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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
The new era starts
No hugs, kisses behind masks,
Six feet difference please!
Empty streets, doors shut,
chaos over empty shelves,
Unease filled the air
Big nation big mess,
Long lines, thin change, days await,
I awe how it ends
COVID-19 yes,
Once it starts it never leave,
Leaving scars for sure
Appreciate your contributions, Meliana, but please choose only THREE haiku as your contest entries. It’s simple to do by telling me which one of your four to leave out. Thanks!
Name: Wania Sajjad
Country: Pakistan
Unpicked Flower
I tore myself open for your hands—
but you walked past like I was dirt.
Still,
I bloomed into the silence
you left behind.
Petal Ghost
You grazed me like wind—
no blood,
but every inch of me
feels haunted.
False Spring
You arrived like a false thaw—
all heat-laced breath and lying light.
I cracked open,
thinking you’d stay
through the storm.
But you were winter
in a stolen spring disguise.
You kissed me with frost,
and I shattered.
reluctant leaves fall
from the old tree showering
the old man walking
old cemetery
abandoned by the living
waits eternity
alone, the young deer
ate the holly tree’s berries
soon dying under its leaves
Small, feathered body
still, on the side of the road,
your death will feed life
firefly dance and burn
jive resolutely down paths!
lead me homeward bound
far out open sea
tender faces stranger now—-
gentle crash of wave
bugs bite tender flesh
red blooms and swells a garden—-
blackbird song soothing
Water is shapeless
So how can it be defined
A frog dreams of air
striped pollinator
rave, roam, romp, be(e) rife, don’t sting
don’t waste what is sweet
O radiant sky
are you wounded or merely
temperamental?
blanket of snow, erase this
paved landscape, then erase yourself
melt into nothing
Apologies, updated version of #2
snow blanket, erase
paved landscape, erase yourself
melt into nothing
Just like Icarus,
And so we fall, endlessly;
Freedom tastes like wind.
The wounds of the sky
Open. Today, tomorrow.
Bloodlike life rains down.
So alienated
In this body; distorted.
Trapped briefly in skin.
Crimson maple sighs,
its branches bare to the dusk—
One flame drifting down
how shallow the shoals . . .
alone, upon reflection
we’re both pelican
midnight snow flurries,
a raindeer fawn’s long lashes
gathering stardust
oak tree canopy–
that old tattered fedora
atop her coffin
Hi, these are my three entries for the haiku competition.
1
Summer never wanes
In the glowing Pearl of the
Indian Ocean
2
The snow falls gently
Mimicking the glow of the
Twinkling stars above
3
Warm summer rain of
Dancing love soon lost in the
Slow fall of autumn
Showers of first rain
The aroma of coffee
Papa’s favourite
Alone on the porch
Forlorn wind heralds deadness
My muse awakens
Summer homecoming
Children play in the river
Childhood memories
at 7.00am
the bees in the lavender
already at work
bank holiday beach
barely room for flesh to tan
between the tattoos
The Earth wears a coat
The snow and ice pack her wounds
She rests safe and warm
Very nice imagery.
The rain sings and sings
The thunder replies, screaming
Never satisfied
Kind mornings, soft nights,
They are whole with your smile
Comfortably happy
Gray fog blankets the
Deep valleys and green forests
Stunning opposites
Leaves lull light’s looming;
shadows shower sundered souls.
Winter wakes what waned.
recess doors open
a gust of schoolyard children
swirling autumn leaves
heard without thinking
understood without saying
a walk through the woods
the bud that seeks the
bloom doesn’t need to search the
garden to find it
Michael Chaplin
As I wash my clothes
My Yiddish momma still sings
Songs of Yahweh’s praise
Death in the river
Souls coffined inside of mud
The LORD my Shepherd
In my green garden
Surrounded by its beauty
I hear sounds of war
atop lilac blooms
butterflies rest in the sun
Jupiter’s faeries
pork chop fat sizzles
ripe millet sway in the breeze
its all gravy now
summers juicy yield
bathed in the kitchens warm light
the frog and I feast
Laugh; stitch in my side
Trap springs in hippocampus
Splayed game on snow— you.
breathing in the soft
smell of night-blooming jasmine
moonlight sonata
Hello Judges,
I want to change a word in my 1st haiku. Thank you.
breathing in the soft
notes of night-blooming jasmine
moonlight sonata
the water is still
the mind is racing constant
flow is the challenge
is it possible
to love, to eat, to birth him
my husband’s logic
there is a shadow
light’s brightness is a falsehood
dark blots infiltrate