SHINTAI (NEW-STYLE)
_________________
THE BEST TEN
_______________
FIRST PLACE
about the war...
mother simply stares
into her soup
Irene Golas, Canada
SECOND PLACE
a bit of sand
in our interlocked hands
an hourglass
Vidur Jyoti, India
THIRD PLACE
weathered field—
slowly coming to terms
with my aborted child
Kala Ramesh, India
SEVEN HONOURABLE MENTIONS (In no particular order)
in the nook…only
the dust for an abandoned scale
to weigh
Dusan Mijajlovic Adski, Serbia
*
An old drunkard
warms his shaking hands
over burnt-out candle.
Zoran Antonic, Veternik, Serbia
dusk
the brook becomes
its sound
Bill Kenney
in the mirror
I see myself as an old man
with a twinkle in his eyes
Howard Lee Kilby, Arkansas, USA
dusty road
a green toad flattened
into silence
Maya Lyubenova, Kotel, Bulgaria
Wasps buzz
in the heart of the lotus;
sting the usurpers.
Aju Mukhopadhyay, India
a beachside stroll
the breeze catching her hair
out of my reach
Jim Pollard, Kowloon, Hong Kong
*
=======================================
OTHER SHINTAI HAIKU OF MERIT (ZATSU-EI)=======================================
*
crematorium
outside, kids chant
ring-a-rosy
John Bird, Australia
*
dementia ward
all day mother tries all day
the doors to open doors
Irene Golas, Canada
*
Hey three songs i wrote
One for you one for your ego
The third is missing
bistra ilin, Switzerland
*
sand dunes
sleeping among mirages
i dream of oasis
Vidur Jyoti, India
*
bird's morning call-
whistle from neighbour's cooker
dawn of another day
first rains-
tiptoes to me
the scent of earth
vishnu kapoor, India
*
sparrow
on a branch
off again
letting the fish go . . .
the lake returns
to itself
Bill Kenney, Whitestone NY, USA
*
she who gave me birth
insists I share her lunch
in the hospital
we talked of marriage
and even set a wedding date
then, nothing at all
Howard Lee Kilby, Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA
*
calm evening
the voices of
birches and aspens
Anthony Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Ireland
*
high tide
washes the chalk cliffs
an osprey's dive
Catherine J.S. Lee, Eastport, Maine, USA
*
a hedgehog
looking my way
lost in grief
out of nowhere
a bee
hungry for summer
Aine macAodha, Ireland.
*
outside the gardens
a struggling weed
with no community
Jonathan Machen, Colorado, USA
*
some rain just got in my notebook
john martone
*
married man
he even gorges
the mango seed
Tyrone McDonald, Brooklyn, NYC, USA
*
winds change
drops now drumming
on the roof
Kitsune Miko
*
Time has snipped
the thread between the reel and the kite;
boy days are over.
romping through the ripe
paddy field in dark night-
fox catching rats
Aju Mukhopadhyay, India
*
shaving mirror
my bleary eyes stare
at a week old fuzz
dark clouds gather
a dhow heads for shore
bucking in the waves
Gautam Nadkarni, India
*
temporarily
off-duty, the conductor
swaying to a jig
Maeve O’Sullivan
*
the lid that made
the soup bowl special
breaks
ballet
counting the bones
in her back
Carol Pearce-Worthington, New York City, USA
*
squeaky Chinese boats
lusty cries of the fisherwomen
shucking oysters
Jim Pollard, Kowloon, Hong Kong
*
Empty for five days
the home has grown old
for a whole year
He is picking figs
A love offer from
a tree to a mouth.
The cricket
does not give a damn to my dream!
It cricks and cricks.
This tree too
I could have hugged
with a child's palm!
I'm frying a fish.
A cat is staring into my eyes,
like a mother-in-law.
after a night storm
all the firs and the big Cross
leaning to the South.
Aleksandar Prokopiev, Macedonia
(translated by: Irina Ivanovska and Fiona Sampson)
*
from the seamless ocean
to the seamless sky
two copper birds rise
bats asleep sway on
the banyan ~ sound of
rustling leaves
labyrinths of light ~
an ant colony ascends
the ancient mountain
Narayanan Raghunathan, India
*
garden project...
children sing
to the plants
long afternoon...
a sadhu asleep in
the banyan's shade
K. Ramesh, India
*
First rain -
Unnoticed gargoyle
Surges to life
For every step of the Saptapadi*
A million others
Follow from past memories
*Saptapadi = Saptapadi or Saat phere is an important part of a Hindu marriage ceremony, and involves taking seven steps by the bride and the groom around a sacred fire
For a penny,
The poor boy sells
A balloon and his breath
Malini Rao, India
*
Broken coconut shell
Full again
With fresh rain water
Parimala Rao, India
*
Deadly Embrace
Sensing his own fate,
The bear relaxed his death grip -
As a shot rang out
Kristin A. Reynolds, VT, USA
*
the nuts
are falling by themselves -
I'm roaming aimlessly
Dragan J. Ristic, Nis, Serbia
*
moving out...
the shadows of nails
on the wall
Bruce Ross, USA
*
night wind...
sounds of a bass
in the bamboo
shanna
*
war protest –
the shadow of a hero’s horse
distorted on the groun
Nancy Stewart Smith, Georgia, USA
*
From the garbage bin
A beggar is taking bread
And the boy a broken toy
Svetlana Stankoviæ
*
bright morning
old man's memories
lost in sepia
Andre Surridge, Hamilton, NEW ZEALAND
*
she wears
the perfume he hates
love stinks
Bette Norcross Wappner, Erlanger, KY, USA
*
desert flowers
a tortoise feasts on
her favorite weed
senior trip
grandma blushes as the
zoo animal mate
Carmel Westerman, Yuma, Arizona, USA
*