Prunus 'Shirotae' in full bloom
NEO-CLASSICAL HAIKU
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THE BEST TEN
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FIRST PLACE
winter:
the river's impassioned flow
to reach pacific shores
Marie Shimane, Chiba, Japan
SECOND PLACE
blossom wind -
the lawnmower's
first sputter
Susan Constable, Nanoose Bay, BC, Canada
THIRD PLACE
roadside laughter...
a flipped glass marble catches
the autumn sunlight
Kala Ramesh, Pune, India
SEVEN HONOURABLE MENTIONS (In no particular order)
snowy night...
waiting for father's breath,
I hold mine
Irene Golas, Canada
voices of autumn--
some leaves will die silently,
some will struggle
Dana-Maria Onica, Petrosani, Romania
spring rain
playing in puddles
making bubbles
Marie Shimane,
new moon
a howling wind drowns out
the house crickets
Catherine J.S. Lee, Eastport, Maine, USA
frost-covered window
the fading desire
to write love poems
Peggy Heinrich,
The wind sends
fallen leaves into
an empty grave.
Zoran Antonic,
end of summer
...my bones turn to mist
Irene Golas,
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OTHER HAIKU OF MERIT (ZATSU-EI)
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*
Yellow leaves...
falling into an open palm
of a beggar
Zoran Antonic,
*
spotted faun
softly falling
early snow
Ernest Berry,
*
jiving butterflies
missing each other--
the day ending
John Bird,
*
autumn cool
watching the day moon
turn to blue
the gibbous moon
in a tangle of branches
winter solstice
Susan Constable,
*
watching and waiting--
for a total lunar eclipse
the brightness of Saturn
GILLENA COX -
*
a crow wobbles
on the tip of a fir --
spring equinox
wild buttercups
a quiver moves along
the railway tracks
*
dawn snow -
only the marks of
the garbage truck
misty clouds -
the sky-blue chimneys
of the incinerator
full moon
on the way back from work -
I switch the car radio off
Damien Gabriels, France
*
autumn wind --
the old woman tries to hold
her tremor
bone scan --
autumn mist blurs
the pines
Irene Golas,
*
lost wedding ring-
fireflies flicker across
the field
Bryan Hansel, Grand Marais, MN, USA
*
after many months...
spreading his ashes around
the lilacs he planted
Peggy Heinrich,
*
closing one eye
to view the moon -
autumn deepens
colin stewart jones,
*
so far in the sky...
the spring moon, and yet
so near in the lake
spring moonset
night dissolves into the lake
bit by bit
*
summer morning-
my imperfections
her love nonetheless
autumn dusk:
grandpa avoids walking
over fallen leaves
vishnu kapoor,
*
closing one eye
to view the moon -
autumn deepens
a cormorant splicing
two worlds
colin stewart jones
*
desert lightning
the thunder
we don’t hear
Bill Kenney,
*
floating moon…
but the stars have no home
in the water
frosty evening --
inside the church, stillness
and melting wax
burning sunshine --
splashes of orange lichen
on the dam
Anthony Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Ireland
*
sleepless ...
behind the blinds
an icicle stabs the moon
Maya Lyubenova,
*
summer clouds —
an umbrella for the hawker
selling greens
monsoon evening —
lightning shows the path to kids
to reach home
spring morning dream —
unwillingly I get up
from 'savasan' (Savasan is a supine posture for rest in Yoga)
Kumarendra Mallick, Hyderabad, India
*
A hog eats
the caps of acorns full
of autumn rain.
VITOMIR MILETIC – WITATA, Petrovaradin, SERBIA
*
a flash of lightning
splits the darkened sky
scent of wet earth
Gautam Nadkarni, India
*
hitori kite/sakabinn katate/haka arau
with his right hand
the man washes the tomb
a sake bottle in another
yuki nokori/aisho wo mune ni/kimi yukeri
the snow is left...
his favorite book
in his casket
kouunki/karasu sekirei/shitagae te
the cultivator leads
the crows ,the wagtails...
on parade
kurumaisu/noru hito mo naku/tsubaki ochi
a camellia falls...
the wheelchair has no one
to get in
nushi yukinu/hakurenn muku ni/yure yure te
the hostess is gone ...
the pure white magnolias
swinging in the air
Hisanori Ogane, Japan
*
high meadows--
another summer crosses
the mountain
retouching
the golden strokes in icons
...spring sun
Dana-Maria Onica, Petrosani, Romania
*
behind the willow curtain
the pen builds her nest
twig by twig
left inside the room
a party-goer’s coat –
this freezing night
Maeve O’Sullivan, Dublin, Ireland
*
lightning flash--
six paper planes
in a puddle
Carol Pearce-Worthington, USA
*
Pine pollen -
my red car becomes
dusty orange.
Blue-eyed grass
on my non-mowed lawn -
I move it to flower beds.
Mid-summer night -
the scent of yarrow
in the hay.
Yesterday,
a wavy field of fleabanes -
today, just hay.
Zhanna Rader, USA
*
mist wraps
the twilight sky ~ sound
of the vast ocean
the milky way had
vanished ~ crickets listen
to the drizzle
temple pond ~
a solitary bather among
white water-lilies
spring dawn ~
the moon still above
the coconut tree
Narayanan Raghunathan, India
*
summer afternoon...
watermelon juice drips
from the cart man's hand
summer afternoon...
the slow walk of
a pregnant goat
k. Ramesh
*
waterfall. . .
do darting birds
tickle it?
from the cold
I step into a tap-dance rhythm...
a clock store
temple elephant—
a mahout rides into
the gathering mist
daybreak. . .
mist out of nowhere
slips over the pond
running colours . . .
raindrops slicing
the rainbow
Kala Ramesh, Pune, India
*
The blind boy
Holding a pair of fireflies,
Touches his eyes
Firefly flashes light;
The cigar of a man
lights up too
Autumn wind
Fluttering twin-leaves
Become a butterfly
Parimala Rao, India
*
Mother's Day:
moose teaches calf to jump
farmer's fence
Ash Wednesday:
priest blesses drivers
of snowmobiles
Janice Jordan Rosenberger, Vermont USA
*
early spring
a baby steer weighted down
by its head
spring haze
in the bluebird's beak
tinge of red
bay stillness . . .
the sudden sharp rasping
of mangrove cicadas
almost falling out
of the tiniest sapling
tiny nest
Bruce Ross, Maine, USA
*
A flaming maple leaf
on black asphalt - takes me
to next moment
Frost-covered birches
with blue patches of sky -
my winter icon
Riitta Rossilahti, Finland
*
heat wave
even the moon
ripens fast
Ann K. Schwader, Westminster, CO, USA
*
Flattened wheat
Twisting their necks,
young ears rise
An apricot tree meets
the wall. Young shoots
bend sunward
Moorland –
in a flash a march tit
brushes the mist
Slavko Sedlar, Vrsac, Serbia
*
dragonfly....
only one day
at a time
shanna
*
April blossoms
drift into yesterday…
the blossoms:
full again
fewer friends
the dragonfly
longing to delay
the final flight
Marie Shimane, Chiba, Japan
*
Spring clean in the garden
Hands star'd by thorns
I think briars always win
Sleet falls at a wild slant
Sheets rip-flap on the clothesline -
A sodden slap.
Silver salver moon,
A tea tray to teapot earth –
Who shall be mother
Bee Smith
*
Labor Day—
morning glories reach the top
of a silk tree
putting laundry away —
the naturalist’s sock drawer filled
with new-hatched mantis
Nancy Stewart Smith, Georgia, USA
*
spring fair
hail bounces
on canvas awning
warm west wind
waving horizontally
loose spider's thread
Andre Surridge, Hamilton, NEW ZEALAND
*
afternoon hail,
the bodyguards take cover
in the flower shop
behind the temple
next to the waterfall,
the abbot's Mercedes
Lars Vargo
*
under the new snow
even the power plant
looks nice and clean
Vid Vukasovic, Beograd, Serbia
*
silent dawn
the tulips bloom between
my daydreams
Bette Norcross Wappner, Erlanger, KY, USA
*
desert moon
a coyote leaves
the chicken coop
Easter visit
she caresses the chip
on mother's tea cup
Carmel Westerman, USA
*
early frost
my wife inhales the steam
from her coffee
summertime
mocking the mocking bird
mocking me
Gene Williamson, Galloway, NJ, USA
*
Spring sea –
Wrinkled from the sun
And the storm
Freezing storm –
A stolen glance of a couple in love
Goes astray into the bus
(Translated from Croatian by Sasa Vazic)
Jadran zalokar
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