2016 The Long Summer Contest: Winners

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Haiku Club's 2016 The Long Summer Contest!


First Place goes to the boardwalk tanka by SekayiJette.  This evokes images of east coast beach towns and smaller beach cities, the listing of visual cues mimicking the Japanese idea where visions of things in nature bring forth cultural memories and meanings.  With a pleasant rhythm the author sets the table and the audience fills in details from their own experience.  In this way the poet and audience partake in a shared cultural experience.

Second Place goes to lazy summer haiku by SilverInkblot.  A wonderfully relaxed image, this presents the clearest haiku moment.  It employs a clever use of negative space, mentioning the shadows and dust while inviting the reader to paint in the sunbeams themselves.

Third Place goes to fireworks haiku by Weidenlied.  Beauty is fleeting in this summertime moment which playfully contrasts the roots of hanabi, the Japanese word for fireworks. The word is composed of two kanji, 花 (hana, meaning flower) and 火 (bi, meaning fire).


Honorable Mentions go to:

a very long summer haiku by neurotype-on-discord.  A surprising and funny twist in this perfectly summery slice of life.

the hills are alive... sijo by haijinik.  Beautiful scenery viewed through the lens of history. Oh to have a car full of history majors on every road trip!


Special thanks go to Haegun, RedDragonfly, and moyanII for judging the contest.