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We submit our haiku poems to different magazines, kukai and competitions. These have to be “judged” by someone: an editor, appointed judges or prominent haijin.

“Submit” is an intriguing word. What are we submitting and really, to whom? Are we submitting what we believe to be our best work at any given time according to our own criteria? Or, are we submitting those which have been “doctored” so that they have a better chance of being accepted, or of winning prizes? Are we not submitting (i.e. surrendering) ourselves to the whims, rules and regulations, likes and dislikes, the ego needing to be massaged, authority or whatever else except for objective and independent criteria (as if they exist!), of the “JUDGE”?

Do we know the real worth of what we are submitting? Do we really think the judges know what they are doing and what they are talking about?

Well, without any more ado, let us ask these judges directly.

The Voice of A Haiku Judge is a new feature for WHC to visit these judges and ask them to voice their views in many different ways. In this issue, we visit a well-known and well-loved Australian poet, Janice Bostok, and ask her what she thinks about the prize-winning haiku and honourable mentions of the WHC’s World Haiku Poems Competition which was held as one of the three major competitions of the World Haiku Festival 2000. 

 

Comments by Janice Bostok

 

First Place

spring sunbeam
the baby’s toes
spread apart

Peggy Willis Lyles
USA

The universality of this poem is so great, yet so simple: all living things react to the changes in the seasons, particularly Spring. It would probably be the baby's first Spring and it feels the warmth and is probably visually delighted by the sunbeam. The poem also has all the connotations of Spring: new life, sunshine, the desire to spread out and reach out after a long winter confined.

 

Second Place

summer solstice
the sun reaches a new place
on the fridge

John Crook
UK

This poem is typical of the way in which haiku raises the everyday aspect of our lives to the extraordinary. At the summer solstice there is a peak, a reaching of a new height in nature, just as the sun reaches a new place on the fridge. The fridge is a place we visit each day. The sun wasn't touching that spot yesterday. The fridge is relatively modern in the history of mankind. It is the perception of the writer which gives us a new slant on an ancient theme.

 

Third Place

moss-hung trees
a deer moves into
the hunter’s silence

Winona Baker
Canada

This poem catches our imagination, stops us in our tracks, holds us rigid in anticipation. I'm personally cheering for the deer, and hoping that the magnificence of the deer will capture the hunter's attention, and his gun will remain silent forever. A good poem to make us think twice about our environment. However, if the deer does need to be killed for food, by saying 'the hunter's silence' it seems to indicate that he is solemn and thoughtful about the event.

 

Seven Honourable Mentions (Not in order of ranking)

1

spring evening –
the wheel of a troop carrier
crushes a lizard

Dimitar Anakiev
Slovenia

We all understand the terror of war and what our European friends have been going through. I think it is wonderful that when this writer needs to express himself it can be done through haiku. And, an expression of the genuine haiku moment, not just using the haiku as a vehicle to say something. When we go beyond the limits of fright or panic, our accepting mind seems to shut down, go into slow motion, as we say. This is a wonderful example of that reaction. Rather than the writer's mind taking in the horror of the events, it switches to the lesser tragedy of something so huge and terrible crushing a tiny lizard. It says it all, for me, about war.

Of course, I cannot comment on my own haiku. But it has been suggested that I should delete 'to' in the last line — making the poem tighter and more in keeping with the format whereby one subject is completely separate and in juxtaposition to the other one. This would change the poem completely for me. It would simply be saying: 'oh, there is moonlight out there!' Out there! This is a true experience and a delightful surprise for me. I went to get more firewood on a cold night and when I opened the door the moonlight came flooding in, and I welcomed it. It engulfed me! It was not merely me looking out at the moonlight.

2

fetching firewood
I open the door
to moonlight

Janice Bostok
Australia

[No comments because it is her own haiku]

3

catching snowflakes
the beggar’s red cap
upside down

Juanito Escareal
USA

This poem is very visual, and while it is a seasonal haiku, it is also quite indicative of human nature. Perhaps more indicative of human nature than we would like to admit. There is someone out in the street, cold and hungry and the passers-by are probably only interested in getting home to their own warm dwellings and families. 'catching snowflakes' tells us the season, and in a bleak cold street where snow is falling a red cap may be the only bright spot, but unfortunately it too, is fillings with white snow. Soon there will be nothing to indicate that there is a beggar there, and his needs.

4

autumn evening
my hospital window
becomes a mirror

Zinovy Vayman
Russia

This poem is one of human reflection. Not only because the author sees his/her image in the window, but because they have been ill and in hospital, and perhaps went through a stage of 'taking stock' of their life. The mention of autumn and evening leads us to believe that something is coming to a closure: an illness, a hardship, perhaps life itself. The window, through which we normally look outward to others and the wider environment, has become a mirror reflecting the author's own self and feelings. The brighter light of day is fading, and a darkness of night is approaching. However, morning does follow night, so there is hope.

5

no attachments
to this world …
falling plum petals

Pamela Babusci 
USA

This poem seems to have a 'Zen' acceptance and quality about it. Although I know nothing, really, about Zen, and do not claim to, it just seems so to me. Having said that, I now look for what it is that I receive from the poem. 'no attachments to this world' is a wonderful way to live, for those who can. The author does not say whether s/he has no attachments, or wishes s/he didn't have attachment, to this world. The author then gives us the image of the 'falling plum petals' to show us an acceptance of what nature can teach us. The plum petals fall when it is their time to fall. They have blossomed and given a wonderful display, then they die and leave. A parallel to human life perhaps, if we think on it. After the petals fall, fruit will develop and grow. We may wish not to have any material attachments to this world, but we possibly still leave future generations and our imprint on the world.

6

Air-raid alarm –
the traffic light changes
for no one.

Ljubinka Tosic
Yugoslavia

This poem has the sad/loneliness quality which I imagine could be likened to the Japanese sabi or wabi. If there is a need for an air-raid alarm there is a war going on. War is ugly and perhaps the city has been destroyed to some extent. We can only imagine what it would be like to be that someone left out on the street. Everyone else is obviously inside the shelters or hiding somewhere safe, as 'the traffic light changes for no one'. Again, I feel it is a touching expression of war, without sentimental images, delicately created in a haiku moment.

7

winter leaf
just one slow turn
before landing

Emile Molhuysen
the Netherlands

This poem is one of those deliciously ambiguous poems which keep us guessing. Is the author simply describing a leaf falling in winter? We might never know, and it doesn't matter! We enjoy the simple image and the slow turn of the leaf as it falls. It is nature's ballet. And, it would be noticed because there would not be very many 'winter' leaves left. Perhaps it is the last one which has been hanging on and has had the author guessing as to when it would let go. As I say, perhaps there is some significant reason for the author to notice this event, today. We can supply our own if it is important. We have all had this experience.

 

 

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