|
Back | Next
|
|
|
WHC
Contests - New Year's Double
Kukai |
The THIRD New Year's Eve &
New Year's Day
World-wide Double Kukai 2002/2003
Haiku Poems
Inspired by Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
Finale to WHC's Two-year Celebrations of
the Centenary of His Death |
 |
The Top 10
Winning Entries
The following 10 haiku poems are
the winning entries in the popular voting for the Third Annual New Year's Eve
& New Year's Day World-wide Double Kukai 2002/2003.
Comments by the authors explain relationships of their haiku to Shiki's.
Total score shown in brackets
|
The Results: 3 Winners and 7
Honourable Mentions |
CONGRATULATIONS !
We are pleased to announce the final results of the popular voting. There were
35 people who cast their votes on 30 short-listed poems.
As 2002 is the centenary year of the death of Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902), we at
WHC were conducting a two-year programme of celebration [2001 being the
centenary year according to the Buddhism-based Japanese reckoning]. This Double
Kukai is the finale of the 2001/2002 Shiki Centenary Celebrations with a theme
connected to Shiki.
2003 is the first year to start WHC’s new initiative of “Raising Standards
& Quality” of haiku and related activities at WHC. What better way is
there, then, of starting the New Year than having a theme which could enhance
the standards and quality?
The best ten (the three winners and seven honourable mentions) and other poems
of special merit will be published in the next issue of World Haiku Review. All
20 works which did not reach the best ten will also be announced separately,
with the scores they won.
Last but not least, let me thank my colleague, Johnye Strickland, who has kindly
done the job of counting votes. I am so glad that her own poem is high in the
honourable mentions. Kirsty Karkow and Gene Murtha also kindly offered help but
it transpired that Johnye’s neat and organised mind alone did the job
splendidly well.
Enjoy!
Susumu Takiguchi
|
The First Place 222
(36 points) Angele Lux, Canada |
Prize: A copy of Masaoka Shiki, by Janine
Beichman, Twayne Publishers, Boston, pp. 174, 1982, ISBN 0-8057-6504-2, Hard
Cover, worth $ 50.
moonlit sickroom
the motionless shadow
of his walking stick
Angele Lux
Val-des-Monts (Quebec), CA
Shiki used to travel a lot. Unable to move out
of his room for 7 years, he must have lived all over again his travels while
lying in bed. -AL
|
The Second Place 69
(24 points) DeVar Dahl, Canada |
Prize: A copy of WILD FLOWERS, NEW LEAVES; A
COLLECTION OF WORLD HAIKU, ed. by Susumu Takiguchi, The World Haiku Club
Publication in commemoration of World Haiku Festival 2000 & 2002, Ami-Net
International Press, First published 2002, pp. 304, ISBN 1 902135 03 2,
Poetry/Literary Criticism, Price: GBP 12 (incl. for p & p, in UK), Euro 20
(incl. p & p, to Europe), US$ 23 (incl. p & p to Zone 1), US$ 25 (incl.
P & p to Zone 2), Yen 3000 (incl. p & p, to Japan).
december morning
a magpie finds something
to sing about
DeVar Dahl
Magrath , Alberta, CA
I liked Shiki's haiku that measured the passing
of a summer night by the time when the crows and then the sparrows began to
sing. -DD
|
The Third Place 45
(23 points) Aruna Lakshmanan, USA |
The Third Place (Prize: A copy of
Twaddle of An Oxonian, The - Haiku Poems & Essays, Susumu Takiguchi, Ami-Net
International Press, England, 2000, a Commemorative Publication of the World
Haiku Festival 2000, US$ 15 (incl. P & P ex-UK), ￡
10 (incl. P & P in UK).
no words
only red berry stains
on this page
Aruna Lakshmanan
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Shiki brought out the effect of contrasting colors in some of his haiku. Some of
the colors he mentions are red, green, white, yellow and purple. -AL
|
7 Honourable Mentions (in
order of ranking) |
* * * * * * *
|
Honourable Mentions 95
(22 points) Adelaide B. Shaw, USA |
in this winter woods,
just the crunch
of my boots
Adelaide B. Shaw
Scarsdale, NY USA
inspired by Shiki's advice about brevity &
avoiding useless words -ABS
|
Honourable Mention 16
(20 points) hortensia anderson,
USA |
too sick to move --
my mother tells me
it is snowing
hortensia anderson
nyc, ny, usa
i understand only too well the famous Shiki haiku asking about the depth of
snow... -HA
|
Honourable Mention 93
(20 points) Johnye Strickland, USA |
alien moon ~
aging refugees long for
bamboo shadows
Johnye Strickland
North Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
This is based on personal experience of working
on an Oral History Project with Vietnamese Refugees. This particular
experience reflects the feelings of the older generation of refugees, who 10
years after coming to the USA were looking backward toward their homeland. I
don't know much about Shiki's poetry, but since he was a journalist, I would
expect him to have made use of some of the subject matter he learned in his work
in the 18,000 haiku he wrote by the age of 35. -JS
|
Honourable Mention 125
(17 points) Rob Scott, NL |
new years day
one of the lilies
not open
Rob Scott
The Hague, NL
a sketch of life poem, in which Shiki's persistence in using seasonal
references, perhaps as a way of marking time throughout his long illness,
enabled him to create deep meaning in the apparent meaninglessness of time
passed. -RS
|
Honourable Mention 95
(22 points) Billie Wilson, USA |
first dawn--
patterns of wind
crisscrossing the lake
Billie Wilson
Juneau, Alaska, USA
Shiki is credited with saying that the brevity of the haiku form is its
strength. In that regard, there are several possible meanings that I hope
I have successfully imbedded in this haiku. It fascinates me that so brief
a form does allow for so many varied interpretations. The poet formulates
whatever meaning(s) he/she intends; thereafter, the reader either finds the
poet's meaning -- and/or finds another meaning altogether. This is but one
aspect that emphasizes Shiki's belief in the power of the haiku form. -BW
|
Honourable Mention 221
(15 points) Alenka Zorman, Slovenia |
on both sides
of the neighbour's fence
the year ends
Alenka Zorman
Ljubljana, SL
Under my balcony (in the fifth floor of the block) there are two neighbours'
houses. Between their gardens a wooden fence. Wherever we live the year will
end, for those neighbours too. Whether they like each other or they quarrel.
Time passes.....The fence could symbolize the country borders, the 'borders' in
our minds, too.... -AZ
|
Honourable Mention 116
(13 points) Kirsty Karkow, USA |
one candle
lights her solitary meal
bitter cold
kirsty karkow
Waldoboro, Maine. USA
Shiki used kigo to set the stage for loneliness, fear and sadness. I have tried
to do the same. -KK
|
(There were three others
winning 13 points and Susumu Takiguchi employed the casting vote.) |
