In a traditional haiku, the season is an implicit subject and is sometimes deliberately mentioned in the title or text. So this week we wrote a haiku to bless the season of bounty and warmth that officially began yesterday. The only stated requirements: “Seventeen syllables divided into three lines containing five, seven, and five syllables each. The season should be named.”
First prize goes to Angela Ball for “Summer”:
Thanks sparrow for nest-
Ing in my cycle helmet.
Vacant now, it sings.
I like the intimacy of address—it reminds me a little of an Emily Dickinson dialogue between a bee and a fly. The image of the sparrow in a cycle helmet is a magnificent juxtaposition of natural and manmade life, and both halves of the image are seasonally right.
I so loved the back and forth between Violet Frasier
but then it must be
somewhere outside the poem
how summer reaches
and Paul Michelsen
Summer. Haiku snobs
will really hate this haiku.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
They share second place, with honorable mention going to Charise Hoge
only a screen door
between our house and the yard
summer springs open
and Patricia Smith
ruby stained fingers
mashed berries oozing juices
sweet strawberry jam
For next week, how about a contest for the best title of a yet-to-be-written poem? Some poets end their poems with a title; some begin with a title and go on from there. Let’s try the second approach. I speak as one who likes compiling lists of possible titles. Give it your best shot!
Deadline: Sunday, June 26, 2016, at midnight in any time zone.
