our last goodbye

our last goodbye
pine trees shrouded
by the mist

(tied for 1st place, Caribbean Kigo Kukai #40, March 2013)

kindling the flame

The first time I entered the monthly Caribbean Kigo Kukai was in April 2010, and I have only missed a few since then. In February, Gillena Cox held the CKK First Poets’ Choice awards, with 100 of the top three place haiku from kukai spanning the period from April 2009 to September 2011. I am pleased to have had the following four haiku of mine on the ballot, which together garnered 6 votes:

strains of Mendelssohn
the groom fiddles
with his carnation

***

after the thunder
stillness…
then birdsong

***

twilight shadows–
the flash
of a bluebird’s wing

***

kindling the flame–
one candle
lights another

 

kindling the flame

December Haiku Share

Driving through the neighborhood last night and seeing all the holiday lights reminded me of this haiku I wrote two years ago to the prompt “festival lights” for the Caribbean Kigo Kukai:

kindling the flame-
one candle
lights another

Caribbean Kigo Kukai, October 2010

 

You can also write about winter holidays, candles, or flames. If you missed the initial post, click here to read about the month long haiku challenge I am holding right here on my blog this December.

an unseen bird

I took 2nd place in the September Caribbean Kigo Kukai #38 (kigo: “stormy weather”)  with this haiku:

an unseen bird
begins to trill…
lifting clouds

passing the torch

I’ve watched at least some part of the Olympics televised coverage every four (now two) years, ever since I was seven years old. As a kid, I think I was a bit more starry-eyed. Now, I see how biased the coverage is, how ridiculous it is to label someone a loser because they failed to achieve that elusive gold medal, and that the competition isn’t always friendly as it could be. Yet in spite of all that, I still enjoy watching the Olympics, and wrote the following haiku for the Caribbean Kigo Kukai #37, with the theme “The Olympic Games”.

passing the torch
a new generation
takes the medal stand

graduation day

The prompt this month for Caribbean Kigo Kukai  #36 was “high school graduation”. The prompt was so evocative, I hardly knew where to begin. So I started with the last high school graduation I attended, several years ago, for a family friend.

The ceremony was held at a college campus, so that there would be more seating. There was dressing for the event. The long ride over. The disastrous parking situation. The long walk across campus to the auditorium. The uncomfortable seats. And the hot, stuffy room.  There were many long speeches. A choral number. Students fidgeted in their heavy gowns, under the hot lights. And finally, they began calling the students up one by one, to receive their diploma covers. There were over 500 graduates that year. We were asked not to clap between students, but of course, who listened? Each student, it seemed, came with their own private cheering section. Cameras flashed, younger siblings fidgeted, and officials propped the outside doors open, in a futile attempt to create a cross draft. Row by row, student by student, the evening dragged on…

This was my haiku, that won 1st place:

graduation day
I fold my program
into a fan

A Rose is A Rose

When I went to post my haiku from the May Shiki Kukai, I realized that I have written and posted quite a number of rose haiku lately, so I thought I would collect them all in one place. I guess I don’t live in the City of Roses for nothing!

cascading moonlight…
remembering how
she loved roses
(May 2012 Shiki Kukai)

letting go
the last petal
on the butterfly rose
(NaHaiWriMo)

grandma’s old letters
the lingering scent
of heirloom roses
(Caribbean Kigo Kukai #34)

rose petals
the warmth of your hand
in mine
(Runner Up in Kathy Uyen Nguyen’s NaPoWriMo Free Book Giveaway Contest #1)

leafy reflections…
after the rain
the stillness
(Christine Villa’s Haiku My Photo Challenge)

In this last haiku, you have to look at the photo to see the roses. 🙂

grandma’s old letters

The kigo this month for Caribbean Kigo Kukai #34 was “grandmother”. It seems we all have evocative memories of our grandmothers. Read them all here.  This was mine:

grandma’s old letters
the lingering scent
of heirloom roses

April Poet Showcase

For three years now, I have participated in at least one daily poetry writing challenge in April, in honor of National Poetry Month. It was a great way to kick start my writing, and make new friends in the process. As this April approached however, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the idea of taking on yet another daily writing challenge. In the first place, I have been doing this for three consecutive months now, and am ready for a break! And in addition, now that I am regularly writing and submitting haiku, tanka, haibun, and rengay to journals, I feel like trying to write to daily prompts can sometimes become a distraction. So I sat back and gave some thought to what I could do this April. And the answer came to me at once.

I have met so many creative poets over the last few years. Why not showcase them, and in the process, learn a bit more about my poetry friends, many of whom I have not yet met in person. So I sent out a short list of questions, one of which is how they met me. I have been involved in many online poetry writing communities, including the Four and Twenty journal– the first place my poetry was published– Poetic Asides, Read Write Poem, Big Tent Poetry, Shiki Kukai, Sketchbook Kukai, Caribbean Kigo Kukai, NaHaiWriMo, and most recently, I Doodle, You ‘Ku. Again and again I see many of the same names popping up in various poetry publications and communities, and new ones being added all the time. So this April, I will be showcasing many of my poetry friends in guest blog posts, and hope you will follow along.

Just to whet your appetite, here is the line up, for the first two weeks, in order of appearance. (And if you haven’t sent in your answer to my questions yet, please do!)

Week 1: Kirsten Cliff, Cassie Premo Steele, Laurie Kolp, Terri L. French, Margaret Chula, Michael Dylan Welch, and Curtis Dunlap

Week 2: Aubrie Cox, Margaret Dornaus, Alegria Imperial, Gillena Cox, Angie Werren, Christina Nguyen, and Johannes S.H. Bjerg

So with no further ado…

Caribbean Kigo Kukai #31

It’s always fun to see the results of the Caribbean Kigo Kukai, and to find out who wrote what. Kind of like the unmasking at a masquerade ball, not that I’ve actually been to one. The kigo this month was “footsteps”. My haiku:

footsteps receding
in the distance
morning solitude

It netted 6 pts, and the following (anonymous) comment: ” I like the way the poet has adapted the familiar ‘winter solitude’ kigo to the theme of the kukai.” Read all the haiku from this kukai here.