WORLD HAIKU REVIEW Volume 6 Issue 3 - May 2008

WHC Showcase TOKUSEN

WHCshowcase: HAIKU TOKUSEN

(Haiku of Special Merit)

- From the Past Selections -

WHCshowcase started its life on 13 November 2004 to display the choicest works in haiku and haiku-related literary genres in order to create a centre of excellence for people to enjoy and use as a reference point.

Out of many works shown already, sixteen haiku poems have been selected as works deserving special attention. We employ a celebrated Japanese haiku term for those works thus selected, TOKUSEN, which means 'especially chosen' literally but we translate it as 'poems of special merit'. Tokusen poems can be said to be some of the finest examples of contemporary haiku.

*

(In the order of appearance. Numbers are unique to

the works in WHCshowcase)

1

storm swept beach -

inside an empty shell,

empty barnacles . . .

Carole MacRury (USA)

3

a cat watches me

across the still pond,

across our difference

Paul O. Williams (USA)

4

spring shower -

even communists took shelter

within church walls

Tomislav Maretic (Croatia)

7

mountain journey

clouds and temple bells

between the peaks

Carol Raisfeld (USA)

9

spring in the air

earth smelling of

earth again

Gabi Greve (Japan)

14

a deep breath

of mountain air

I choke on snowflakes

Marlene Egger (USA)

18

poppies in the field -

the old soldier picks one

for his buttonho

Adelaide Shaw (USA)

23

spring scents

the dog and I walk

through different worlds

Kirsty Karkow (USA)

33

scattered blossoms...

two umbrellas go chatting

in the rain

Carol Raisfeld (USA)

45

graveside -

echo of gravel

against the coffin

Allen M. Terdiman, USA

47

mid-summer -

wishing your breasts

were melons

Robert Wilson (USA)

63

glacier in the lake -

a splash is seen

before it is heard

Vaughn Seward, Canada

64

autumn lawn...

more leaf-mulching

than grass-cutting

Vaughn Seward, Canada

65

dripping mist

pulls the sky

into the valley

Kala Ramesh, India