Nagasaki Haiku, August 2010

From the World Haiku Festival 2010 in Nagasaki

Haiku Competition: General Category

One of the many sessions of the World Haiku Festival 2010 In Nagasaki. It was an introduction to haiku for overseas participants and citizens of Sasebo.

First Place: Us Fleet Activity Sasebo Commander Award

First Place

once it gets started

steam from the boiling water

joins the fresh spring air

Priscilla Lignori

Second Place

reflecting more than

itself - raindrop at the end

of a red berry

Priscilla Lignori

Third Place

snow on snow

footprints fade

from view

Diane Mayr, USA

Seven Honourable Mentions

(In no particular order)

snowy night

no one to share

the silence

Darrell Lindsey, USA

summer swelter --

tiny peapods drying

on the wild vetch

Catherine J.S. Lee, USA

moving day...

a field mouse flees

the airing cupboard

Helen Buckingham, UK

fall garden

the pregnant woman's shadow

toting a water pail

Darrell Lindsey, USA

Autumn sun

An old man’s face breaths

through a net of wrinkles

Ljubomir Dragovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Echoing field...

The hooting of an owl

cools the summer night

Ljubomir Dragovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Vast field

In a lark’s song is

all its freedom

Ljubomir Dragovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Haiku of Merit

(In no particular order)

Dry meadow

Bent shadows of an old woman

and her goat

Rajna Begovic, Serbia

smallhold harvest

for breakfast

three strawberries

Helen Buckingham, UK

day moon

settles

over the builder's crane

Helen Buckingham, UK

in the neighbourhood

a lawn mower grinds and groans

warning of something.

Anne Curran

mid-January—

avoiding eye contact

with his gay brother

Ignatius Fay, Canada

diagnosis

longest day of my life

—winter solstice

Ignatius Fay, Canada

heron touches down

a sudden flash of light

on evening pond

Cara Holman, USA

alone on the beach -

watching a fisherman's boat

sink into the mist

natalia kuznetsova, Russia

an old mill upstream

with its ever-groaning wheel,

storks' nest on the roof

natalia kuznetsova, Russia

low clouds . . .

wet snow changing

the shapes of juniper

Catherine J.S. Lee, USA

drifting off to sleep -

accompanied by the sound

of the summer rain

Priscilla Lignori

yesterday’s paper

inside the wood-burning stove –

an evening at home

Priscilla Lignori

I walk under the conversation of two crows

Diane Mayr, USA

chilly fall day

coffee stains deepen

in my cup

Diane Mayr, USA

a face with

brows and lashes-

quiver in the waves

Aju Mukhopadhyay, India

black-necked crane

stands on one leg, does it know

endangered ?

Aju Mukhopadhyay, India

After the storm

one shadow less

on the white wall

Predrag Pešić, Serbia

Tr. Sasa Vazic

spring sky ~

even the white clouds

look like blossoms

Narayanan Raghunathan, India

Clothesline in the breeze-

Summer symphony

Malini Rao, India

Waxing harvest moon!

shadows naked lie entwined

caught beneath oak tree

Amos White

Couldn't care less

I am filling books

With wet legs

Jadran Zalokar, Croatia

a few wrinkles

in the beech sapling

summer heat

Bruce Ross, USA

On a ski-track

hot on the heels of

my own blue shadow

Riitta Rossilahti, Finland

Peacefully

tickling my cat,

purring to New Year

Riitta Rossilahti, Finland

Autumn dusk -

a white trunk of a birch

through darkness

Riitta Rossilahti, Finland

My childhood oak

blasted by the war: now birds

make nests beneath the stars

Slavko Sedlar, Serbia

No guests

A waitress sunbathing

her shaven legs

Borivoje Sekulić, Serbia

Her balcony

again empty today.

The wind bends the tulips.

Borivoje Sekulić, Serbia

harbor noon

on the rusty anchor

a white gull

Borivoje Sekulić, Serbia

Summer drowsiness

Sounds of scraping pot

from the kitchen

Tatjana Stefanovic, Serbia

the empty chair:

a flood of memories

for Mother's Day

Keith Simmonds, UK

the old man ponders

on the baby in the crib

both of them dribbling

Keith Simmonds, UK

star-spangled sky...

my son pulls in his kite

with the full moon

Keith Simmonds, UK

under the sun's spell

a scintillating sea

in silky stillness

Keith Simmonds, UK

Cherry petals –

the sweeper takes

his day off

Eduard TARA, Romania

new dawn

dripping opals

on the spider's web

Barbara A Taylor, Australia

let's cross the road --

just two steps nearer

to the full moon

Sasa Vazic, Serbia

spring breeze…

sisters hold

each others flying hair

G.R. Parimala Rao, India

chewing lazily

a buffalo drips foamy saliva

a fly quenches her thirst

G.R. Parimala Rao, India

on the big temple tower

a small bird

watches the world

G.R. Parimala Rao, India

glowing fire fly

i switch off

my night lamp

G.R. Parimala Rao, India