Haiku on the Atomic Bomb, August 2010
From World Haiku Festival 2010 in Nagasaki
Competition on the theme of
the Atomic Bomb
First Place & Winner of the Mayor of Nagasaki City Award
the sun cannot know
the smudge on the ground
once had a name
Diane Mayr, USA
Second Place
cicadas chirping
for the very last time...
atomic explosion
Keith A. Simmonds, UK
Third Place
clasping a doll
a child walks alone
forever
G.R.Parimala Rao, India
Seven Honourable Mentions
(In no particular order)
in the rubble -
staring into the sky
a crippled doll
natalia kuznetsova, russia
Red Forest
dust to dust. . .
Geiger counters scream
Sue Burke
haunting images
a devastating price to pay
for peace
Cara Holman, USA
mushroom cloud –
the zen garden’s sand
fused into glass
Catherine J.S. Lee, USA
a soldier's helmet -
being a target for
the boys practising
Dusko Matas, Croatia
still hugging each other
a family rises
above the mushroom cloud
Malini Rao, India
temple bell smashed
mother's finals words ringing
through the ruined walls
Sasa Vazic
documentary
we shield our eyes
from the blast
Carmel Lively Westerman
Haiku of Merit
Fat Man
A senryu sequence
By Gabriel Rosenstock
Fat Man
falling head first
on Nagasaki
Fat Man
squealing
in the heavens
Fat Man
his brains
are jelly
Fat Man
guts
exploding
Fat Man
bleeding
from his arse
Fat Man
thunderous ear-splitiing
laughter
Fat Man
shitting
on Japan
Fat Man
too fat
to weep
Fat Man
maggots
dribbling out of his ears
Fat Man
Fat Man
Fat Man
Early spring
Instead of swallows
air-raid alarms
Rajna Begovic, Serbia
loose skin from her body
a mother covers
her child's gaping flesh
Malini Rao, India
Peaceful time
Still praying to God for peace
just like during the war
Rajna Begovic, Serbia
the deadly fallout
of mankind gone mad
more than sixty years since
Cara Holman, USA
Paper flowers
in a soldier's hand --
what a nice dream
Rajna Begovic, Serbia
Bird flee
from the wounded nature
looking for man
Rajna Begovic, Serbia
Rainy clouds
A pilotless aircraft --
a monastery on fire
Rajna Begovic, Serbia
A-Bomb survivor -
in all chakra of young man
a cat is purring
Viorica Referendaru Borisov, Romania
Chernobyl Visitor Center:
women in face masks
plant tulips
Sue Burke
Nagasaki, Hiroshima
names etched in the memory
of our collective guilt
Cara Holman, USA
cherry blossoms bloom
where once held sorrow
a nation’s hope
Cara Holman, USA
ground zero . . .
all that remains
is a howling wind
Catherine J.S. Lee, USA
wind drift –
after the quick deaths,
the sickness
Catherine J.S. Lee, USA
Fat Man
enemy's blood colored
the eyes of world
Malvina Mileta
The girl was vanished
Her peas-rice lunch carbonized;
Nuclear holocaust
with double radiation
he lived up to 93; to be
consumed by leukaemia
prehistoric camphor tree
sheltering the city with roots and leaves;
was uprooted in a second
huge radiation and heat
produced heavy keloids-
skin became her blouse
city was reduced to ashes
with decaying lives groaning-
men, pets and insects
raising hand
to strike his neighbour, he was
stunned by atom bomb
Aju Mukhopadhyay, India
the treason of time-
a boy thought ‘twas a loose kite,
he never grew old
Ernesto Pangilinan, Santiago
the Nagasaki
at the fast pacing of time,
I still smell burnt blooms
Ernesto Pangilinan, Santiago
after the big bang-
sweet roses can do nothing
to a dead lover
Ernesto Pangilinan, Santiago
Shelled bridge
A ferry transports people
across the river
Predrag Pešić - Šera, Serbia
Tr. Sasa Vazic
an August day -
at the hell's bottom whine
the fool's sins
Marija Pogorilic, Croatia
a giant mushroom
humans transform
into aliens
G.R.Parimala Rao, India
a flash of light
the blinded mother
touches her baby
G.R.Parimala Rao, India.
charred bodies
the son hugging each body
meets his mother’s ghost
G.R.Parimala Rao, India.
A-Bomb Dome
some window decoration
still there
Ross, Bruce, USA
trail of flash -
shadows of the A-bomb victims
remained on the walls
Borivoje Sekulić, Serbia
sixty years later...
nuclear trepidation
lingers in the wind
Keith A. Simmonds, England
Nagasaki...
hundreds of thousands of ghosts
still haunt America
Keith A. Simmonds, England
the big bomb...
a nuclear holocaust
graveyards without tombs
Keith A. Simmonds, England
Pulled from the rubble
a new born's limbs with dead mom--
atomic bomb
R.K.Singh , India
Searching peace
in the dark blankness
of mind's silence
R.K.Singh , India
Cutting onion –
the soldier’s wife is hiding
her true tears
Eduard Tara, Romania
War on metal wings
The Sun where it should not be
Unspeakable horror
Allen Thomas
Broken bridge.
Through clouds of smoke
birds fly.
Sasa Vazic.
Beneath the war sky
a budding flower hidden
in the jasmine bush.
Sasa Vazic
Abandoned tower.
Through the loose window
leaves fly in.
Sasa Vazic
a wounded woman --
her dying hand tenderly moves
to touch a dying baby
Sasa Vazic
smoke hugging damp air
hillside smolders hobbled pyres-
moth pays its respects.
Amos White, USA