2012 TLP Competition Favorite Haiku Poems
To honor the fine work of poets who submitted entries to the 2012 Turtle Light Press Haiku Chapbook Competition, which was won by Graham High, author of The Window That Closes, we have selected a handful of the poems that we have most enjoyed. We hope that you will enjoy this cross-section of haiku from around the world.
To read about or to order previous competitions’ winners, scroll down to the bottom of the page.
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Ernest Berry
Picton, New Zealand
old garden shed
the insecticide can
full of spiders
filleting cod
trying to avoid
eye contact
late afternoon
the porch icicle
lit from within
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Steve Burgess
Santa Maria, CA
distant cut-outs
of cardboard panoramas–
mountains in haze
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Steven Carter
Tucson, AZ
Alzheimer’s unit–
visiting Granddad,
I forget which block
early autumn stream–
on its last journey
the first yellow leaf
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Glenn Coats
Prospect, VA
midwinter
the silent snow
keeps us awake
winter roses
father shows us photographs
he no longer sees
familiar hymns
prayers worn deep
in the wood
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Temple Cone
Annapolis, MD
spring night–
one peeper’s song
spawns thousands
a rainbow of children gathering Easter eggs
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Kathy Lundy Derengowski
San Marcos, CA
ladybug on wing
she’s a show-off, isn’t she,
in those polka dots?
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Anne Dunnett
Vancouver, British Columbia
at dawn
a silhouette
migrating south
last day of summer
watermelon seeds
left behind
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Andrea Eldridge
Claremont, CA
on final approach:
the last inch before touchdown,
the last breath
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Robert Epstein
El Cerrito, CA
ducklings:
a girl screams from the car
look both ways!
Earth Day
he spends it
60 floors up
eyeing her
in the waiting room:
the optometrist
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Bruce Feingold
Berkeley, CA
a swallowtail
brushes my fingertips–
warrior pose
coming of summer–
a forget-me-not pokes
through the fence
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Lois J. Funk
Manito, IL
four-way stop
pink and white balloons
dodge morning traffic
memorial spray
short one silk geranium
lying in the road
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LeRoy Gorman
Napanee, Ontario
end of season sale
an old price guide keeps
the counter level
deafening rain
we talk of the dead
in whispers
farm for sale
the grandchild picks
a bouquet of weeds
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R. Gray
Marcus Hook, PA
3 a.m.
a neighbor’s chimes
in the soft wind
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Graham High
London, England
crab claw on the shore–
your fingers clasped more firmly
round my hand
the moonlight
inexhaustible
wave after wave
painting together–
pink and blue tempera
tinting the wind
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Cara Holman
Portland, OR
forest hike
the path widens
enough for two
daydreaming
thistledown drifts
on the breeze
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Duro Jaiye
Hirakata, Japan
easy listening–
somebody else’s child
having a tantrum
daybreak . . .
from the maternity room window,
budding cherry trees
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Wendy Kaplan
Cape May, NJ
someone’s birthday wish
spelled with horseshoe crab helmets
left by last night’s tide
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CaroleAnn Lovin
Clearwater, FL
birds splash–
inside-out umbrella
turned upside-down
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Bob Lucky
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
fall mist
steam from a pot
of chili
family reunion
pies lined up on the counter
to cool
dawn smudged fingerprints on an empty glass
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Beth McFarland
Karlsruhe, Germany
born early
taken home
in a tea-cosy
he forgets to eat
after years
of spreading the butter thick
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Peter Meister
New Hope, AL
floppy ears
straight up–
distant barking
almost open
the choirmaster’s fingertips
let the song go
–for Ward Jamison
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Beverly Acuff Momoi
Mountain View, CA
mid-winter rain
in fits and starts he asks
about the prognosis
–Notes from the Gean, Volume 3:1
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Marian Olson
Santa Fe, NM
cresting the mesa
a huge orange moon
quells all talk
wake up!
the fading gold moon
won’t wait
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Kathe Palka
Flemington, NJ
spring breeze
a red pinwheel spinning
on a child’s grave
—Modern Haiku, Autumn 2009
Independence Day–
sparklers trace patterns
in the darkness
—Modern Haiku, Summer 2011
baking for Christmas
scent of last year’s cinnamon
in an empty tin
—bottle rockets #22, 2010
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Michael Scott
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
June rain–
waste ground awash
with poppies
morning meadow–
above the mist
the backs of cattle
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Mark Smith
Keyser, WV
starless night
lit window
where the widow lives
tumor
the maple leaf
speckled red
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Linda Jeannette Ward
drooping pear tree–
a doe balances
on hind legs
bluejay feathers
scattered along this path
afternoon silence
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David Worrell
Cherry Hill, NJ
deflated purple
mylar birthday balloon floats
against jetty rocks
2012 TLP Haiku Chapbook Competition Winner — Graham High’s The Window That Closes
2010 TLP Haiku Chapbook Competition Winner — Catherine J.S. Lee’s All That Remains
2008 TLP Haiku Chapbook Competition Winner — Michael McClintock’s Sketches from the San Joaquin
