2009

 

HAIKU    (Judge: Naia)

 

First Place ($100)

 

solstice moon

the sound of the mousetrap

snapping shut

 

            Carolyn Hall

            San Francisco, CA

 

 

Second Place ($50)

 

to each other

in the dark--

waving lanterns

 

             Michael McClintock

             Fresno, CA

  

Third Place ($25)

 

aspen . . .

I lose a word

or two now and then

 

            Bill Pauly

   

Honorable Mentions   (ranked)

 

the old mare's grave

already dug

April rain

 

            Carolyn Hall

            San Francisco, CA

 

 

Mother's Day card--

the attempt to say more with less

written larger

 

            Alison Woolpert

 

the grief still fresh . . .

a leaf comes to rest

on its shadow

 

            Carolyn Hall

            San Francisco, CA

 

 

SENRYU    (Judge: Ce Rosnow)

 

First Place ($100)

 

home office 

my wife sends me an email

from the bedroom

 

            Jeremy Pendrey

 

Honorable Mentions (not ranked)

 

overdue

the librarian’s

smile

 

            John Stevenson

            Nassau, NY

 

after the concert

the conductor motions

for his coat

 

            Rich Krivcher

 

retirement day—

my plastic I.D.

snaps in half

 

            Ruth Holzer

 

he talks about

his asset allocation

skimming bugs from the pool

 

            Scott Mason

 

 

 

TANKA    (Judge: Alexis Rotella)

 

First Place ($100)

 

winter afternoon

mother and I sort through

her jewelry box—

accepting baubles

just for their stories

 

            Margaret Chula

            Portland, OR

 

 

Second Place

 

without

his blue uniform

the mailman

quietly embarks

on a wild adventure

 

            Cherie Hunter Day

            San Diego, CA

 

Third Place

 

the shining moon

that used to perch

on my childhood dreams

now hovers over

a rooming house

 

            Chen-ou Liu

 

 

 

Honorable Mentions (not ranked)

 

I pretended sleep

when my wife left them

on the night stand—

two fireflies

in a jar for me

 

            Michael McClintock

            Fresno, CA

 

moonlight

on fox tracks crossing

the frozen river

many winters have gone by

since visiting distant cousins

 

            Kirsty Karkow

 

years later

the harsh words I spoke

bequeathed to me—

pressed wildflowers

in her dictionary

 

            Linda Jeannette Ward

 

 

Rengay    (Judge: Billie Wilson)

 

First Place ($100)

 

“Pausing Mid-Pirouette”

 

between storms

stomping in rainbows

of ocean foam                                     Renée Owen, Sebastopol, CA

           

 

a thousand fires

all day the orange sun                         John Thompson, Santa Rosa, CA

 

rising floodwaters

the boy in the red rowboat

waves a pirate flag                              Renée 

 

three-day blizzard—

a chain guy adds my twenties

to his wad of green                             John

 

another heat wave—

she shares a snow cone with her dog 

Renée

the lanky sunflower

pauses mid-pirouette

total eclipse                                         John

 

 

 

Honorable Mentions (ranked)

 

“a pickup game”

 

standby seat—

filling in the crossword

left unfinished                           Christopher Patchel, Mettawa, IL

 

     a pickup soccer game

     at the roadside rest stop     Alice Frampton, Seabeck, WA

 

first graders

fog the school bus window

to play tic-tac-toe                    Christopher

 

     southbound train

     my solitaire cards

     used for gin rummy            Alice

 

twenty questions

with the taxi driver                  Christopher

 

     “Titanic”

     the last night

     of shipboard charades        Alice

 

 

 

 

“Thump of a Rose”

 

moonflower

a dead friend’s name

on the tip of my tongue             Billie Dee, San Diego, CA

 

hissing, a lava finger

enters the sea                           Josh Wikoff, Petaluma, CA

 

rustling aspen

mouse bones

in the barn-owl pellet               Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, WA

 

 

a locust storm

above the field corn                 Billie

 

spawned out

each stone in the river

lends its voice                         Josh

 

the thump of a rose

on the child’s casket               Michael

 

 

“Concoctions I” (a bilingual rengay) 

 

dandelion wine

in the summer house

so many old books                  Linda Papanicolaou, Stanford, CA

 

grandma’s recipe

for lime flower cordial             Sprite (Claire Chatelet), London, UK 

 

 

cider apple trees

by night a pipistrelle

polishes the stars                     Linda

 

quince jelly

in a copper basin

the winter’s sun                       Sprite

 

slightly spicy

sorbet of Sweet William          Linda

 

murder on the Nile

she sips hibiscus tea

in a china cup                          Sprite

 

(in French)

vin de pissenlit

dans la maison d’été

tant de vieux livres                   Linda

 

la recette de grand-mère        

pour le cordial de sureau        Sprite

 

pommiers à cidre

la nuit une pipistrelle

polit les étoiles                        Linda

 

gelée de coings

dans une bassine de cuivre

le soleil d’hiver                        Sprite

 

légèrement épicé

sorbet d’oeillet de poète          Linda

 

meurtre sur le Nil

elle boit du thé d’hibiscus

dans de la porcelaine              Sprite

 

 

 

“Bits of Shell & Ship”

a budding friendship                           John Thompson, Santa Rosa, CA

 

on the incoming tide

a message hidden in a bottle               Renée Owen, Sebastopol, CA

 

unearthed—

tiny fossils pressed

into blue slate                                      John

 

finding myself

in a grain of sand—

day at the beach                                  Renée

 

bits of shell and ship

gleaned from the ribs of waves            John

 

losing track of time—

their sandcastle walls

in the setting sun’s light                    Renée

 

 

 

 

“Spiraling Down”

 

long weekend over

a maple key

spiraling down                                   Tanya McDonald, Bellevue, WA

 

 a pale green acorn

   sprouts from the nurse log               Russell McDonald, Bellevue, WA

                                               

freshly sliced watermelon

the retired mayor

spits the farthest                                 Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, WA

 

siskins bicker

over the fallen thistle sock     

                                                         Tanya

abandoned barn

cottonwood fuzz drifts

through the loft window                     Russell

 

granddad’s puff

of the dandelion                                Michael