Congratulations to all participants of the Under the Basho Haiku Contest.  There are over 600 haiku submited for competition of which the esteemed Alan Summers reduced, over several weeks, to just 25.  He sent me the 25 for final evaluation and results. Clearly, each contestant offered their best poems.  Yet, in the end, as any contest must do, choices for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Honorable Mentions must be made.  The following haiku are the final selections.  Please listen to their reading as well (recording). There are no names - just haiku - in the order as you see them here.  They are a beautiful collection.

Congratulations to all!

The 2014 Results Are:

 

1st Place: $500

Contestant #307 - Donna Fleischer

Entry 307.1

 

late winter –

the dragonfly world

of a snowflake

 

2nd Place: $150

Contestant #59 - Sheila Barksdale

Entry 59.2

 

fogbound

thumbing the sharpness

of pistachio shells

 

3rd Place: $50

Contestant #280 - Karen Cesar

Entry 280.2

 

evergreen touching evergreen sound now water now wind

 

 

First Honorable Mention

Contestant #175 - Mark Brager

Entry 175.2

 

thrush song . . .

a slow river

sifting dawn

 

Honorable Mentions (random order)

Contestant #137 - Ernest Berry

Entry 137.2

 

family

am i the last to go

snowmelt

 

Contestant #46 - Luminita Suse

Entry 46.1

 

sunlit streets

other shadows

walk in pairs

 

Contestant #135 - Terri French

Entry 135.1

 

Spring thaw

an ice shanty leans

into the melt

 

Contestant #268 - Neelam Dadhwal

Entry 268.2

 

spring fields...

one more line on

the farmer's palm deepens

 

Contest sponsored by the American School of Martial Arts, Inc.

Entries began in 2013 and completed in 2014. Publication and announcements of winners was April, 2014. 

(Recording by Don Baird - voice and piano)