2016 Results

At the Fifth Edition of The Haiku Contest SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL 2016 organized by Romanian Kukai Group have participated 250 participants from 5 continents and 45 countries. as follows: AFRICA: Ghana (2), Nigeria (1), South Africa (1), Tunisia (1); ASIA: Bangladesh (4), India (14), Indonesia (1), Israel (2), Japan (1), Malaysia (3), Nepal (1), Pakistan (1), Philippines (4), Singapore (1), Sri Lanka (1), Thailanda (1), Turkey (1); AUSTRALIA: Australia (19), New Zealand (14); EUROPE: Belgium (2), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), Bulgaria (6), Croatia (26), Cyprus (1), Finland (1), France (2), Germany (11), Italy (2), Lithuania (3), Moldavia (1), Montenegro (3), Netherlands (1), Poland (13), Portugal (1), Romania (23), Russia (1), Serbia (17), Slovenia (4), Spain (4), Sweden (1), Switzerland (3), Ukraine (1), United Kingdom (10); NORTH AMERICA: Canada (7), United States of America (29); The organizers would like to express their gratitude to the participants for such a large interest and invite everyone to participate in the fourth edition, which will start in February 2016. Corneliu Traian ATANASIU, President of the Jury Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ, Member of the Jury Dan DOMAN, Member of the Jury Eduard ŢARĂ, Secretary, Cristina Oprea, Ana Drobot Congratulations to the winners and commended haiku poets.

WINNERS

First Prize fogbound... singing rhymes to the baby in my womb Archana Kapoor NAGPAL Bangalore, INDIA Even since the judging began, I was attracted by the beauty of this poem and I was convinced that it would be among the winning poems. The fog is a seasonal element that gives the poem a special aura. A symbol of shapelessness, of undetermined material space, the fog comprises three elements: air, water, and earth. Alternatively, the fog means genesis, i.e. creativity,  ideas and assumptions. The first part of the poem introduces us into the season, into a foggy, oppressive atmosphere. The pregnant woman, on her way home or to work, who knows, gets caught in the toils of fog; the word bound makes us perceive the fog like a hallucinogenic trap, a maze that inoculates in this woman feelings of fear and anguish. What makes her not to fall into despair, to remain calm, is the song that the woman keeps humming while crossing the mist that upholsters the space, wrapping around it like a huge shroud.          We discover that the song that somehow alleviates the atmosphere  is not addressed to a child that walks along with his/her mother, but to baby not yet born. We can speculate that this unborn baby, maybe scared by its mom’s fears, who is perhaps feeling anxious, starts kicking energetically, eager to come earlier to life. Getting closer to each other through the song, the mother and the baby face the hostile fog together. A very simple and eloquent haiku sublimating the idea of maternity, which reminds me of a beautiful proverb: “God could not be there for us literally everywhere and at all times, and therefore he created the mothers.”  Embraced by the mystery of both natural and human world, this touching haiku ultimately speaks about hope and resilience. comment and translation by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ

Second Prize cutting reeds piece by piece the backwater turns blue Marta CHOCILOWSKA Warsaw, POLAND The poem does not need kireji since it frames a meaningful story whose meaning skids by itself, unexpectedly, from a practical matter to a symbolical, almost exemplary, result. The characteristic charm and tension of the poem consists in a contextual ellipsis whose hint is only given with its last word. The hard work (done by just one individual or perhaps by us all) turns out to be a kind of escape, release, patient purification of the water which reflects the blue sky. Piece by piece, as a result of our labour, the sky changes the backwater’s colour. comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu translation by Ana DROBOT

Third Prize stone Buddha – I learn to forgive a mosquito Marek KOZUBEK Bangkok, THAILAND Perhaps it is about an imposing statue or, who knows, a small one that, even if not made of stone, is sold as an amulet of indifference. In both cases, the stone symbolizes the stillness, the lack of movement, an impassive attitude, which is paradoxically, serene and empathic. It is the attitude which, without words, contaminates the viewer or the one who hides it piously in his bosom, like a talisman always there with its bearer. Aspiring to be the Buddha himself. An immutable, though barely sketched, smile. Made of stone without crushing anything. Eternally lenient with everything that is alive and sensitive. Even if it's awfully annoying. comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu translation by Ana DROBOT

COMMENDATIONS

dad's life the bite marks on his pipe Stephanie Visaya BOSE Honolulu, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
	new buds next to the crosses – the cemetery comes back to life again Petru Ioan GÂRDA Cluj Napoca, ROMANIA
wood silence ... each thought unstrings to a birdsong Rajandeep GARG Sangrur, INDIA
	spring cleaning I take out of the shoe box my childhood Jacek MARGOLAK Kielce, POLAND
spring rain an old letter unfolded again Anna MARIS Övraby, SWEDEN
	a wheelchair – carefully avoiding the lines of the hopscotch Dan NOREA Constanţa, ROMANIA
some seeds in his pockets... the refugee Rita ODEH Haifa, ISRAEL
	summer mountain lake – she's taking her swimsuit off and my doubts away Minh Triêt PHAM Paris, FRANCE
dry stone wall a young lizard gathers the sunrays Vladimir ŠUK Oroslavje, CROATIA
	playing and falling the children the snow Michael Dylan WELCH Sammamish, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Selected poems

Magdalena BANASZKIEWICZ, Krosno Odrzańskie, POLAND Cherese COBB, Maryville, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Nadin GHILESCHI, Botoşani, ROMANIA Shrikaanth KRISHNAMURTHY, Birmingham, THE UNITED KINGDOM Ajaya MAHALA, Pune, INDIA Dragan J. RISTIĆ, Niš, SERBIA Ernesto P. SANTIAGO, Solano, PHILIPPINES Ken SAWITRI, Blora, INDONESIA Silva TRSTENJAK, Strigova, CROATIA Agnieszka ŻĄDŁO, Zielonka, POLAND