2018 Results

PARTICIPANTS

At the Seventh Edition of The Haiku Contest SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL 2018 organized by Romanian Kukai Group have participated 269 participants from 6 continents and 50 countries. as follows: AFRICA: Ghana (1), Kenya (1), Nigeria (2), South Africa (1), Unganda (1); ASIA: Bangladesh (1), China (1), India (13), Indonesia (2), Iran (1), Japan (2), Mongolia (1), Pakistan (1), Philippines (4), Singapore (1), Thailand (1); AUSTRALIA: Australia (13), New Zealand (6); EUROPE: Austria (1), Belarus (1), Belgium (5), Bosnia and Herzegovina (1), Bulgaria (4), Croatia (43), Cyprus (1), Finland (1), France (5), Germany (7), Ireland (3), Italy (10), Latvia (1), Lithuania (8),  Macedonia (5), Montenegro (3), Norway (1), Poland (11), Romania (14), Russia (3), Serbia (4), Slovenia (3), Spain (4), Sweden (1), Switzerland (3), Ukraine (2), United Kingdom (11); NORTH AMERICA: Canada (7), Curaçao (6), Netherlands, Bonaire (2), United States of America (45); SOUTH AMERICA: Colombia (1) The organizers would like to express their gratitude to the participants for such a large interest and invite everyone to participate in the seventh edition, which will start in February 2019. 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 frozen trough I cup the warm breath of my horse Debbie STRANGE Winnipeg, CANADA The winning poem drew me towards it due to the delicacy of the picture presented, through the close connection between man and animal. The horse and its master have set together on the road, and they stop for a moment to rest and drink water, but, because of the low temperatures the trough is frozen, so the animal cannot drink. The master, however, probably numb with cold, gets warmed somehow by catching the breath of the faithful animal in the palm of his hands. The two parts of the poem harmoniously weave around the complementarity death-life (standing still versus animation) in a wintery landscape whose glacial stiffness the reader can feel through his skin, due, partly, to the alliteration of the consonant “r” which appears five times in the poem. It can be speculated that the man, being too old and tired, or even ill, is reanimated, and, why not, put back on his feet by the warm, miraculous breath of his horse. And, what is even more beautiful, is the fact that this poem, through his props, has taken me back in time, making me see no one else but Bashō himself nearby the trough, sliding down his narrow path towards the far north. comment by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ translation by Ana DROBOT

Second Prize after the war … in a barrel of a tank bird's nest Zuzanna TRUCHLEWSKA Łaziska Górne, POLAND Everything is recyclable. Less warlike beings find, fearlessly, unthought of purposes for destructive machines. Undoubtedly, the ancestor of this story with unpredictable meaning for the carefree birds is the flower, set as a call for peace in the pipe of a soldier’s gun. Beyond the innocence of the birds that built their nest over there, the otherwise pathetic happening is, for us human beings, an innocent reproach among other things, “Why would you not build nests for us from the beginning? Don’t your silly things cost you too much ?” comment by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU translation by Ana DROBOT

Second Prize Harvest Day the last cricket fills my piggy-bank Cristina APETREI Botoşani, ROMANIA The first line places the poem in the autumn season, on a day when everyone, in a rustic setting, celebrates the abundance, the joy of life, thanking God for what was given to them. Part two brings into the foreground a cricket that sends references to the summer rather than to the autumn. With the word last, one can speculate that the narrative instance, tired or bedridden and waiting for his end, is enjoying the inspiring presence of the singing cricket that fills the piggy bank of his soul, in his last moments. On the other hand, the piggy-bank, naturally, leads us to think of a child who cannot enjoy the feast day enough because he is missing something, not necessarily the money. It is rather a hollow feeling perhaps caused, why not, by the absence of someone dear. What a beautiful surprise at the end of the poem, that highlights the harmony between macro and microuniverse. The song of the little bard that fills his little piggy-bank, this miniature savings bank brings the all too full comfort to the kid, and, to us, readers, it seems to subtly convey the message that the material is not what counts, but rather the spiritual, in any form of manifestation. comment by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ translation by Ana DROBOT

Third Prize morning cicada a boy in the asylum recites his prayer Ramlawt DINPUIA Aizawl, INDIA Without being the explicit expression of animism or pantheism, this haiku poem integrates the reader into a universe in which all beings empathize and have feelings and behaviors of godliness and piety. It is thus not something incomprehensible that the humble humming of the cricket and the boy’s shy prayer interweave in the blessed beginning of a day. comment by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU translation by Ana DROBOT

COMMENDATIONS

super blood moon the scent of a woman in red Angelo B. ANCHETA Rizal, PHILIPPINES
	scattered sand ... baby sea turtles return to the stars Pris CAMPBELL Lake Worth, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
summer field ... a farmer talks to his goat while chewing a grass Kanchan CHATTERJEE Jamshedpur, INDIA
	oak woods ... a woodpecker arranges the night silence Ivan GAĆINA Zadar, CROATIA
winter dawn – small refugee takes breath in a tank car Goran GATALICA Zagreb, CROATIA
	other ships and other sailors – the sea is the same Letiţia Lucia IUBU Craiova, ROMANIA
oh to have the heron's hollow bones – the weight of winter Carole MacRURY Point Roberts, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
	Cherry-colored mist rolls along curves and valleys – blind masseuse’s hands David McMURRAY Kagoshima, JAPAN
everything unchanged – the rip in the curtain woven by a spider Dan NOREA Constanţa, ROMANIA
	a winter travelogue – over distant glades I follow the trail of a doe Dragutin PASARIĆ Kutina, CROATIA
hearing aids – birds sing anew Valentina RANALDI ADAMS Fairlawn, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SELECTED POEMS

Theresa A. CANCRO Wilmington, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Erin CASTALDI Mays Landing, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cherese COBB Maryville, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Anne CURRAN Hamilton, NEW ZEALAND Małgorzata FORMANOWSKA Wrocław, POLAND John HAWKHEAD Bradford on Avon, THE UNITED KINGDOM Marilyn HUMBERT Sydney, AUSTRALIA Ron C. MOSS Leslie Vale, AUSTRALIA Pravat Kumar PADHY Bhubaneswar, INDIA Slavica SARKOTIĆ Lekenik, CROATIA Olivier SCHOPFER Geneva, SWITZERLAND Mariana TĂNASE Brăila, ROMANIA Maria Laura VALENTE Cesena, ITALY