spring fever
seed catalogues broadcast
throughout the house
February Shiki Kukai entry
In an earlier post, I mentioned that I like to try my hand at submitting haiku to peer-reviewed contests called kukai, where participants write haiku (using a shared kigo or season word) that is judged anonymously. One of the most popular–and largest–is Haiku World’s Shiki Kukai, which typically has more than 120 haijin trying to come up with unique and thought-provoking haiku based on a predetermined kigo. As you might imagine, it’s difficult to narrow the field to three winners when faced with such a great assortment of poems, but being a winner (while nice) isn’t the primary reason for entering a kukai; mainly, it’s about honing your skills . . . and being able to read so many different and amazing contributions at once from such a great pool of poets. It’s always fun to see what other people come up with when faced with the same word/words you have to work with for inspiration.
February’s kigo in the Shiki Kukai was “spring fever,” and there were some amazing entries in this month’s contest. My haiku comes from my enthusiasm for gardening, and I was sure it was oh so original! Someone else (specifically, the second place winner) was on the same wavelength, however. Oh well, I’ll try again next month. You could too!
Haiku-doodle 
aloha Margaret. i like it. yeah. i havnt read the other 119 ku yet – but i like where you’ve gone in this one. i’m about to go out and remove a mass of vines. i may have that figured out now… of course…. i may have to look into your shiki kukai more thoroughly yet. sheesh. i’m contemplating the WHA haiga contests again too. yikes. and i’m not pau on my major focus yet! – which i’ve been trying to do for a year now. bwahahahahahahaha. life. sometimes it works this way, yes. aloha.
Thanks, Wrick. And you should get into the kukai–as well as entering the WHA haiga. Your ku are terrific! Honestly. I love the way your mind works on so many different levels . . . it shows in your art and poetry. Best, M. Oh, I forgot to tell you . . . as of today, my cherry tree is loaded with little pink buds! Yeah, spring!
Second place? Now I wish I had written that other seed catalogue ku. Obviously I need to take up gardening. 🙂 Yours is great! I find it hard to believe the other one could be better …
I haven’t even looked at the results yet … guess I should go do that.
Thanks, Melissa. Yes, my heart sank a little when I saw there was another seed catalogue ku. But, hey, that’s the way the kukai crumbles. I’m still happy with mine, though. And, yes, gardening, I highly recommend it. Excellent stress reducer!
I remember your haiku, mi hermana. I think it’s the word ‘broadcast’ that made me go back to it and voted. I like how the word was used because it implied a ‘sound’. And you got 7 votes for it! Kudos!
Melissa’s ‘mirror’ ku was memorable to me as well because of the word, ‘moon’, in it. And it got her 8 votes, one of that could be mine. Congrats, again, Melissa!
Yeah, Wrick, you should try it because you’re good with prompts! I think the ku you sprinkle your comments with are really great. Maybe, you could write a comment on the prompt, then pick out the best ku that comes with it.
Sounds like it would be a fierce competitiom.
It really cant be easy for the judges to decide
No. It’s not easy. Especially since you have six points and about 125 poems. But it’s fun!