First Place in the Magic of Maples Haiku Competition

 Started my day with the biggest smile! I still can't believe I won FIRST PLACE (over 18s category) in the Magic of Maples Haiku Competition. There were more than 550 haiku submitted from around the world. My haiku and other winning poems will be part of an outdoor exhibition at Westonbirt Arboretum - Forestry England during the autumn season (September–November) 2026.

Huge thanks to the organizers and judges! Congratulations to all the winners and HMs!

More details here- https://www.forestryengland.uk/westonbirt/maple-haiku

  

2018 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (VCBF) Haiku Invitational

This was totally unexpected! I got an email early September that my haiku had been selected as Best in the USA category. I had submitted a few times to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival haiku contest in the past, but I had just won honorable mention last year. This year I am one of the 6 top winners! Thank you to the organizers and judges and congratulations to all the winners. 

I'm so thrilled to find out that the top poems in six main categories (Vancouver, BC, Canada, United States, International and Youth) will receive celebrity readings and be featured in creative ways during the 2018 festival some which include: publication in The Bulletin magazine, Haiku Canada newsletter, an online publication in the newsletter of the Haiku Society of America, printing in a chapbook hand-folded and bound by Victoria-based Leaf Press and publication on the VCBF website. Winning poems will be read by Christopher Gaze at the VSO’s Tea & Trumpets Concert, at our media-kickoff event, Cherry Jam Downtown concert by media celebrity emcee and celebrated at Sakura Days Japan Fair  Leith Wheeler Haiku House.

Click here to read all the winning poems. 

World Haiku Association (154th Haiga Contest)

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 25 out of 49.

World Haiku Association

(154th Haiga Contest, June 2017)

Tanka Poets on Site (Madame Butterfly prompt)

the words of promise
lulling her to sleep
only to wake up...
with no single sign
of a butterfly

the flutter
of her child's eyes . . .
a dandelion wish
whisks her into
another dream



prompt: Madame Butterfly
See comments here.

PH-Philippine Haiku

     Starting February 1, Angelo Ancheta is the first prompter at a closed group on Facebook called PH-Philippine Haiku. 
     Here are my haiku so far. 

Feb. 3 prompt: sour

green mangoes
for now these words

mean nothing


See PH-Philippine Haiku comments here.

Feb. 2 prompt: sweet

beach walk

a child's laughter sweetens

the air

See PH-Philipine Haiku comments here. 

 

Feb. 1 prompt: bitter

citrus peel

how to sugar coat

his parting

See PH-Philippine Haiku comments here.

Moonbathing Issue 9 (Fall/Winter 2013)

     My first tanka in Moonbathing: a journal of women's tanka.


a woman carries her child
through a flooded street . . .
my heart sinks
as a branch hangs heavily
from a dying tree


   This poem was inspired by photos in the internet showing the ruins caused by typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines.

Spring Rain

Haigaonline (Volume 14 issue 1, March 2013)

This may be viewed under "haiga challenge."

A Blackbird Sings

     Finally, I received a pdf copy of A Blackbird Sings, the 2nd anthology of small stones edited by Kaspalita and Fiona Robyn. I'm so pleased because among my five small stones that were published last year in A Handful of Stones, two were chosen to be included in this anthology. 

rose garden

a child searching for

Thumbelina

~

Christmas stocking

a boy pretends

he hasn't caught Santa

     I'm also honored because in it are works of some of the poets I've met in the haiku community - Sanjuktaa Asopa, Johannes S. H. Berg, Kirsten Cliff, Aubrie Cox, Kat Creighton, Terri Hale French, Stella Pierides, Christina Nguyen, Pravat Kumar Padhy, Alan Summers, and Kathy Uyen Nguyen.

     I encourage you to read more about A Blackbird Sings by clicking here and to join the first ever Mindful Writing Day on November 1. On that day, a Kindle edition of the anthology will be free to download and 5 paperback copies will be given away. For more details, click

here.       

 

Lion

     August 17 NaHaiWrimo prompt is "lion", provided by Alegria Imperial Albano.
  

roaring thunder . . .
a child hides behind

a lion stuff toy

 


    Comments on my haiku may be found here. Click this for more information on the 31 Different NaHaiWriMo Prompters in August 2012. 

    

Doodlefest (Day 21-31)

(click headings to see the doodle of Aubrie Cox on Yay Words!)

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 21

dizzying thoughts

I take a break

to look at the moon

revision:

mind chatter

I take a break

to look at the moon

I Doodle, You 'Ku  - 22

floating bubbles

the child in her

never left

~

floating bubbles...

a child's laugh

in her laughter

~

rainbow bubbles

a child twirls

with a magic wand

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 23

waters of spring

finding the brooch

my mom used to wear

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 24

summer breeze

pulling his gaze from her

dandelion tattoo

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 25

checkmate—

surrendering to

a choir of birds

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 26

immigration papers

the tulip opens

once again

I Doodle, You 'Ku - No Doodle Day

blank page...

one by one

the stars whisper

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 27

snail mail

he reads my mind

across the room

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 28

hocus pocus...

under the stars

we need no magic

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 29

crimson sky

the click of his lighter

after making love

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 30

karaoke music

not a single star

stands out tonight


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 31

spring dream...

a fox hesitates

to leave a butterfly

Doodlefest (Day 11-20)

(click headings to see the doodle of Aubrie Cox on Yay Words!)

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 11
 

mushroom clouds
the big word
finally springs up


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 12


after you left
even the flowers
weep on my soup


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 13


autumn night
only in my dreams I catch
a vision of you


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 14


missing leaf
he finds luck
with a new look


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 15


wind chime
the soft touch
of cherry petals
~
wind chime
the gentle swaying
of cherry petals


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 16


dried leaves...
hoping old letters
will bring her back


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 17


a shower of stars
only with her umbrella
childhood fantasy


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 18


inside her bag
I slip into
another world


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 19


curling smoke
she leads him straight
to the bedroom


I Doodle, You 'Ku - 20


oceans apart
we stay glued
to the webcam

Doodlefest (Day 2-10)

(Click the headings to see doodle of Aubrie Cox on Yay Words!)

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 2

focusing on a tree

a squirrel poses

for the camera

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 3

the taste of coffee

so many words

slip away

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 4

taking me home

the shadows

of a dragonfly

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 5

cradling my heart

a slice of grandma's

apple pie

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 6

missing petals--

on the photo

her toothless smile

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 7

the song

in my prayer...

candle flame

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 8

writer's block

searching for a haiku

to unclip my wings

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 9

heart emoticons

making me blush

cyber love

I Doodle, You 'Ku - 10

   crushed petals--
sending him
the last email

"Rebuilding" Theme for Asahi Haikuist Network

     Just a few days before Christmas in 2011, a disastrous tropical storm hit the Philippines. It was heartbreaking seeing the aftermath of the floods and landslides. The first thing that came to my mind were the children. Wondering how the traumatized children were coping, I wrote this haiku for David McMurray's next issue.

after the typhoon...
a child runs after
her floating doll

                        Asahi Haikuist Network (March 16, 2012)    

     I've been told once that it's better to hold onto a haiku for some time to sort out what's best for it regarding word choice, line order, punctuation, etc. One day you may like your haiku so much. After submission, you may feel the opposite. I'm guilty of not taking this advice because a few times, I wish I had waited longer and had written some of my haiku differently. This haiku is one of them. Though it still is a good haiku, I wish I had written it this way--

after the typhoon
a child runs after
a floating doll

     This doesn't actually need an ellipsis. As for changing the third line, "a" makes a lot of difference to me. It evokes another level of piognancy. Here, the child loses all her possessions so she desperately runs after a stranger's doll. She finds comfort in whatever she has now.

     I think sometimes deadlines causes a poet to act impulsively. Do you agree? :-)

Poem to Picture

     This photo is from Ashi's Poem to Picture. Instead of writing about a rusty plug. I wrote a haiku about a rusty bike.

rusty bike...

each squeak loosens up

childhood memories

      

                                                                           

March 14, 2012

Spring Rain

see haiku here (January 9, 2012)

     Kuniharu Shimizu created another impressive artwork for my haiku. To explain this haiga, this is what he wrote in his blog--

     According to Wikipedia, the leaf I used here is "Acer palmatum, called Japanese Maple or Smooth Japanese Maple (Japanese: irohamomiji) is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Nort h Korea, South Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia.

     Momiji leaves change color; from Green to orange and to red. Spacious canopy they provide is what I like the most. Each leaf is small and always reminds me of child's hand, hence I used it in this haiga.

     I couldn't have thought of a better image that would go with my "spring rain" haiku. He created it perfectly! As you can see here in my blog, I love how fall leaves turn into different colors. I also love how leaves fall softly to the ground. Though I haven't seen a momiji leaf in real life, I can hear the wind chime. I can feel the breeze. I can see and hear the momiji leaf brushing the wind chime like a child's hand.      

Rose Garden

rose garden

a child searching for

Thumbelina

A Handful of Stones (January 17, 2012)

My Very First Haiga

 

 

 

     I didn't know that my two haiga have been accepted for the fall issue of Notes From the Gean (Vol. 3, Issue 2). I was happily surprised to see my very first haiga published!

     Notes From the Gean is a journal of haiku, tanka, haiga, haibun, renga/renku and more. To read the haiga editor's philosophy, click here.