6th Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Contest - First Place and First Runner-up!

Who wants to do the happy dance with me? Thank you, Lord for my two recent awards - First Place in the Traditional Category and First Runner-Up in the Photography and Mixed Media Category. This is one of the beautiful ways you have turned my life experiences into gifts to be shared to everyone! I am very grateful!!!

I hope you all enjoy these. Congratulations to all the winner! See all the winners and the commentaries here. 

First Place - Traditional Category

At first reading and viewing, this haiga by Chrissi Villa grips you. With each successive reading, the compounding layers of possibilities in this senryu are echoed visually in the varied and multi-textured circles of the image. One can’t help but to wonder of the other rings once worn. Are the bestowers now as nameless as the moon? The wonderful balance between fragment, phrase, and image invites the reader to insert themself into the narrative and make it their own without diminishing the original intent of the author, were we privy to it. (Commentaries by judges Kelly Sauvage and Bryan Rickert)

                             First Runner-Up - Photography and Mixed Media Category

This haiga by Chrissi Villa activates all our senses, as she invites us to view the textures, smell the flowers, and contemplate all the varied interpretations of her one line senryu. The image and senryu combined show a wonderful balance of softness and strength; yet, it is the sense of whimsy that offers an uncommon optimism. Oftentimes, when we think of abandoning a place or a situation, it is in the context of escape. Yet, in this instance, the leaving is a lofting—ripe with infinite possibility. (Commentaries by judges Kelly Sauvage and Bryan Rickert)

Contemporary Haibun Volume 16

This haiga is among the 32 haiga included in Contemporary Haibun Volume 16. It originally won second place in the 5th Annual Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Contest.

Contemporary Haibun is a series dedicated to the best haibun and haiga published each year in English around the world. ch16 features 93 haibun and 32 full-color haiga.“contemporary haibun has stood alone, for more than a decade, as the chief vehicle and bulwark of the burgeoning haibun movement in English. Without the vanguage role of this annual anthology, one might reasonably inquire how—and perhaps if—haibun would have survived.” —Jeffrey Woodward, Editor, Haibun Today

Now available!

US is https://www.amazon.com/dp/1947271725

uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1947271725

germany: https://www.amazon.de/dp/1947271725

france: https://www.amazon.fr/dp/1947271725

spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/1947271725

italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/1947271725

japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/1947271725

canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1947271725

Life Poems on Beautiful Defect

Check out Susan Furst's Life Poems on her website, Beautiful Defect. I offered this haiga here from my poetry collection, The Bluebird's Cry.

5th Jane Reichhold Haiga Contest (Second Place)

The results are out! So delightfully surprised and honored to win second place in the Mixed Media category of the 5th Annual Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Contest. I remember corresponding with Jane R. when I just started writing haiku. She was such a sweet and generous poet.

Thank you so much to

Michael Rehling

and

Ron Moss

. Congratulations to all the winners and honorable mentions! Full details here - http://www.haikuhut.com/FifthAnnualReichholdContest.pdf...

Here's my mixed media art below.

mother's handwriting

until now I still can't

read her

Judge's commentary:

Christine has given us a tapestry of collaged art that works beautifully with the accompanying senryu. There’s a feeling of great depth of emotion between Mother and daughter. The individual of the collage feel like experiences of family happenings, favourite recipes and feasts of comforting food. This binds the senryu to the collaged image and to me, there’s a feeling of resilience and determination to get through difficult times. Love will find a way and

congratulations to Christina for a fine evocative senyru, which is brilliantly presented for us to contemplate our relationships to each other.

Sonic Boom Journal Issue 17

So honored and thrilled to have my three haiga (monoku and alcohol ink art) published in Sonic Boom! Read the full issue here! 

Failed Haiku 35

Failed Haiku 35

Guest Editor, Michael H. Lester

Incense Dreams 1.3

My first appearance in Lucia Fontana's journal, Incense Dreams 1.3

remembering you

a seagull's shadow

glides on the sand

moonbeams . . .

will you let me see

the real you

behind the shadow

of your past

Sonic Boom Issue 10

Sonic Boom Issue 10 is now live! So glad to be among a bevy of talents. Read the full issue here - http://sonicboomjournal.wixsite.com/sonicboom/about-c10fk
Here's my haiga which is included in the Visual Art section

 

 

World Haiku Association(158th Haiga Contest)

 

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 28 out of the 51 submissions.

World Haiku Association

(158th Haiga Contest, November 2017)

 

First Appearance on Lucia Fontana's Blog, Chanokeburi

autumn wind

I shift from sadness

to contemplation

 

vento d'autunno

passando dalla tristezza !

all con templazione

 

Christine L. Villa

USA

~o~

 

selected and translated by Lucia Fontana

Chanokeburi

 

  

Scrytpic Magazine's First Annual Halloween Contest

Staying up until the wee hours of the morning to create this one was worth it! My very first mixed media art with face painting won the 3rd place in Scryptic's First  Annual Halloween Contest! Follow the link to find out all the winners and to read the judges' commentaries.

http://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/396b91_573338d11aec4fe48e97f107523afd64.pdf

Here's my certificate of award.

World Haiku Association (157th Haiga Contest)

 

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 24 out of 51 submissions.

World Haiku Association

(157th Haiga Contest, October 2017)

2nd Annual Haiku for Change Event 2017

     My contribution to My Haiku Pond's, 2nd Annual Haiku for Change Event 2017.

     Congratulations to all participants! 

     The results of the My Haiku Pond - 2nd Annual Haiku for Change Event 2017 are now available on the 100,000 Poets for Change website and available for download here.

World Haiku Association (156th Haiga Contest)

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 18 out of the 46 submissions.

World Haiku Association

(156th Haiga Contest, September 2017)

World Haiku Association (155th Haiga Contest)

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 21 out of 52.

World Haiku Association

(155th Haiga Contest, July 2017)

NHK Haiku Masters in Biei, Hokkaida

     So honored and humbled that my haiga was aired on Sept. 25 in NHK World Haiku Masters (Biei, Hokkaido, Japan). I enjoyed the spectacular view of Biei as well as the helpful tips on creating your own photo haiku. You can watch the video until Nov. 5 here - https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/vod/haiku_masters/20170926/

     This haiga is already posted on the gallery here.

Second Issue of Scryptic Magazine

     Two friends have told me that they loved my haiga in Scryptic and that they did not know I have a dark side.

     Thank you to the editors, Chase Gagnon and Lori A. Minor! Read this spooky and spectacular issue! http://seet25.wixsite.com/scryptic/current-issue

     Here's a beautiful translation in Tagalog by Angelo B. Ancheta. 

     Thank you, Angelo. 

9th World Haiku Conference in Parma, Italy

     I was happy and honored when I found out that my haiga was being exhibited at the 9th World Haiku Association Conference in Parma, Italy from Sept. 8-10. My haiga

that Kuniharu Shimizu selected was the one that made it to the finals in the 154th World Haiga Contest in June. 
     Thanks a lot to Maria Laura Mamiya Valente, a poet friend, who was able to take several photos of the event. I snagged these two photos of her and added Kuni-san's list to make this collage.

     Many thanks to Toni Piccini. He also took some amazing pictures of the exhibit.

World Haiku Association (154th Haiga Contest)

Kuniharu Shimizu selected 25 out of 49.

World Haiku Association

(154th Haiga Contest, June 2017)

NHK World Haiku Master of the Week

Haiku Master of the Week1

To watch the video and to read the comment

of Kazuko Nishimura & Kit Pancoast Nagamura, click here.

I copied and pasted the comments here just in case I cannot accept the link in the future. 

Kazuko Nishimura:

Monday mornings often feel quite melancholy. Yet with just the sound of a bird singing, the narrator is filled with positivity and is ready to take on the week ahead. The image of a flower basking in the sunlight pairs wonderfully with the idea of an internal light growing brighter, pushing one towards positivity. This work allows the audience to imagine listening to a songbird while staring at a bright blue sky.

Kit Pancoast Nagamura:

In this haiku, a finch’s song stretches out into the morning air, perhaps erasing the gloom associated with the beginning of a workweek. But the poem’s third line, combined with the photo of an open water lily, shifts gears and moves into a more spiritual realm, one in which the author’s inner light is summoned. A symbol of enlightenment and rebirth, the lily rises above the mud from below and a finch’s voice freely travels the air; both call a poet to work that has little to do with Monday mornings, but more to do with timeless, essential interconnections. Without heavy-handed words or overly-explanatory expressions, this poem achieves depth and resonance.