Nature Haiku
Poetry Contest
Nature Haiku: Write a nature haiku in the traditional format. This contest is designed for advanced haiku writers, but anyone may enter the contest. The guidelines follow a more traditional, or purist approach to haiku. The contest rules and requirements are as follows:
1) 17 syllables or less, and preferably less;
2) must be in short / long / short format in three (3) lines, and center the haiku in your posting. Do not left or right justify the poem;
3) juxtapostioning of two concrete images, not abstract images, (something one can see, taste, feel and/or touch), one such concrete image in the two (2) grammatically connected lines and one in the or satori/ah-ha line;
4) a satori/ah-ha line providing a commentary on the haiku and a moment of insight to the reader. The satori/ah-ha line may be on line 1 or line 3;
5) a kigo, or seasonal reference must be included within the text of the haiku;
6) must capture a moment-in-time of something that is actually observed; NOT something that is imagined;
7) written in present tense;
8) use capitalization and punctuation only when absolutely necessary, such as with a proper name or noun for capitalization or an apostrophe for possessive form, etc. Also, do not decorate your post with typographical characters such as ~, ^, **, etc.;
9) no gerunds (-ing ending words);
10) no rhyme, either internal-line rhyme or end-line rhyme, either true, perfect, promote or slant;
11) avoid alliteration, but if necessary, not more than two (2) alliterative words within the entire haiku;
12) avoidance of unnecessary filler words such as superfluous articles and adjectives;
13) personification of nature is absolutely not allowed;
14) appended art work is not permitted;
15) appended music or other such things is not permitted within the post of the poem or author notes section, or otherwise;
16) no author notes; and
17) entitle your haiku according to the following protocol: haiku (first line of the haiku)
18) Please post your haiku at least two (2) days in advance of the contest deadline, and earlier if at all possible, in order to provide for contest monitoring prior to the contest going to the voting booth.
19) One must read and review all contest entries in order to vote in the contest.
Two pitfalls of haiku are when 1) writers begin to project themselves into the poem with what they think is happening vs. what is actually happening. The late Alvin Ethington, former FS haiku teacher, called this 'desk haiku' It is where the poet images something from his writing desk rather than something he has actually observed. 2) Another pitfall is personification of nature. This is just not allowed. Please remember that weeping willows do not weep, the sun does not smile, tree limbs do not dance in the wind, dogs do not speak English or any other human language, rainbows do not have wings, the wind does not kiss, etc.
An example of nature haiku: (please note the default nature of the contest set-up program does not provide for centering, thus the haiku appear as left margin justified. When you post, center the haiku.
haiku (two cottontail rabbits)
two cottontail rabbits
scurry across narrow street
greener grass
by mountainwriter49
haiku (gentle June rain)
gentle June rain
sifts through oak's limbs and leaves
grace notes
mountainwriter 49
I will monitor the contest and provide feedback to poets vis-a-vis contest compliance. Poets will thus have an opportunity to correct any issues prior to the contest closing. Haiku that are not contest compliant will be disqualified and not included in the voting booth.
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool of 240.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Friday, August 21, 2015.
Full Contest Listing
1) 17 syllables or less, and preferably less;
2) must be in short / long / short format in three (3) lines, and center the haiku in your posting. Do not left or right justify the poem;
3) juxtapostioning of two concrete images, not abstract images, (something one can see, taste, feel and/or touch), one such concrete image in the two (2) grammatically connected lines and one in the or satori/ah-ha line;
4) a satori/ah-ha line providing a commentary on the haiku and a moment of insight to the reader. The satori/ah-ha line may be on line 1 or line 3;
5) a kigo, or seasonal reference must be included within the text of the haiku;
6) must capture a moment-in-time of something that is actually observed; NOT something that is imagined;
7) written in present tense;
8) use capitalization and punctuation only when absolutely necessary, such as with a proper name or noun for capitalization or an apostrophe for possessive form, etc. Also, do not decorate your post with typographical characters such as ~, ^, **, etc.;
9) no gerunds (-ing ending words);
10) no rhyme, either internal-line rhyme or end-line rhyme, either true, perfect, promote or slant;
11) avoid alliteration, but if necessary, not more than two (2) alliterative words within the entire haiku;
12) avoidance of unnecessary filler words such as superfluous articles and adjectives;
13) personification of nature is absolutely not allowed;
14) appended art work is not permitted;
15) appended music or other such things is not permitted within the post of the poem or author notes section, or otherwise;
16) no author notes; and
17) entitle your haiku according to the following protocol: haiku (first line of the haiku)
18) Please post your haiku at least two (2) days in advance of the contest deadline, and earlier if at all possible, in order to provide for contest monitoring prior to the contest going to the voting booth.
19) One must read and review all contest entries in order to vote in the contest.
Two pitfalls of haiku are when 1) writers begin to project themselves into the poem with what they think is happening vs. what is actually happening. The late Alvin Ethington, former FS haiku teacher, called this 'desk haiku' It is where the poet images something from his writing desk rather than something he has actually observed. 2) Another pitfall is personification of nature. This is just not allowed. Please remember that weeping willows do not weep, the sun does not smile, tree limbs do not dance in the wind, dogs do not speak English or any other human language, rainbows do not have wings, the wind does not kiss, etc.
An example of nature haiku: (please note the default nature of the contest set-up program does not provide for centering, thus the haiku appear as left margin justified. When you post, center the haiku.
haiku (two cottontail rabbits)
two cottontail rabbits
scurry across narrow street
greener grass
by mountainwriter49
haiku (gentle June rain)
gentle June rain
sifts through oak's limbs and leaves
grace notes
mountainwriter 49
I will monitor the contest and provide feedback to poets vis-a-vis contest compliance. Poets will thus have an opportunity to correct any issues prior to the contest closing. Haiku that are not contest compliant will be disqualified and not included in the voting booth.
The contest winner will win half of the prize pool of 240.00 member dollars. In this contest at least 2 submissions must be made for the vote to begin.
Deadline: Contest is closed. Deadline was Friday, August 21, 2015.
