Haiku Society of America Haibun Renku Awards for 2010

Haiku Society of America Renku Awards
in Memorial of Bernard Lionel Einbond

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HSA Renku Awards for 2010

Jerry Ball, California and Merrill Ann Gonzales
judges

Grand Prize

Tide Swell

Ron Moss, Tasmania
Ferris Gilli, Georgia,
Matthew Paul, England
Paul MacNeil, Florida

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Tide Swell
a summer kasen

tide swell
sunburnt arms
reel in the catch

RM

cheers when the batter
touches first base

FG

in the showroom
sound effects rumble
from an outsized TV

MP

yesterday’s belt
traded for suspenders

PM

the climbing train
is closer to the moon
with every shudder

RM

a woodpecker’s backward lean
on top of the osier

MP

foraged by a bag lady
the Thanksgiving garbage
dwindles

FG

thieves meet
and divide their swag

PM

carving a new heart
with another girl’s name
at school recess

FG

a poster comes unstuck
from her bedroom wall

RM

as midnight strikes
I reach out for her
once again

MP

coloratura
high notes at La Scala

PM

the mute wolf
steadily watches
a gibbous moon

FG

Christmas lights
switched on by a nobody

MP

Einstein said, “It is a miracle
that curiosity survives
formal education.”

PM

beyond the pleasure dome
E = mc2

RM

plum blossoms
reflect several colors
of the rainbow

PM

my April Fool’s joke
backfires on me

MP

the wild daffodils
collect evening dew
on a dead-end road

RM

a lithe, naked boy
swinging through the jungle

FG

she sexts
to let him know
she’s on her way

MP

shaking monopoly dice
the couple counts hotels

RM

three sticky licks
stop the honey’s
slow descent

PM

the imprint of a signet
in softened wax

FG

sand grains
at their angle of repose
form the ant lion’s trap

PM

glad you’re not here,
says the postcard

MP

another smarmy smile
as the party host greets
the President’s aide

FG

my ticket to space
on a celestial Virgin

RM

the moon in the river
slaps around the arches
of the old stone bridge

MP

a veteran empties his shoe
of dust and broken leaves

RM

curates
finish the flagon of wine
after the benediction

PM

one strip club’s address
committed to memory

FG

late night stories
from the Kindle book
create a ghostly glow

RM

wind faintly moaning
as the dragon kite pulls free

FG

I brush the blizzard
of apple blossom
from my fringe

MP

starting irrigation
shows all the new leaks

PM

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First Honorable Mention

Steamy Windows

Christopher Herold, Washington
Carol O’Dell, Washington

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Steamy Windows
an autumn kasen

smell of pumpkin pie
she waves through steamy windows
as we arrive

CO

moonlight too
enters the cat door

CH

eager to win
the harvest dance contest
they practice swing steps

CO

the violin maker fiddles
with a faulty tuning peg

CH

you lose reception
just as your team passes
for a touchdown

CO

ragged cloud shadows
cross the field of frost

CH

this note
on a scrap of birch bark
signed with an X

CH

from somewhere in Afghanistan
he speaks of his eternal love

CO

the baby’s birth cries
mix with those of the mother
clutching a photograph

CH

to celebrate our 50th
we assemble a collage

CO

an old Bible spine
marks a poem in Rilke’s
Book of Hours

CH

a long line of tourists
winds along the Great Wall

CO

that July
the Earth was seen
from the moon

CH

seeming taller than before
he comes home from Boy Scout camp

CO

at last
the lawn gets mowed
edged and raked

CH

lava from Mauna Loa
hisses into the ocean

CO

with fallen petals
someone formed an arrow
on the red flagstones

CH

using a French recipe
I prepare escargot

CO

estate gardeners
spread diatomaceous earth
around the lettuce

CH

a white line separates
girls and boys at recess

CO

failure to agree
on yet another version
of Health Care Reform

CH

the ‘67 Corvette
is her favorite model

CO

the outrageous price
of a fleece-lined coat
at the fashion show

CH

again we put too many presents
under the Christmas tree

CO

he calls her each day
until she finally says yes
to meet over coffee

CO

I promise you to give
Viagra another try

CH

in anticipation
they buy candles, champagne
and a sex toy

CO

at sunset the birds fall silent
and the lake becomes glass

CH

through a church window
the full moon shines
on the altar

CO

tonight’s oblation made
amidst sparkling dew

CH

this World Series won
in extra innings
on a sac fly

CH

at last year’s derby
she caught the biggest fish

CO

Gulliver wakes up
and finds himself surrounded
by Lilliputians

CH

green shoots have begun
to poke through the melting snow

CO

a gust of wind
whirls a few plum blossoms
into the kitchen

CH

back and forth he swings
then jumps from the highest point

CO

~ ~ ~


Second Honorable Mention

Ever Reviving

Origa, Michigan
Hana Nestieva, Israel
Valeria Simonova-Cecon, Italy

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Ever Reviving
a winter shisan

pale dawn . . .
brown briar hips puncture
the snow crust

O

cold and heaviness
of Sunday paper

HN

absent-mindedly
preparing for myself
a junk food lunch

VS-C

the neighbors’ boy
tunes a guitar

HN

a titmouse chirps
somewhere in the mist
of plum blossoms

O

Botticelli spring
all around Toscana

VS-C

at the Mass
two teens exchanging
furtive glances

O

“Just married” balloons
on both wheelchairs

VS-C

dreams of a waterfall
the psychologist raises
his eyebrow

HN

all the hustle and bustle . . .
and then you die!

O

ever reviving
out of darkness
the mellow moon

HN

straw basket too full
for the last Malus sylvestris

VS-C

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The Haiku Society of America sposors this annual award for renku of 36, 20, or 12 stanzas.

See the contest guidelines for the HSA Renku Awards.

For more information about the goals of this contest, download a copy of the HSA Renku Contest Committee Report (pdf) published in Frogpod XIII:2 (May 1990).

Awards by year:

| 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |

 

2010 judges commentary:

The difficulty facing us was the divergence of goals between rules and the poetic validity of these renku. When we followed all the rules strictly we became dissatisfied with each renku submitted . . . and we therefore focused our discussion upon poetic principles. For the renku discipline we decided on the following:

1. The hokku (starting verse) should be strong and engage the imagination.

2. The renku should be structured by pairs; each pair of stanzas should constitute a complete poem.

3. Each verse should be strong, unique and fresh; cliché or common thoughts do not work.

On that basis we both found a great deal of joy reading many of the renku submitted, but we both had delighted in one in particular . . . with one reservation that proved to be a regional awareness. Upon closer reading even that reservation was overcome.

Another thing we both enjoyed when reading the renku were verses that engaged the senses. Did the verses have that tactile and sensory range that is so delightful in good poetry? Did the images and the experiences of each verse feel real to us? Since we are not writing Japanese renku we felt it was essential that the verses be such that we ourselves could experience them. But most of all we found the most enjoyment in listening to the music of the renku...of the words...and the music between the poets. What kind of repartee developed in the renku between the poets? Was it alive? Was it moving? Was it engaging?

After reading and rereading and after telephone conversations, we have decided that “Tide Swell” should be given the Grand Prize; “Steamy Windows” should be given First Honorable Mention; and “Ever Reviving” should be given Second Honorable Mention.

Jerry Ball, California and Merrill Ann Gonzales

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About the judges

Jerry Ball is a founder of Haiku North America and the Southern California Haiku Study Group and has been President of the Haiku Society of America for two terms. He has published five books of haiku, the most recent being Pieces of Eight (2005).

Merrill Ann Gonzales has provided art for literary journals for three decades together with poetry and haiku. On February 2, 2005 she created snowbird press. She won (with John Stevenson) a 2005 Bernard Lionel Einbond Award for Renku (which was published in Frogpond 24:2, 2006) and earned an Honorable Mention in the Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest for 2006 (published in Frogpond 30:1, 2007).

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