Haiku Society of America Haibun Renku Awards for 2012

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

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HSA Renku Awards for 2012

Yu Chang, Schenectady and Paul Miller
judges

Grand Prize

Stolen Pearls

Ron C. Moss, Tasmania, Australia
Paul W. MacNeil, Onawa, Maine
Matthew Paul, London, England
Ferris Gilli, Marietta, Georgia

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Stolen Pearls

oh frogs!
you sang all through
the frosty night

Ron

Adeste Fideles loudly
from the shower stall

Paul

along the pavement
the old bull terrier
strains on the leash

Matthew

confetti and high-fives
as Wall Street celebrates

Ferris

a boy and his dad
burn leaf piles under
a southern moon

Ron

I pack up for the day
in cover of darkness

Matthew

hunks of husks
ripped to get precious kernels
wrapped in silk

Paul

when she unlaces her bodice
the stolen pearls drop out

Ferris

greeting me with
“the kids are staying with friends”
and a kiss

Paul

last ride in the Tunnel of Love
free with spooky horror

Ron

Mother maintains
there’s plenty more fish
in the sea

Matthew

rich-smelling lamp oil
made from blubber

Ferris

could that be sweat
dripping from the Man
in the Moon

Paul

the towpath shadowed
by purple loosestrife

Matthew

on every page
this author’s extravagance
with ornate phrases

Ferris

our verbal stoush
as we fight for the football

Ron

the twister leaves
a pale magnolia petal
waving on its branch

Ferris

not drowning, but hard-going:
the year’s first dip

Matthew

nesting swallows
in the kayak shed
soaked with rain

Ron

the magician’s sword
high above his open mouth

Paul

I conjure up
a mental picture
of her loveliness

Matthew

we hold hands softly
as the lights dim down

Ron

from the ceiling
below the honeymoon suite
a chandelier trembles

Ferris

frozen fog evenly spread
through the churchyard

Paul

hard to believe that
she went to Hell, Michigan,
to escape the cold

Ferris

I enter a room
filled with strangers

Matthew

the librarian
points to a sign:
“Shhhhh"

Paul

the glow of an ipad
in the parking lot

Ron

the moon’s corona
pours its whiteness
over the heath

Matthew

we play dice for money
as the scarecrow stares

Ron

dreams and snake eyes
mingling
in the witch’s mortar

Ferris

new building rises
a course of brick after another

Paul

the giant contrails
of space shuttle Atlantis
for the final time

Ron

a pine needle drops
from a scrolled fern

Paul

in the shade
of the plum blossom
she resumes her knitting

Matthew

another tale spun
from the garden swing

Ferris

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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 |

 

2012 judges commentary:

Grand Prize - Stolen Pearls

It was a pleasure to judge the 2012 Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition. Renku’s dynamism is in its variety—both in its topics and linking—and we enjoyed examining the variety of both in each entry.

However, one renku stood out, so our congratulations go to “Stolen Pearls,” a winter kasen by Ron C. Moss, Paul W. MacNeil, Matthew Paul, and Ferris Gilli.

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