My thanks to Djurdja Vukelic Rozic for inviting me to be a featured poet/artist in this issue!
Translated into Croatian
fireflies the synchronicity of it all
1st Place
2021 Irish Haiku Society International Competition
frozen trough
I cup the warm breath
of my horse
1st Place
2018 Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest
transience . . .
petal by petal
we let go
Winning Haiku (Canada)
2017 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational
glassy lake
flocks of snow geese
pull up the moon
1st Place
2017 Autumn Moon Haiku Journal Contest
stone cairns
a faded cap drifts
downriver
1st Place
2015 Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest
between the spokes
of your spinning wheel
a dusty web . . .
I never thought our lives
would so quickly unwind
1st Place
2019 British Haiku Society Tanka Awards
the ocean
was in a rage last night
but today,
these peace offerings
of blue mussels and kelp
1st Place
2018 Sanford Goldstein International Tanka Contest
mute swans
under a moon bridge
the things
I should have confessed
make no difference now
1st Place
2016 Fleeting Words Tanka Competition
dried curls
of gray reindeer moss
crunch softly
underneath our boots . . .
no other sound, but breath
1st Place (tie)
2016 San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu and Tanka
tracks of birds
meander through snow . . .
the surgeon
marks her left breast
with a cross
1st Place
2016 British Haiku Society Tanka Awards
Note: the following haiga appear in black and white
(note: this haiga was Highly Commended in the 2020 Santoka International Haiku and Haiga Contest)
(note: this haiga received the Grand Prix in the 10th Setouchi-Matsuyama Photo-Haiku Contest)
(note: this haiga received 1st Honourable Mention in the Mixed Media Category of the 2017 Jane Reichhold Haiga Competition)
(note: this haiga received the Award of Excellence in the 2015 World Haiku Association Commemorative Haiga Contest)
This issue includes my commentary as the judge of the 2021 A Little Iris Haiku Contest on the theme of books and reading:
My thanks to Djurdja Vukelic Rozic for inviting me to adjudicate this contest, and to the entrants who entrusted me with their work. Congratulations to the winners! It was an honour to read the entries for this challenge, and even if your haiku was not chosen, it does not mean it was without merit. Judging choices are subjective, so please don't be discouraged from submitting your poems elsewhere. You just might be the next winner!
I keep the following quote in mind when I submit my own work for consideration:
"What has praise and fame to do with poetry?" — Virginia Woolf
I think we writers have an ingrained love of reading that has likely been present since our childhoods. Who cannot remember the pleasure of learning to read their first book, the delight in practicing their first letters, or the joy in penning their first poem? Literacy gives us access to all the knowledge this world has to offer, and it is a privilege not to be squandered. We all understand that words have the power to hurt or to heal, and they must be wielded with care.
Themed contests present unique opportunities for writers to venture beyond straightforward interpretations of the subject matter. Thinking outside the box is vital in order to lift one's haiku out of the ordinary realm, into the extraordinary. The competition is fierce when all of the contestants are on the same page, so to speak!
