2016 Results

 


At the

Fifth Edition of The Haiku Contest
SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL 2016

organized by Romanian Kukai Group have participated

250 participants from 5 continents and 45 countries.
as follows:

AFRICA:
Ghana (2), Nigeria (1), South Africa (1), Tunisia (1);

ASIA:
Bangladesh (4), India (14), Indonesia (1), Israel (2), Japan (1), Malaysia (3), Nepal (1), Pakistan (1), Philippines (4), Singapore (1), Sri Lanka (1), Thailanda (1), Turkey (1);

AUSTRALIA:
Australia (19), New Zealand (14);

EUROPE:
Belgium (2), Bosnia and Herzegovina (3), Bulgaria (6), Croatia (26),
Cyprus (1), Finland (1), France (2), Germany (11), Italy (2), Lithuania (3), Moldavia (1), Montenegro (3), Netherlands (1), Poland (13), Portugal (1), Romania (23), Russia (1), Serbia (17), Slovenia (4), Spain (4), Sweden (1), Switzerland (3), Ukraine (1), United Kingdom (10);

NORTH AMERICA:
Canada (7), United States of America (29);


The organizers would like to express their gratitude to the participants for such a large interest
and invite everyone to participate in the fourth edition,
which will start in February 2016.


Corneliu Traian ATANASIU, President of the Jury
Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ, Member of the Jury
Dan DOMAN, Member of the Jury
Eduard ŢARĂ, Secretary,
Cristina Oprea,
Ana Drobot

Congratulations to the winners and commended haiku poets.




WINNERS



First Prize



fogbound...
singing rhymes to the baby
in my womb

Archana Kapoor NAGPAL
Bangalore, INDIA

Even since the judging began, I was attracted by the beauty of this poem and I was convinced that it would be among the winning poems. The fog is a seasonal element that gives the poem a special aura. A symbol of shapelessness, of undetermined material space, the fog comprises three elements: air, water, and earth. Alternatively, the fog means genesis, i.e. creativity,  ideas and assumptions.

The first part of the poem introduces us into the season, into a foggy, oppressive atmosphere. The pregnant woman, on her way home or to work, who knows, gets caught in the toils of fog; the word bound makes us perceive the fog like a hallucinogenic trap, a maze that inoculates in this woman feelings of fear and anguish. What makes her not to fall into despair, to remain calm, is the song that the woman keeps humming while crossing the mist that upholsters the space, wrapping around it like a huge shroud.

         We discover that the song that somehow alleviates the atmosphere  is not addressed to a child that walks along with his/her mother, but to baby not yet born. We can speculate that this unborn baby, maybe scared by its mom’s fears, who is perhaps feeling anxious, starts kicking energetically, eager to come earlier to life. Getting closer to each other through the song, the mother and the baby face the hostile fog together. A very simple and eloquent haiku sublimating the idea of maternity, which reminds me of a beautiful proverb: “God could not be there for us literally everywhere and at all times, and therefore he created the mothers.”  Embraced by the mystery of both natural and human world, this touching haiku ultimately speaks about hope and resilience.

comment and translation by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ





Second Prize



cutting reeds
piece by piece
the backwater turns blue

Marta CHOCILOWSKA
Warsaw, POLAND

The poem does not need kireji since it frames a meaningful story whose meaning skids by itself, unexpectedly, from a practical matter to a symbolical, almost exemplary, result. The characteristic charm and tension of the poem consists in a contextual ellipsis whose hint is only given with its last word. The hard work (done by just one individual or perhaps by us all) turns out to be a kind of escape, release, patient purification of the water which reflects the blue sky. Piece by piece, as a result of our labour, the sky changes the backwater’s colour.


comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu
translation by Ana DROBOT





Third Prize



stone Buddha –
I learn to forgive
a mosquito

Marek KOZUBEK
Bangkok, THAILAND

Perhaps it is about an imposing statue or, who knows, a small one that, even if not made of stone, is sold as an amulet of indifference. In both cases, the stone symbolizes the stillness, the lack of movement, an impassive attitude, which is paradoxically, serene and empathic. It is the attitude which, without words, contaminates the viewer or the one who hides it piously in his bosom, like a talisman always there with its bearer. Aspiring to be the Buddha himself. An immutable, though barely sketched, smile. Made of stone without crushing anything. Eternally lenient with everything that is alive and sensitive. Even if it's awfully annoying.

comment by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu
translation by Ana DROBOT




COMMENDATIONS


dad's life
the bite marks
on his pipe

Stephanie Visaya BOSE
Honolulu, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA



new buds next to the crosses –
the cemetery comes back
to life again


Petru Ioan GÂRDA
Cluj Napoca, ROMANIA

wood silence ...
each thought unstrings
to a birdsong

Rajandeep GARG
Sangrur, INDIA



spring cleaning
I take out of the shoe box
my childhood

Jacek MARGOLAK
Kielce, POLAND

spring rain
an old letter
unfolded again

Anna MARIS
Övraby, SWEDEN




a wheelchair –
carefully avoiding
the lines of the hopscotch

Dan NOREA
Constanţa, ROMANIA

some seeds
in his pockets...
the refugee

Rita ODEH
Haifa, ISRAEL



summer mountain lake –
she's taking her swimsuit off
and my doubts away

Minh Triêt PHAM
Paris, FRANCE

dry stone wall
a young lizard gathers
the sunrays

Vladimir ŠUK
Oroslavje, CROATIA



playing and falling
the children
the snow

Michael Dylan WELCH
Sammamish, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


Selected poems


Magdalena BANASZKIEWICZ, Krosno Odrzańskie, POLAND

Cherese COBB, Maryville, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Nadin GHILESCHI, Botoşani, ROMANIA

Shrikaanth KRISHNAMURTHY, Birmingham, THE UNITED KINGDOM

Ajaya MAHALA, Pune, INDIA

Dragan J. RISTIĆ, Niš, SERBIA

Ernesto P. SANTIAGO, Solano, PHILIPPINES

Ken SAWITRI, Blora, INDONESIA

Silva TRSTENJAK, Strigova, CROATIA

Agnieszka ŻĄDŁO, Zielonka, POLAND


4 comentarii:

  1. Dear Jury, thank you for honouring me second prize and for so nice comment by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU.
    I feel extremely happy!
    With best, warm regards
    Marta Chocilowska

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  2. I am honoured. Thank you.
    my deep bow,

    ken sawitri

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  3. Thanks wholeheartedly, to each Jury member. I'm really pleased and proud to have won one of your prestigious awards. Hope to hear from you again soon. Best regards! ;-)
    MT. Pham
    http://mtpham75.free.fr

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