Haiku Invitational 2006

Here are the highly commended haiku (Adults) of the 2006 Haiku Invitational:

(Poems appear alphabetically by each poet’s last name.)

• cherry blossoms
  the tug tug tug
  of baby's hand

  Roberta Beary

  Bethesda, Maryland

• morning mist
  a bent back sweeps
  yesterday's blossoms

  Roberta Beary

  Bethesda, Maryland

• on her kimono
  glistening in the moonlight
  a scented blossom

  Ernest J. Berry

  Picton, New Zealand

• mother's wedding day
  vases of pink
  cherry blossoms

  Jeannine Bertoia

  Surrey, British Columbia

• spring zephyr
  cherry blossoms settled
  on the Buddha's hand

  Daniel Brady

  San Francisco, California

• nothing
  in the envelope—
  cherry petals

  Jason Sanford Brown

  Vail, Arizona

• fragrant morning—
  cherry blossoms fill
  my cupped hands

  Natalie Buckland

  Nimbin, Australia

• I close my eyes
  still cherry blossoms
  against the sky

  Natalie Buckland

  Nimbin, Australia

• newborn—
  one pink blossom
  unfurls

  Susan Constable

  Nanoose Bay, British Columbia

• spring moon—
  under the cherry tree
  an open umbrella

  Susan Constable

  Nanoose Bay, British Columbia

• cherry blossoms
  still pink
  in the moonlight

  Wanda Cook

  Hadley, Massachusetts

• Vancouver spring:
  wet cherry blossoms landing
  on umbrellas

  Jeff Crawford

  Surrey, British Columbia

• hidden in blossoms
  just one sparrow
  singing loudly in the rain

  elehna de sousa

  Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

• sudden gust—
  the softness
  of falling blossoms

  elehna de sousa

  Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

• morning shower
  a wattlebird scatters
  cherry blossoms

  Lorin Ford

  Brunswick, Australia

• grizzled poet—
  a sprig of cherry blossoms
  in his knapsack

  Laryalee Fraser

  Salmon Arm, British Columbia

• pink pavement
  the softness of fallen petals
  in each step

  Keiko Izawa

  Yokohama, Japan

• Warm breeze
  under the cherry in bloom
  a child plays the flute

  Sonja Koranter

  Hrusica, Slovenia

• cherry in bloom—
  the child tries her mum’s veil
  by the window

  Nataly Levi

  Moscow, Russia

• carefully strolling
  with the newest hip implant,
  with cherry blossoms

  Horst Ludwig

  St. Peter, Minnesota

• the moon now this
  now that side of the bus—
  blossoms everywhere

  Tomislav Maretic

  Zagreb, Croatia

• cherry blossoms free fall
  into the pond . . .
  baby’s first steps

  Ed Markowski

  Auburn Hills, Michigan

• cherry blossoms
  the one that falls
  on mother’s headstone

  Ed Markowski

  Auburn Hills, Michigan

• cherry blossoms—
  our laughter takes its time
  through night air

  Kosuke Miyata

  New York, New York

• just blossoming
  we meet under
  the cherry tree

  w. f. owen

  Antelope, California

• yesterday’s paper
  the park bench littered
  with cherry petals

  Linda Papanicolaou

  Stanford, California

• cherry tree
  a withered crown has
  two boughs in blossom

  Zvonko Petrovic

  Varazdin, Croatia

• blossoming cherry
  one bough hiding
  the whole town

  Darko Plazanin

  Samobor, Croatia

• beneath the city cherry tree
  daffodils
  and sniffing dogs

  Sharon Priest-Nagata

  Vancouver, British Columbia

• Cherry blossoms
  out of nowhere
  a cardinal’s song

  Carol Purington

  Colrain, Massachusetts

• cherry blossoms
  about to fall
  without a thought

  Gabriel Rosenstock

  Dublin, Ireland

• housebound . . . now
  she celebrates spring
  with silk cherry blossoms

  Rose Marie Stutts

  Tuscaloosa, Alabama

• Morning breeze—
  his hair full
  of cherry blossoms

  Deborah Russell

  Fort Collins, Colorado

• his pregnant wife—
  buds swell
  on the cherry tree

  Andre Surridge

  Hamilton, New Zealand

• blossoms sway with the breeze
  my flash
  two seconds too late

  Angela Terry

  Seattle, Washington

• falling blossoms—
  the pregnancy test
  positive

  Theresa Thompson

  Lufkin, Texas

• flowering cherry
  children somersault
  under the blossom

  Naomi Beth Wakan

  Gabriola Island, British Columbia

• cherry blossoms—
  knowing the last line
  of my letter

  Angelika Wienert

  Oberhausen, Germany