Best Haiku
the long road
boughs of white blossoms
light the way
cherry blossoms
I fold my résumé
into a crane
stopped in traffic—
on my window
cherry blossom
cherry tree
even the blind woman
picks blossoms
Sakura Award Winners
a new son born—
from the hospital window
cherry blossoms and rain
my sad ride
to the hospital—then this street
with cherry blossoms
after the rain
the cherry blossoms
brighter
hospital watch—
we open her window shade
to cherry blossoms
first light
once more the pink
of cherry blossoms
pink paving-stones—
the cherry trees are again
common trees
morning light—
the cherry tree shadows
also blossom
blossoms . . .
I dust off the last
jar of cherries
rap music
vibrating
the cherry blossom
buds on the cherry—
I wrap new chiffon
around my hat
Her new puppy
already chasing
cherry blossoms
late winter dusk . . .
from the music classroom
a sakura song
under a shower
of cherry blossom petals—
wish I were naked
early spring
under the cherry blossoms
deaf lovers sign
cherry blossoms
a street vendor hums
the Ode to Joy
the guests are coming—
are the petals to be swept
away from the paths?
distant thunder
a few cherry blossoms
float to earth
childhood home—
with knobbly fingers she picks
the fallen blossoms
a shortcut
to the sanitarium—
cherry blossoms
cherry blossoms
a breeze carries them
to an unmarked grave
cold morning
amongst the blossoms
our pink fingers
cherry blossoms!
today I’ll brush on
a pinker blush
waiting for my pills—
the old cherry tree’s blossoms
about to open
as if there were
no other blossoms—
a cherry in bloom
cherry blossoms—
i wear my silk scarf
from Japan
popcorn in the park
the cherry blossoms
free of charge
Adult Honourable Mentions
cherry blossoms
the tug tug tug
of baby’s hand
morning mist
a bent back sweeps
yesterday’s blossoms
on her kimono
glistening in the moonlight
a scented blossom
mother’s wedding day
vases of pink
cherry blossoms
spring zephyr
cherry blossoms settled
on the Buddha’s hand
nothing
in the envelope—
cherry petals
fragrant morning—
cherry blossoms fill
my cupped hands
I close my eyes
still cherry blossoms
against the sky
newborn—
one pink blossom
unfurls
spring moon—
under the cherry tree
an open umbrella
cherry blossoms
still pink
in the moonlight
Vancouver spring:
wet cherry blossoms landing
on umbrellas
hidden in blossoms
just one sparrow
singing loudly in the rain
sudden gust—
the softness
of falling blossoms
morning shower
a wattlebird scatters
cherry blossoms
grizzled poet—
a sprig of cherry blossoms
in his knapsack
pink pavement
the softness of fallen petals
in each step
Warm breeze
under the cherry in bloom
a child plays the flute
cherry in bloom—
the child tries her mum’s veil
by the window
carefully strolling
with the newest hip implant,
with cherry blossoms
the moon now this
now that side of the bus—
blossoms everywhere
cherry blossoms free fall
into the pond . . .
baby’s first steps
cherry blossoms
the one that falls
on mother’s headstone
cherry blossoms—
our laughter takes its time
through night air
just blossoming
we meet under
the cherry tree
yesterday’s paper
the park bench littered
with cherry petals
cherry tree
a withered crown has
two boughs in blossom
blossoming cherry
one bough hiding
the whole town
beneath the city cherry tree
daffodils
and sniffing dogs
Cherry blossoms
out of nowhere
a cardinal’s song
cherry blossoms
about to fall
without a thought
housebound . . . now
she celebrates spring
with silk cherry blossoms
Morning breeze—
his hair full
of cherry blossoms
his pregnant wife—
buds swell
on the cherry tree
blossoms sway with the breeze
my flash
two seconds too late
falling blossoms—
the pregnancy test
positive
flowering cherry
children somersault
under the blossom
cherry blossoms—
knowing the last line
of my letter
Youth Honourable Mentions
Cherry Blossom—
YAHOO!
It’s spring
Windows are open
The blossoms are singing
a beautiful song.
Windy day
of cherry blossoms
pink marker
exploding
cherry trees in bloom—
drifting petals cover
the distant mountains
how to put them
in a row of words . . .
cherry blossoms
In old-time Japan
Cherry blossoms cover the graves
Of the Samurai
The full moon is out
Sweet pink sakura petals
Blow in the night breeze
Stress
cherry tree
soothed
Cherry blossoms
pink and white
falling into my hair.
cherry blossoms
open in the spring—
pink and white sneezes
Petals in my hair
The place where you said
we’d meet
Flowers bloom, I wait
Cherry blossoms—
dripdrops
from a tap
pale pink blossoms blink
in the early morning light
sunrise of the spring
Pink and soft
cherry tree
Leaning gently ove
A flower in the air
when is it going
to come down?
Under cherry blossoms
Windy day
I’m cotton candy
cherry blossoms
can’t tell the difference
with the snow
Over the mountains
comes the sun’s great golden light
spring cherry blossoms
pink petals fly
celebrating
spring in the rainy city
Cherry blossom tree
Stands tall, proud and green
In the village mall
field of trees
overflowing with cherry blossoms
kids tossing blossoms
a colourful bird
on top of a leafless tree,
humming with the wind
Beautiful blossom
Swaying so high in the tree
Please descend on me
Swept through the air
Dancing fast, free, everywhere
Blossom on the wind
open-mouthed,
a child staring at
the fallen cherry blossoms
Cherry blossoms fall
pink leaves
on my head
Judges’ Comments
Cherry blossoms are one of the oldest topics in Japanese literature. They are the subject of thirty-one-syllable waka poems and Nōh plays as well as haiku. The greatest haiku poet, Matsuo Bashō, once wrote:
cherry blossoms—
so many things
are brought to mind
The cherry blossom, Bashō seems to say, invokes so many associations that it can inspire a limitless amount of poetry.
We are delighted to report that poets from twenty-nine countries submitted roughly one thousand haiku to the Haiku Invitational for the 2006 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. As if to confirm Bashō’s insight, their work showed a remarkable variety and inventiveness on the subject of cherry blossoms. More than one third of the haiku came from Canada, and another eighty-five came from poets from throughout the United States. We were pleased to receive nearly fifty haiku from Croatia as well as a handful from Japan, the country that gave us both the haiku and the tradition of cherry-blossom viewing. Poets from South America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Western and Eastern Europe also graced the festival with their poems, and we enjoyed reading them all. On behalf of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, we would like to thank every poet who submitted poems.
The haiku came from poets with ages ranging from eight to over eighty. Some well-known authors submitted haiku, but many of the best poems arrived from writers whom we did not know but whom we would like to read again. We received a large number of haiku from poets eighteen and under, and we are very pleased to recognize and encourage their talent by selecting our favourites. We have chosen a number of honourable mention haiku by both adults and youth for publication on this site.
From the thousand or so haiku submitted, we also selected what we believed to be the very best, based on freshness of imagery, sensitivity to haiku aesthetics, and power of expression. These thirty poems will be printed on silk banners and displayed in an art installation in Vancouver during the month of March, 2006. From these thirty poems, we chose what we believed to be the strongest poem in each of the following categories: Canadian Poem, U.S. Poem, International Poem (from outside North America), and Youth Poem (age eighteen and under). These haiku will be displayed inside Vancouver city buses throughout March.
Each of the top poems has taught us a new way to appreciate cherry blossoms. Our top Canadian poem places the viewer on a long road lined with cherry trees, so that the weariness of travel is overcome by their beauty. Our top U.S. poem is a whimsical reminder that cherry blossoms can make us neglect the responsibilities of the world. Our top International poem shows how an enthusiasm for cherry blossoms can inspire anyone. Our top Youth poem reveals how a blossom’s beauty can penetrate our lives at any moment.
We encourage every poet who submitted a poem to keep writing and enjoying haiku. The Pacifi-kana haiku group meets periodically in and around Vancouver and welcomes new members. Poets elsewhere in Canada or in the United States can turn to Haiku Canada and the Haiku Society of America for information about local haiku groups, contests, and readings in their area. We would also like to remind poets about the festival’s haiku workshop at the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library on March 20, 2006, led by Michael Dylan Welch.
We trust that you will derive as much pleasure as we did from reading the haiku selected for the 2006 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival while feeling, as did Bashō, that cherry blossoms can indeed bring many things to mind.
—Carole MacRury, Vicki McCullough, Michael Dylan Welch, and Edward Zuk, Judges