2014 Haiku Invitational Winners presented by
Top Winners
Vancouver
subway platform
she brushes cherry petals
from her black umbrella
Garry Eaton
Port Moody, British Columbia
British Columbia
rusting baby buggy
fills with pink
cherry blossom petals
Cheryl Ashley
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada
Wild Horse Shakes its Mane
the Tai Chi group moves
through cherry petals
Harvey Jenkins
Winnipeg, Manitoba
United States
without thinking . . .
she brushes cherry blossoms
from a stranger’s sleeve
Julie Warther
Dover, Ohio
International
bridge crossing . . .
the full moon sprinkled with
cherry blossoms
Helen Davison
Lismore, Australia
Youth
cherry blossoms
interrupting
her fairytale
Andreea Cirligeanu, age 12
Botosani, Romania
The haiku that resonate with me the most are very often those for which I cannot explain the reason. They touch me on a level that lies deeper than the more obvious, cerebral level. They give me the shivers, even if I am hard pressed to tell you why. For the 2014 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, most of my selections seem to fit this category, and I invite you to discover if some of them (it is a very personal reaction) might give you the shivers too.
The VCBF Haiku Invitational received 1,099 entries this year, and it was a challenge for me to make selections. I read each entry many times on four different days to try to make the best selection possible. I encourage everyone who participated to do so again next year. Until then, I invite you to enjoy this year’s selections. Congratulations to each of the winners.
Click here to see commentary on the winning poems.
Marco Fraticelli
Pointe-Claire, Quebec
All poems are listed in alphabetical order in each category.
Vancouver
Sakura Awards
first tea with her—
cherry blossoms cloud
the skylight
Alegria Imperial
Vancouver, British Columbia
letter from home—
pressed cherry blossoms
between the pages
Jacquie Pearce
Burnaby, British Columbia
sweeping
to the property line
cherry blossoms
David Randen
Coquitlam, British Columbia
Honourable Mentions
Beneath the snow-capped mountains
cherry blossoms
welcome home
Rita Ager
Coquitlam, British Columbia
waiting for the bus
beneath a cherry tree
we watch the petals fall
Christine Chiu
Vancouver, British Columbia
On a crowded bus,
people look at sakura
through the shared windows
Emily Chong
Richmond, British Columbia
Cherry blossom petals
The wind carries them away
Taking me with them
Sean Condon
Vancouver, British Columbia
under white blossoms
small talk with a neighbour
foreign accent in our words
Rachel Enomoto
Burnaby, British Columbia
Headlights sneak up the darkened driveway
The meeting ran late
Cherry petals in his hair
Morna Gregory
Vancouver, British Columbia
train station
playing for change
and cherry blossoms
Ann Harreby
Coquitlam, British Columbia
The clock ticks away
Petals fall freely outside
Nimble fingers type
Malina Malla
Abbotsford, British Columbia
trapped in the classroom
we crane to the window—
petal drifts free our hearts
Debbie Matheson
Vancouver, British Columbia
May Day festival—
blossoms flutter past the eyes
of our newborn son
Jennifer Pownall
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
before cancer took him
they brushed petals from their shoes
after each evening stroll
Jennifer Pownall
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
bare trees
the rain wets
blossoms on the car
Yeddanapudi Radhika
Vancouver, British Columbia
In the cold
I breathe again
The blossom rain
Apis Teicher
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
Two years after cancer
The cherry blossoms
Bloom anew
Apis Teicher
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia
Each face on the bus
turns towards the windows
A row of cherry trees
Monica Wang
Burnaby, British Columbia
British Columbia
Sakura Awards
Cherry blossoms
Rain-soaked I wait
Alone
Gerald Cawdell
Victoria, British Columbia
cherry blossoms fall
slowly
our first kiss
Elaine Harvey
Victoria, British Columbia
cherry blossoms
by a blue wall—
pedestrians pause
Beth Skala
Nanaimo, British Columbia
cherry blossoms—
grandmother is placed
by the window
Beth Skala
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Honourable Mentions
Caught up in tangles,
petals in her dark hair share
their blush with her cheek.
Susan Alexander
Bowen Island, British Columbia
charity race
competing against
cherry petals
Sidney Bending
Victoria, British Columbia
cherry blossom martinis—
so many lies
to light up the room
Terry Ann Carter
Victoria, British Columbia
spaces between
his cherry-blossom breath—
shakuhachi player
Terry Ann Carter
Victoria, British Columbia
Won’t you come visit
To view my cherry blossoms
In my sake jar?
Gerald Cawdell
Victoria, British Columbia
a cherry petal
caught in her hair—
witty aside
Dan Curtis
Victoria, British Columbia
moving in . . .
a garland of cherry blossoms
from the child next door
elehna de sousa
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia
thirty years together
today, the tall plum tree
is thick with blossoms
Philip Gordon
Nanaimo, British Columbia
Canada
Sakura Awards
birdsong
among the pink blossoms
a wrinkled cherry
Ann Goldring
Leaskdale, Ontario
petal shower
the black dog
stirs
Ann Goldring
Leaskdale, Ontario
ten-year reunion
some thinner and some wider
school’s cherry trees
Harvey Jenkins
Winnipeg, Manitoba
remission
I sidestep fallen
blossoms
Terra Martin
Toronto, Ontario
whispering girls
camouflaged
by cherry blossoms
Viktors Vairogs
Saint-Pie, Québec
Honourable Mentions
Pacific promise
cherry blossoms on the wind—
I will change
Lori Austen
Kingston, Ontario
prairie traveller
a blizzard of cherry blossoms
at the airport door
Sharron Bertchilde
Winnipeg, Manitoba
cherry-blossom bouquet
in the guest room
away from the cats
Huguette Ducharme
Saint-Pie, Québec
swept in an updraft
scattered cherry blossoms
on her bridal veil
Jeanne Jorgensen
Edmonton, Alberta
his flowery advances
amid cherry trees—
fruitless
kjmunro
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
spring closing date—
because of the cherry tree
we buy the house
Marianne Paul
Kitchener, Ontario
cherry petals—
the ornery mechanic
kissing my cheek
Marilyn Potter
Toronto, Ontario
United States
Sakura Awards
perfectly still—
a baby watching
pink blossoms sway
Barbara Kaufmann
Massapequa Park, New York
first communion
cherry petals
in everyone’s hair
Scott Mason
Chappaqua, New York
spring rain
cherry blossoms
in the watercolor
Carolyne Rohrig
Fremont, California
white blossoms
one crayon missing
from the box
Michelle Schaefer
Bothell, Washington
Honourable Mentions
cherry blossoms peak—
we take turns
exchanging cameras
Meik Blãttenberger
Hanover, Pennsylvania
with cherry blossoms . . .
whispering strangers approach
the foot of my bed
Brett Brady
Pahoa, Hawaii
blind date—
falling blossoms frame
our selfie
Mark E. Brager
Columbia, Maryland
offering me
a baby cherry tree
my pregnant neighbor
Susan Burch
Hagerstown, Maryland
Fukushima friends . . .
asking if the oldest
cherry tree yet lives
Julie Cain
Sturgis, Mississippi
old friends
falling
cherry blossoms
Julie Cain
Sturgis, Mississippi
cherry blossoms
on the verge
of my undoing
Michele L. Harvey
Hamilton, New York
no snow
but children catch petals
on their tongues
J. Todd Hawkins
Crowley, Texas
past one cherry tree
past another, the butterfly
leaves Home Depot
Tzetzka Ilieva
Marietta, Georgia
fading blossom—
forgetting her grandchildren
one by one
Barbara Kaufmann
Massapequa Park, New York
blossom time—
we leave the petals
where they fall
Carole MacRury
Point Roberts, Washington
first blossoms
past the finish line—
Boston Marathon
Marion Alice Poirier
Boston, Massachusetts
cherry blossoms—
meeting the neighbor
who saw me naked
Chad Lee Robinson
Pierre, South Dakota
cherry-blossom rain
ready or not
I am a father
John Stevenson
Nassau, New York
grandma’s ninetieth
cherry petals drifting through
the birthday song
Marilyn Appl Walker
Madison, Georgia
International
Sakura Awards
first date
white blossoms all over
her black hair
Vessislava Savova
Sofia, Bulgaria
Fukushima commemoration
the cherry blossom petals
between the cobblestones
Heike Stehr
Moers, Germany
temple blossoms
the distance between
your god and mine
David Terelinck
Pyrmont, Australia
Cherry blossoms—
the baby in my arms
stops thumb-sucking.
Frans Terryn
Kortrijk, Belgium
spring grasses . . .
so many pathways end
in cherry blossoms
Sasa Vazic
Zemun, Serbia
Honourable Mentions
cherry in bloom
old painter mixes colours
again and again
Magdalena Banaszkiewicz
Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland
crowded bus station
at the side of my boot
a cherry petal
Adrian Bouter
Gouda, Netherlands
blossom shower . . .
carefully I clear
only his name
Claudia Brefeld
Bochum, Germany
the first Holy Communion
cherry blossoms
in her hair
Daniela Liăcrămioara Capot
Gala, Romania
she loves me
she loves me not . . .
the blossoms fall
John Carroll
Sydney, Australia
cherry blossom
running fingertips
over names
Steven Clarkson
Taupo, New Zealand
still no call
just blossoms
rustling
Bernadette Duncan
Rottweil, Germany
after crocusses
—the song of the neighbour
and cherry blossoms
Rob Flipse
Amsterdam, Netherlands
fire escape—
cherry blossom petals
hang on to my soles
Damien Gabriels
Nord, France
Vernal equinox—
heavy snow upon the
blooming cherry trees
Zornitza Harizanova
Sofia, Bulgaria
the crows cawing
in the cherry’s crown
neighbors arriving
Midhat Hrmäœiät – Midho
Sanski Most, Bosnia and Herzegovina
over the yard
intertwined fragrances of
the grill and cherry
Branka Vojinovi Jegdi
Podgorica, Montenegro
morning dew
following me back inside
the cat and cherry petals
Mark Miller
Shoalhaven Heads, Australia
small railway station—
out of the blue
cherry petals
Dorota Pyra
Gdańsk,Poland
evening star
a bouquet of cherry blossom
on my front porch
Cynthia Rowe
Sydney, Australia
walking meditation . . .
my mother stops
at the cherry blossoms
Samantha Sirimanne Hyde
Sydney, Australia
even cherry’s shade
makes our yards
common property
Bozidar Skobic
Visegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina
swallow in flight
behind the cherry
last year’s nest
Dimitrij Skrk
Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia
Picking cherries.
A chance touch of hands
in a full basket.
Tatjana Stefanovi
Belgrade, Serbia
cherry blossoms—
my neighbour’s wheelchair
so light
Eduard Tara
Lasi, Romania
she wouldn’t say
why she called me
cherry blossom
Ernest Wit
Warsaw, Poland
raindrops
cherry blossoms falling
with them
Quendryth Young
Alstonville, Australia
polebeans
green buds crawling across
dry cherry branch
Verica Zivkovic
Starčevo, Serbia
Youth
Sakura Awards
Not a word exchanged
Only her cherry blossoms
Fall into my yard
Mark Elliott, age 18
Coquitlam, British Columbia
delicate blossoms
fall softly off the branches
brushing children’s skin
Dania Grant, age 10
Surrey, British Columbia
Crow caws over sleeping city
soars onto dark branch
lush blossoms fall.
Taylor Scott, age 11
Vancouver, British Columbia
a gentle breeze—
I tuck a cherry blossom
into my hair
Sarah Welch, age 8
Sammamish, Washington
cherry blossoms—
my father’s camera
clicks again
Sarah Welch, age 8
Sammamish, Washington
Honourable Mentions
cupped hands
waiting for money
blossoms instead
Stephanie Berringer, age 11
Vancouver, British Columbia
Each one beautiful
Each cherry blossom unique
But coming from the same tree
Isabella Cho, age 13
Seoul, Korea
Hopeless with my story
my mind is blank
a blossom falls on it
Ali Chong, age 11
Vancouver, British Columbia
piles of pink blossoms
saturate your garden
we rake up the mess
Nicole Johnstone, age 17
Coquitlam, British Columbia
Sakura blooming
City noise left far away
Students write haiku
Max Kral, age 12
Seoul, South Korea
The cherry blossoms
are so pretty. Wind makes the
blossoms prettier.
Ethan Lauritzen, age 9
New Westminster, British Columbia
walking with my dog
in the moonlit evening
cherry blossoms blow
Jeslyn Ma, age 10
Vancouver, British Columbia
cherry blossoms . . .
the day she came into
our life
Tanvi Nishchal, age 17
New Delhi, India
clouded sky
the cherry blossoms
soothing my sorrow
Pocris Sabin, age 12
Botosani, Romania
playing tag at school
crash into the tree: you’re it
blossoms fall: I’m it
Philip Shi, age 12
Surrey, British Columbia
Two-thousand fourteen
We hashtag cherry blossoms
Global unity
Christine Suh, age 12
Seoul, South Korea
Socially wimpy,
Botanical remedy,
Cherry blossom trees.
Johnziel Gonzaga Ubas, age 16
La Carlota City, Philippines
in the open grave
he sleeps, silent as the wind
as the blossoms fall
Richard Wong, age 12
Vancouver, British Columbia
A boy
opens a book
filled with love and petals.
Jerry Xu, age 11
Vancouver, British Columbia
reaching to catch
the same stray blossom—
first handshake
Sherry Zhou, age 16
Palo Alto, California
More About the Judge
Marco Fraticelli was born in Montreal in 1945 and he has been writing haiku for almost 40 years. For most of that time he has served on the executive of Haiku Canada. Among his books of haiku are Night Coach and Voyeur (Guernica Editions) and Drifting (Catkin Press).