Haiku Society of America Award Winners

The following poems were all selected as winners in the Haiku Society of America’s Henderson and Brady contests for haiku and senryu. I wish I could have entered more often, but was not able to do so while serving as an HSA officer. I have also won several Merit Book Awards (now called the Kanterman Awards) and a Museum of Haiku Literature Award from the Haiku Society of America. In the following list, I’ll add judges’ names and comments as I track them down in old issues of Frogpond. My thanks to each of the judges for selecting my poems.

Henderson Awards for Haiku


2000 — First Place
Judges: Cyril Childs and Jerry Kilbride

meteor shower . . .
a gentle wave
wets our sandals


1995 — Second Place
Judges: ???

toll booth lit for Christmas—
from my hand to hers
warm change


1991 — Second Place
Judges: ???

an old woolen sweater
       taken yarn by yarn
              from the snowbank


Brady Awards for Senryu


2008 — Second Place
Judges: Alexis Rotella and Scott Mason

busy Italian restaurant—
happy birthday
sung to the wrong table

“Here, by contrast [to the first place winner], is a moment of pure hilarity. Waiters and waitresses hastily converge to belt out that old standby; and just as quickly they disperse, leaving utter bewilderment in their wake. In this parody of “personal” service, they might just as well have sung to . . . the table!”


2000 — Honourable Mentions
Judges: ???

Valentine’s Day—
she reminds me
to fasten my seatbelt

before the guests arrive
I straighten
the straight cushions

a lull in her hands—
the hairstylist asks
how I part my hair


1995 — First Place
Judges: Tom Clausen and Ebba Story

clicking off the late movie . . .
      the couch cushion
            reinflates


1993 — Honourable Mention
Judges: ???

a pause in the lecture
all at once three students
cross their legs