2024 Seven Hills / Penumbra Haiku Contest

Michael Dylan Welch, judge

First Place

in the linden’s shade—

a Christian and a Muslim

sharing the silence

Cristian Matei

Bucharest, Romania

The world today needs this sort of understanding and acceptance. It could be that the silence here is a brooding reluctance to talk, but I perceive it as acceptance, taking a moment to enjoy nature together, where the silence can drown out war and friction. I’ve read, too, that the linden tree’s heart-shaped leaves are associated with the goddess of truth and love, the tree symbolizing justice. This poem does not mention the linden tree by accident.

Second Place

silent garden pond

a willow’s ink disappears

in the fading breeze

Richard Matta

San Diego, California

Here, the drooping willow limbs “paint” on the surface of the pond with their reflections in the water. With the breeze, that “ink” disappears, but because that breeze is also fading, we know the image will return if we are patient. This is a poem of beauty and contentment, freshly seen.

Third Place

memorial bench—

its solitary sitter

is told to move on

Scott Mason

Somers, New York

We don’t know who is telling the sitter to move on, perhaps a police officer. Such a demand feels insensitive to the reasons why the person is sitting there. It’s easy to imagine that the sitter must have known the person who was memorialized. We need never move on from the causes of grief.