2018 Moon Viewing Haiku Contest

The following are the winners from the 2018 Moon Viewing Haiku Contest held at the Seattle Japanese Garden on 25 August 2018 for its annual Moon Viewing Festival. These results were also posted to the Seattle Japanese Garden Community Blog and the Seattle Japanese Garden Blog, both with photos, one of which is shown here.

Judged by Tanya McDonald and Michael Dylan Welch, Haiku Northwest


Out of 172 entries, we’ve selected the following winners for the 2018 Moon Viewing Haiku Contest, held at the Seattle Japanese Garden on Saturday, 25 August 2018. Many participants wrote about the hazy smoke in the sky from recent forest fires. We chose a mix of poems for their freshness, clarity, and sometimes humor. First prize is an individual garden membership and a garden T-shirt. Second prize a garden T-shirt and garden postcards. And third prize is garden postcards. Congratulations to all the winners for their poems, and to everyone who participated in celebrating the moon even if we couldn’t see it through smoke-hazy skies.

First Place


brightly the moon

makes milk of water

drops on a turtle’s shell

        Tiffany Jenkins


Second Place


smoky air—

my beautiful wife looking at the sky

waiting for the moon

        Daifu Ye


Third Place


in my inbox

message from the full moon:

—not coming tonight!

        Aleksandra Monk


Honorable Mentions

(in alphabetical order by last name)


my feet hurt

my eyes are tired

oh! the moon!

        Bill Bridges


even the rabbit pauses

to view the harvest moon

        Bill Bridges


round with child

she crosses the garden bridge

waxing August moon

        Barbie Brooking


shy moon

hides behind clouds

patiently, we wait

        Bryant Cabanatan


it’s for your safety

ropes obstructing normal paths

under the moonlight

        CCR Studios


pink smoke

obscures the moon and more

somewhere trees are burning

        Elise Fogel


deep sigh—

stop breathing so loudly

I’m trying to think about the moon

        Kate Griffith


hey moon,

don’t hide from the smoky air

we want to see your beauty

        Sze Man Li


Jeff Bezos’ house

& tents of the homeless

under the same full moon

        Aleksandra Monk


the red moon blooms

I hold your hand

and feel your warmth

        Corinne Scrivens


a full August moon

my footsteps in the gravel

sound like cicadas

        Jair Trejo


Garden photos by SlickPix Photography, except for the third photo, which is by Aurora Santiago.