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