2024 Moon Viewing Haiku Contest

The following are the winners from the 2024 Moon Viewing Haiku Contest held at the Seattle Japanese Garden on 12 and 13 September 2024 for its annual Moon Viewing Festival. These results were also posted to the Seattle Japanese Garden Blog on 12 September and 13 September, with photos, also shown here.

Judged by Michael Dylan Welch

tonight’s moon—

will there be anyone

not taking up a brush?

Onitsura

The 2024 Moon Viewing event at the Seattle Japanese Garden took place on the two nights of September 12 and 13, and both nights featured haiku contests in celebration of the moon. The first night received 136 entries, and the moon rose briefly between a gap in the pines. On the second night we received 105 poems, with attendance reduced because of intermittent rain. This produced a total of 241 poems, up from 193 in 2023, 91 in 2021, and 176 in 2019 (the moon viewing event did not occur in 2020 or 2022). Because winning poems were not announced on the same evening they were submitted, the time for submissions was longer than at previous moon-viewing events, contributing to an increased number of submissions—and better yet, increased participation as more people could try writing haiku. The following are my selections of three top winners, plus a generous helping of honorable mentions, for each of the two nights. This year there were no prizes for the winners, except for the presentation of selected poems on the garden’s website.

Thursday, 12 September 2024

First Place

white flowers nod

in shadows cast

by moonlight

Phyllis Kaiden

Are these flowers actually white, or do they just look white because of the moonlight? Wondering about questions like this is how a haiku can engage readers. And in this case perhaps an appreciation of the flowers happens because of moonlight, or perhaps this poem is really an appreciation of the moon because of the flowers. Or maybe it’s both.

Second Place

harvest moon

blue heron fishing

a poet’s yearning

Elizabeth Farley

A poet’s yearning is like the heron waiting patiently for a fish to catch, or like the time of harvest after farmers have patiently waited for crops to grow. A bright moon at harvest time lengthens harvesting hours, and we can see the heron alert in the moonlight. No wonder the poet is also yearning.

Third Place

half moon rising

a bat flitting

in dusky light

Anne Tarver

When the moon is higher, or later, when the moon is full, we might see fewer bats, or not at all. But when the moon is just half full, and still rising, perhaps that’s when the bats are most active, seeking after flying insects when they too are active.

Honorable Mentions

(in alphabetical order by last name, or first name if no last name was provided)

you are whole

in all your phases

just like the moon

Colleen Broughton

moth’s erratic flight

following moonbeams

and starlight

Elizabeth Farley

half moon rising

over scented pines

on uplifting fluted notes

Elise Gordon

full moon

I awaken suddenly

and smile

Mary Gordon

a blank sky

a moonlit night

you can see the moon up high

Evie Gossens, age 7

cold dew settles—

soft gray clouds

blanket the moon

E. Haffner

a breeze chills my spine

if I questioned the moon’s face

how would it answer?

Bri Little

if the moon still hides

we’ll meet in the softening night

and whisper it here

Laura Lorenz

a heart-breaking whine

Emma, the moon-loving Rottweiler

pining for her far-away ball

Tessa Mendoza

viewer’s footsteps—

bundled against autumn chill

warmed by moonglow

Paul Pietromonaco

trees too tall!

must move

for more moon

Mike Shurgot

a gathering crowd beckons

the bashful moon

from the emerald canopy

Aeone Singson

cloudy summer skies

flute playing songs of the moon

viewing with our ears

Clay West

Friday, 13 September 2024

First Place

without the moon

the rain

smells like home

Karen Conover

The moon-viewing event at the Seattle Japanese Garden sometimes delivers the moon through or above the trees at the garden’s south end. More often, it seems, clouds hide the moon, and rain might seem to dampen our spirits. But in this poem, while rain might not be welcome when the writer hopes to see the moon, it brings a consolation in pleasantly reminding the poet of home.

Second Place

the mist’s cool whisper—

she still

pulls tides

Theo Roffe

The mist here is given a human quality, as if it could whisper. But isn’t that exactly what mists seem to do? The moon is also given human personification, named as “she.” And although we can’t see the moon, because of the mist, we can take comfort in remembering that even an unseen moon still pulls the tides, and perhaps also tugs at our hearts.

Third Place

a cold gray night—

trees cradle

lantern moons

Kimberly Espinoza

When a moon-viewing celebration turns cloudy and gray, we can still imagine the moon and its beauty. In this case, at the Seattle Japanese Garden, the round and white lanterns hung in the trees became our moons for the evening, despite the gray clouds.

Honorable Mentions

(in alphabetical order by last name, or first name if no last name was provided)

late summer—

behind rainclouds

the waxing moon

M. Choksi

full moon rising—

a warming glow

on a dark winter night

Mariah David

cloud-covered moon—

cool spirits

brush past my skin

Kimberly Espinoza

I call to the moon

but it does not come

I am alone

Pat Harris

rain on maple leaves

the moon is hidden by clouds

fall in Seattle begins

Casey Hinds

the orb of white

nestled between two treetops

a fleeting moment

Victor Lui

the moon chose to hide

now the garden hides with it

the lanterns turn to stars

Matild, age 10

brilliant moon

taking back the night

from the stars

Alan Rothblatt

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