I would like to congratulate all the winners and thank everyone who participated in the summer solstice kukai. I looked for some interesting and somewhat different images this year, hoping that the responses would also be of a similar nature, and I’m pleased to say the winner’s list reflects just that. The seasonal image was captured looking from the porthole of the Earnslaw, a 1912 Edwardian twin-screw steamer based at Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, New Zealand – a stunning cruise if you ever get the chance to view one of the most beautiful places in the world.
1st Place
childhood
the things locked
behind time’s door
Gavin Austin
I really enjoyed such a clear and well-stated emotional poem that resonated with the strong solid image of the door. The poet uses an interesting phrase, time’s door, suggesting that so much is locked away in secret places over the passing of time. Combined with the single word first line, childhood, this is very nicely conceived poem and an interesting connection to the image, creating an effective haiga.
2nd Place
cabin fever
the shipmaster’s keys
long gone
Rose van Son
Here, we have a cinematic haiku with an evocative storyline in just three short lines.
This could be a fitting scene opener with those heavy, ornate wooden doors. We are transported to an exotic location, perhaps even with pirates with their eyes on a possible treasure. What of the keys and who stole them and what is locked away? Like all good stories, we are left wanting more, and this haiku does a lovely job of setting the scene for us.
Highly Commended
closing the door
on suffering … and then
a fairy wren sings
Wanda Amos
This lovely haiku is tantalisingly beautiful and full of captured suspense with a timely pivot at the end of line 2, that sets us up for a surprise with a contrast between the hard wooden doors and the softness of a fairy wren. All suffering has dropped away with the healing birdsong, how lovely indeed!
Highly Commended
invincible –
the enemy is dreaming
about victory
Krzysztof Kokot
This haiku struck me form the first reading as an interesting sequel or even prequel to Bashō’s famous summer grasses / all that remain / of warrior’s dreams (translated by David Landis). The image of the door suggests a connection to something ancient and war-like with the large steel rings and locks. The poet has created an evocative mystery to both the image and the suggestion that all enemies dream of their invincibility.
Highly Commended
love locked
the door to my heart
forever open
Carol Reynolds
Ah, yes. A true love story worthy of a Valentine greeting, and the poet has made a solid connection to the door and perhaps a barrier to the heart that can be opened. But love will prevail, or is that just the old romantic in me . . .
Ron C. Moss
Australian Haiku Society 