1st Place
tea party
she protects her doll
with a face mask
Liv Saint-James
The continual threat of the Covid virus and the impact it has had on our lives is so stunningly captured in these three short lines. The deeper we go into this poem the more is revealed. The very best haiku use a minimum number of words from limitless possibilities. The most natural of moments can be a young child at play – their love and nurturing a wonder to see. So practical and perhaps without thought, the child does what it must do to protect loved-ones, having witnessed this very thing for themselves in the adult world around them. It’s in our very DNA to survive and adapt, and this latest global challenge is merely the latest in a long history of human suffering. But we know we can overcome everything by working together.
Australian Haiku Society 