potter's hand

shaping dreams..
the potter's hand on his
wheel of fortune
--Vinay Leo R; Bangalore, India


Line One introduces us to the artistic spirit. There are the hands set to work, following the instructions of the muse. At the potters wheel is where we find them in synchronicity. Spirit and mass. This is such a beautiful story told in haiku by Vinay; it has an enchanting fairy tale quality. His choice of words is effective. He shapes his haiku into a first place poem among his fellow writers. Line Three is where the worker, artist, or breadwinner shapes too his life, be it one of
affluence or borderline sustenance, here it starts, in the realm of possibilities; like the haiku starts, with a dream; a wish in the mind of the haiku persona to bring to life an experience to enrich the mind of his readers.


Well Done Vinay
gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/co ordinator

The kigo for this kukai was potter's hand

stormy weather

stormy weather
a homeless man clutches
his bottle of wine
--Bouwe Brouwer, The Netherlands

When i read Bouwe's haiku, i sighed; not out of despair, but of ennui, since life is not always kind; and very often, all that is left is the solace of impermanence; just like the homeless man, whom Bouwe sees, who is invisible to many; maybe even the Fates one might philosophically argue.

“Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.”
― Robert Frost

Despair resonates in Bouwe's haiku, like a grey shadowy hand in an impressionist canvas. His use of the kigo given is dramatic and bold. There is no bright maybe in between. At the mercy of the the elements this is exactly what each one of us do. We grasp, we cling, we clutch whatever proves to be for us, salvation.
In a shadowy canvas Bouwe's throws so much light on humanity's frailness. There in quite a tale well told.
He omits the kireji offering a Line Two that pivots and allows for dimension in his haiku

Well Done Bouwe
gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/co ordinator

The kigo for this kukai was stormy weather

The Olympic Games

high diver
at the platform's edge
stillness
--Bill Kenney, USA

The Olympic Games was the theme for this kukai ; for which Bill's haiku emerged as the winning haiku. Olympic Games for participants as well as supporters connotes tension. There are the final goodbyes after all the medalling, tears and disappointments quickly transitioned into the expectations of the next four years. No doubt there is tension in waiting, in training and in hoping.

Bill heightens the reader's expectations in this haiku by taking us to the top of a divers platform; our senses as readers are at peak. At the edge is where, he skillfully pulls ever fibre of nerve in us readers, to the hush; where all is left now to the cord of expertise and fate; which binds diver, sky, water, supporters in a magical few moments.

How well Bill's skilfully crafted haiku resonates all of this in choice and placement of thought, theme and presentation. Pivoting haiku and reader at Line Two's platform.

Well Done Bill