penitent

 ashy sky

the bitter colour of

my thoughts

© Mona Iordan, Romania

A haiku ponder, not a happy or joyous moment, because the haijin references  in Line Two, of  bitterness. 

What is it that draws us to the above; our view of a level raised and beyond eye level.

It is a hankering for solace of some kind which allows us more. More than what is, more of what can be, more to aid us and take us beyond.

In this haiku it is a hope for completeness.

Line One "ashy sky;"  this is a vast space in which to place a moment, and within that moment there is emotion drawn from the sky which companions the haijin to her feeling in the moment.

Her outreach is satisfying. She is not alone in her turmoil, there is a vastness which can absorb her, where she can contribute, where she can add her distraught. Where she will find peace.

This connection, i think, is what made this haiku a first place amongst her peers in this kukai.

Well Done Mona

Review by Gillena Cox; founder/coodinator Caribbean Kigo Kukai

View all the haiku HERE 

 View the invitation for this kukai HERE

year of the tiger

year of the Tiger 

every day

 I never lived 

--Eufemia Griffo, Italy 

 What makes this a winning haiku? I think all of the white space. One can imagine, one can speculate, one can research. There is so much mystery in this haiku.

 I think others in this kukai were just drawn to the allure of could be in this 12 syllable stunner. 

 Well Done Eufemia 

Review by Gillena Cox

founder/coodinator

Caribbean Kigo Kukai

 the theme of this kukai was 'year of the tiger' 

 View all of the haiku written HERE 

 View the invitation HERE

where sunflowers bloom'

train from Kiev ...

 in the old coat

 sunflower seeds 

 © Lucia Cardillo; Italy 

 War is cruel sad lonely business. Separation, death, heartbreak its reward. 

Lucia's Line One draws us in immediately to a place troubled by war. Therefore her Line One is loaded with emotions; heavy hearted and weighted down.

 The state of the coat in Line 2 resonates with emotion and extends the mood of Line One. With 11 syllables a play of darkness and light weaves a powerful emotional story.

 However she does not leave us in the dark place. 

A matryoshka effect intimates: hope as a light embedded in those seeds, just as the seeds themselves are sunken into the old coat. 

A story then of hope told, as this is where the  haijin leaves us. 

Well Done Lucia

Review by Gillena Cox; founder/coordinator

Caribbean Kigo Kukai

The theme of this kukai was 'where sunflowers bloom' 

 View all of the haiku written HERE 

 View the invitation HERE

a magical moment

Xmas carol

I place all my puppets

on the windowsill

 © Cristina-Valeria Apetrei/ Romania

Line One of Christina's haiku sets the stage for a scene to follow. Do we know where she will take us next? Christmas carols gives a sense a joy of that season. An audience receiving, a story traditional and enchanting being told.

Christmas connotes in its ideal form a image of family. The Nativity scenes call us to newness, birth, people around us, adoration. 

The ideal of Christmas does not project for us the loneliness that so many of us must be facing in this time of celebration.

But Christina pulls us into a reality of that loneliness of Christmas, and the magic of hope; in her fragment,  Lines Two and Three, which follows an astounding phrase of Line One

Well Done Christina

Review by Gillena Cox. Founder/coodinator Caribbean Kigo Kukai

The theme of this kukai was  'a magical moment'

View all the haiku responsesHERE

View the kukai invitation haiku HERE