good cheer

 

Kudos; bringing to the forefront, one haiku, chosen from a number of poems, acclaimed to be the favourite of many in a group of writers pooled together, to capsule cognizance in a selected theme, of universal significance, emitting from a Caribbean essence (poems remain copyright of the individual writers mentioned)

Monday, December 29, 2025

good cheer

 silent night

a carol reverberates

among refugees

--Cezar Florescu, Botoșani/ Romania

This poem offers readers a juxtaposition allowing them to reflect on what is happening, as well as on what the message is. 

We can see a very good contrast, between a tradition of the winter holidays and the harsh reality of being a refugee. The carol brings them comfort in an unknown place. At the same time, the silence can also mean peace, suggesting that the refugees have found comfort in a new land. 

The first line can refer to the well known carol, or the night could literally be silent. If the night is literally silent, then we can see a coincidence and a play upon words, since we hear a carol, which could be one other than Silent Night, among the refugees.

 The winter holidays are a time when we have a high sense of hope, which is reflected in the way in which the night grows silent, as if sympathizing with the refugees, and wishing to offer them a magical moment. 

Review by Ana Irina

View all the haiku HERE

View the invitation to this kukai HERE

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Gillena Cox

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everywhere

 I remember a time when i used to see lots of stars in the night sky, here in St James, Trinidad, where i live.

Now not so. The stars are few and the night sky most times blank except for the moon.

stars everywhere 

joining dots in search

of dad's constellation 

--Lakshmi Iyer, India 

This haiku took me back to a happy time of night sky watching.

For the poet, this might also be so. A haiku contemplating a happier time.

But there is also longing and sadness intimated in this haiku. The poet, desperate for continued connection, traces a constellation to recapture a loss of love, her father.

Four poets commented on Lakshmi's haiku and all four comments carried  a sense of loss and longing.

Structurally, Lakshmi's approach in this haiku can be seen as 'out of the box', it is neither a 17 syllable, nor  is it of  the formal 5.7.5 format.

Review by Gillena Cox; founder/coodinator Caribbean Kigo Kukai

View all the haiku and comments HERE 

 View the invitation for this kukai HERE

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

flower

 muezzin's call

the scent of magnolia

enters the mosque

© Cezar Florescu

It's  amazing, the way sound can manage our moods. The cry of a baby. The loud horn of a car from an irritant driver. The alleluias from our church choirs. All of the above jolts us in different ways. Add fragrance to each and a totally new event is there for our brain to translate into feelings and responses.

I remember as a child growing up in Chaguanas Trinidad, hearing the muezzin's call. I had at that time no understanding of what it was, having been a Roman Catholic child and not schooled in the ways of other religious practices. Later as an adult the scant knowing of other's and their view and practices in God worship allowed me to  make comparisons. So immediately on reading Cezar's poem there is the parallel of church bell and the smell of incense. A reverence appeal occurs in my mind even though i do not know the a Magnolia flower, personally.

What makes this a winner. The tease to the senses, the pull of intrigue, the setting of a story being told. I think. The skill of 'toriawase' features in Cezar 's haiku of three lines fifteen syllables. A haiku lifted apart from others by his peers in this kukai.

In ' Haiku and the five senses'  it is stated that "The five main senses are some of the most important tools that we use to perceive the world...When you read a well written haiku you should be able to feel at least one or more of these senses." [Haiku and the five senses - http://dev.everydayhaiku.ca/haiku-and-the-five-senses/]

Well Done Cezar Florescu

Review by gillena cox; Founder/coordinator-Caribbean Kigo Kukai

View the full results HERE

The prompt for this kukai was flower