shroud

our last goodbye
pine trees shrouded
by the mist
--Cara Holman


abandoned chapel -
spiders weaving around Jesus
another shroud
--Cezar F. Ciobîca,Botoani, Romania


Cara's 'last' goodbye is jolting, the reader is startled into attentiveness; the finality of Line One is sharp and cutting; 'last' is a well used, better than say 'final'; and carrying much the same weight. This final adieu; is received in a scene of confusion, unexplained, just like the mist of Line Two encrouching upon the strong, supposedly evergreens, one looks to with an eternity kind of gaze; but even these are seasonly cut down, but such thoughts are not in fore front of the gazer. What compels, is its strength and length of days. Line Two, extends the preface of the opening Line, to tell a deeply emotive tale of finality, loss and confusion.

Yet again in Cezar's haiku, the phrase of Line One sets the pace; feelings of dessertion and loneliness are evoked, in the reader, and the theme continues in resonance, with activity only of spiders. There is at another level a story of cause and consequence; in abandoning our spiritual self, we place ourselves in darkness

Where Cara used juxtaposition, Cezar opted to resonance to bridge the ideas of fragment
and phrase into two profound,intense winning haiku.

Our kukai have found both these haiku worthy to share first place spotlight

Well done Cara, Well done Cezar
--gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/coordinator



The kigo for this kukai was shroud

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

high school graduation

graduation day
I fold my program
into a fan
--Cara Holman

A nice crisp ku, everything that needs to be intimated is there in capsuled; and as well, all that Cara wants to tell us is stated; one gets the feeling of a deliberately written haiku, not the ones you agonize over: too many syllables, too cluttered, too vague; none of these issues, it seems plagued the writer; much like the action in Line Two, was this graduation story executed.
I picture the persona seated, with an inherent sense of knowing as to the proceedings going on around of her; and a kind of sated state overwhelms her, a done deal in her mind. She vicariously contains it all and folds it into an artful elementary action.

Well done Cara
gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/co ordinator

In the past, hand fans were used not only as cooling instruments, but also as convenient communication devices, mainly for transmitting more or less furtive love messages.

The Theme for the kukai was 'high school graduation'

wedding bouquet

Shape, colour, maybe even fragrance; the writer does not specify, but memories are pictures recaptured in response to some stimulus. And here the widow is tapped and drawn into the peculiar, petals or the scent of a tiger lily to dance a memorable dance , her first dance. If this is any thing like a first love, those of us who have been smitten know, it never leaves you.

Kathy's sharing is of a response to a wedding bouquet, she shows us how the widow draws from her bouquet of experiences this select memory, her first dance. The new bride in the wedding presented, will too, have her first dance after the ceremony and carry with her a bouquet of cherished memories to continue the sequence of occurences. Some things sad, some things happy; memories are like that, specific and custom made and part of that wider wholesomeness.

Edward de Bono says of memories
"A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen."

Notice Kathy opts for the Long Short Long presentation in her haiku but does not stick to the Go-Shichi-Go syallable count

Well done Kathy
gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/co ordinator

The theme was wedding bouquet

blossoming

blossoming cherry trees
I ask the waiter
for a window table
--Marleen Hulst,The Netherland

When trees are blooming, our hearts are lifted in a special way. Here in the Caribbean its from green green to burst of colour. The particularly significant burst of pinks and yellows of the Poui are a delight to the busiest and the most unassuming, How could it not touch us. In Japan there is a whole culture of hanami, the gathering of friends and family groups to watch the cherry petals of the trees in bloom burst open, then sail with the wind as they fall. In short blossoming trees are part of our conscious approach to delightfulness.
Marleen in her haiku takes this aesthetic consciousness to the next level. The persona asks to be placed in a position of this sphere of delight, its important enough not to want to miss it, its important enough to want to be in that plane of delight as long as this phenomenon is happening. Her haiku structure is peculiar rather than generic, she opts for a 6-5-6 form rather than 5-7-5; she personalises the expression of consciousness and as well the haiku presentation. This haiku resonates two levels of satiety, in the trees she will be viewing, as she eats the meal that will be served to her. Its not just about happening, no; her ku is loaded with anticipation. And into this drama of cognizance of 'the yet to be realised' we are catapulted. The action of this haiku is subtle, but carries a heightened sense of reality.

Well done Marleen
gillena cox
Caribbean Kigo Kukai - founder/co ordinator

The kigo was blossoming