5th Annual Mukai Haiku Festival Winners
Mukai Farm & Garden is proud to announce the winners of the Mukai Haiku Festival 2024.
The festival received over a hundred haiku from twelve countries around the world. The prize winners and their haiku are below.
Thank you to each poet that submitted a haiku!
Mukai Haiku Festival 2024 Prize Winners
Category:
Heritage
First Place:
On Vashon Island
where our ancestors made home—
the strawberries’ scent!
Geoffrey Philp (Jamaica)
Second Place:
Spring at Mukai Farm
Cherry trees toss confetti
Offering their peace
Grace McRae (USA)
we who imagine
place in past & future tense
are weaving the world
Brit Myers (USA)
Category:
Nature
First Place:
smell of fresh-cut grass
all the carousel horses
run in slow motion
Cezar Ciobica
Second Place:
winter evening…
a blade of green grass
in a sparrow’s beak
Shiva Bhusal (Nepal)
Third Place:
the ongoing foot
of the slug — leaving me
glistening thoughts
Rick Clark (USA)
Category:
Reflections
First Place:
border checkpoint
I leave my past and shadow
behind the red line
Chen-ou Liu (Canada)
Second Place:
snow falling outside
gnocchi is drying inside
Mom’s big heart glowing
Renée Roman (USA)
Third Place:
recall from afar
fragrance of cherry blossoms—
facets of freedom
Monica Kakkar (India / USA)
Category:
Social Justice
First Place:
countless haiku now
written about sunflowers . . .
a war rages on
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams (USA)
Second Place:
begging refugee
in her plastic cup
so many drops
Beata Czeszejko (Poland)
censorship wearing sheepskin
save rainbow pages
Melinda Dubbs (USA)
Category:
Young Poets (Ages 1-12)
First Place:
The birds are singing
By the water in the woods
Playing hide and seek
Cedar Olson (USA)
Second Place:
The birds are chirping
The leaves are green and shiny
Shapes between the trees
Griffin Davies-Harkins (USA)
Skates swerve across ice
Crisp snow blankets piny trees
Winter has arrived
Ashley Schloss (USA)
Category:
Young Poets (Ages 13-18)
First Place:
strawberry season
I’m trying for the first time
my mom’s red lipstick
Teo Contac (France)
Second Place:
The water is blue
The blue is as still as stone
The stone all scattered
Axel Codd (USA)
patiently waiting
for the moment to tell her
my unsaid feelings
Eljohn Roque Santosildes (Philippines)
For all of the haiku submitted to Mukai Haiku Festival 2024, please click here.