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Last Chance to Vote in the April 2023 THF Monthly Kukai

This month’s theme:
egg

Voting closes for The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai tonight (the 24th) at midnight (east coast time). So make those final decisions and let us know whom you think did the best work this month.

Voting for The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai

Shortly after the conclusion of the submission period, an anonymous ballot comprising all submitted poems on that month’s theme will be posted to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) on the THF site. Any reader of this ballot is eligible to vote for their favorite poems at this time. A voter may vote for up to five (5) poems per theme. A top vote will receive 5 points, a second-place vote 4 points, a third-place vote 3 points, a fourth-place vote 2 points, and a fifth-place vote 1 point.

Please use the Kukai voting form below to enter your selections, and then press Submit to cast your votes. No other votes will be recognized or honored. All votes must be signed (that is, no “anonymous” votes will be accepted, and the Submit button will not be available until both Name and Email fields are filled in), and no poet may vote for his or her own work. No commentary upon the poems will be accepted or published. Votes will be accepted from the appearance of the ballot on the 18th of that month through midnight of the 24th of that month. Readers may vote only once per ballot. Administrators of the kukai are ineligible to vote.

Note: Anonymity is an essential part of any kukai. If you know who wrote the poem then that entry is no longer anonymous. Please respect the Kukai and do not vote for that entry.

The Ballot

 

1

      46 chromosomes
all
i will ever be

2

      a ceasefire rejected —
dropping the word Easter
from our egg hunt

3

      a crack
in her beliefs
painted eggs

4

a pair of robins
intent to raise
an eggs nest

5

a silent heartbeat
as the shell bursts open —
cosmic array

6

      a tiny hand
cradles the warm gift
Easter Egg

7

      a whipping wind
beats through egg whites
meringues for breakfast

8

addled egg . . .
she emerges
a black swan

9

all my eggs
in one basket —
fridge camera

10

an egg in the nest
we are waiting online for
an adult bird

11

      an egg within the fly
within the trout
within the pike

12

azure robin’s eggs
teaching my son
not to touch

13

      Beating, little heart
Fly precious, fragile, song
Blue bird break free now!

14

      big bang —
the universe hatched
from an egg

15

      bird lover
she likes to be called
a good egg

16

      black and white
a pair of eggs
in the empty nest

17

      block party
peeling back
the boiled balut

18

      boiled egg . . .
dilemma to abort
or not

19

Boiled egg on a sick day —
scent of mother

20

      broken egg shells
on the park alley
young birds learn to fly

21

      broken eggs —
lying on the grass
with a sore tooth

22

      broken yolk
on my plate . . .
canola rain

23

      candling the egg, first ultrasound

24

      can’t afford eggs
Cal-Maine’s profits septupled
eat their CEO

25

      caught
face to face
with egg

26

      collecting
some eggs
— IVF

27

      coloring
Easter eggs
hard-boiled joy

28

      Columbus egg . . .
we often don’t see
the semplicity

29

      crack of dawn
among the egg shells
first baby ducks

30

      cracked it . . .
egg first, then chicken
sunday menu

31

      cracked joke
in dad’s old 8mm film
an easter egg

32

      cracking up this concave world too small for me

33

      cradling
its future
the lark’s nest

34

      cuckoo’s egg
gently she touches the kick
of someone’s baby

35

      daddy’s hangover . . . waking . . . . . . to eggshells . . .

36

dark cool night
entertained by lightning flashes
on egg’s surface

37

      dealing with
being different . . .
chocolate egg

38

      dew drop on each thorn
sparkle in morning sunlight
four mockingbird eggs

39

      divorce
the eggs in the fridge
expired

40

      double yolk
I crack open
a haiku

41

      double-yolked egg
spring morning sun cracking into
my two windows

42

dunnock’s nest
an egg hatches
into cuckoo

43

early cracks
in the blackbird’s eggs . . .
warfare

44

easter egg hunt . . .
a little refugee
finds dinner

45

      easter egg
she learns how to be a sister
at forty-one

46

      Easter
hospital menu
egg of life

47

      Easter
last year’s lost egg
finally found

48

      egg
awaiting
to welcome the winner

49

      egg inside an egg
aztec aphrodisiac
oh! avocado

50

      egg on my face
spit on my boots —
where did we go wrong?

51

      egg or old chicken
in the night of silence
a question bothers me

52

      egg rolls mother’s happy face

53

      egg shells in the nest —
I’m hiding baby’s blanket
before she arrives

54

egg thawing —
her spring after
the chemo

55

      egg-white clouds . . .
the fragility
of pretty things

56

      eggs in the basket
praying for someone
i will never meet

57

      eggshell
after the chick
the stars

58

      Enduring question:
Which came first, chicken or egg?
I can’t answer that.

59

fading light
guarding Goshawk eggs
the colour of the moon

60

      fingers crossed
to bear first spring
the last broken eggs

61

first sandhill cranes running outside in my socks

62

      friends gathering
on their plates
balut

63

frozen eggs
made to order
. . . children

64

      funeral feast
the hardboiled eggs
of mourning

65

      gathering farm eggs
wary of rooster’s domain
mothers always tired

66

      germs —
sky and earth
to infinity

67

      good news!
in my womb
a piece of us

68

      Great nutrient for me. 
A source of power to be.
This egg gives me love.

69

      hair-thin shadows
echo a pale blue shell’s ode
to flame-breasted fate

70

      happens in a flash
love between rooster and hen
free range eggs

71

      Hard boiled I am but
your smile brings my sunny side
up, unscrambling me.

72

      hen’s dream
jumps in saucepan
boiling an egg

73

her bunnies
all in one basket
Easter Egg Hunt

74

      her remaining eggs
fewer than a dozen
perimenopause

75

      Here in the “night-sea”*
Me — life seed of birth waiting . . .
yearning for spring bliss

*Thinking of John Barth’s “Night-Sea Journey”

76

      holiday spirit
grandpa’s eggnog brimming
with bourbon

77

      home farm visit
a child points out we steal
from mother hens

78

honeymoon breakfast
ordering eggs
sunny side up

79

      house finches . . .
finding the last
egg by smell

80

      I am cracked open
Like an egg whose shell is tapped
Upon life’s rim

81

      I feel like an easter egg

82

      I left my heart in
all of our hidden spaces.
Little Easter Eggs.
My heart is in the keyhole,
the junk drawer and the garden.

83

      I see sky
the egg of love
breaks.

84

in her skin a different egg to mine

85

      in me
in my mother
the daughter I dreamed

86

kintsugi . . .
grains of pollen mending
the eggshells

87

      last boiled egg
he doesn’t know
I am in his city

88

lines mirror
thunder: worlds open
even in daylight

89

      long after the hunt
one plastic egg left
in the shed

90

      longing to breathe free
it pecks up at the curved shell
code for “let me out”

91

making up
they add eggshells
to the compost

92

      March whirlwind
settling within myself —
scrambled egg

93

      Moonlight blankets nest
Peck Peck Peck, cracking night
Wakes up the others

94

morning
a yellow smear
on an empty plate

95

      morning in the lake
a black heron takes its turn
of brooding the eggs

96

      morning soliloquy
cutting through it
my poached egg oozes

97

      moving her mouth
the warm brown scent
of easter eggs

98

      multi shaded
pastel eggs
possibilities

99

      my size 13s
walking on eggshells
tai chi class

100

night shift
the moon hatching
a cuckoo’s eggs

101

      no egg
chocolate cake
Happy Easter

102

old tiffin box
memories of
mom’s egg sandwich

103

      omelet
p p
i e
l d
f floored

104

      on the farm
mother chicken ignores me —
baking an omelette

105

      on the hen’s
footprints looking
for fresh eggs

106

      one blue card
between pastel eggs
— Passover

107

      one salted egg
saucing buttermilk biscuits
morning sun

108

      opening the egg
it’s weight and warmth
Easter morning

109

      orphanages
snapping all at once
the cuckoo eggs

110

      ostrich or quail egg
a generation within
hope of the future

111

      our first argument . . .
a hairline crack
on the eggshell

112

our spiral galaxy
at its center
spins an egg

113

pa’s backyard
the eggs of his chickens
warm in my hands

114

      painted egg —
above her little finger
gold dust

115

      painted egg
our dream remains
unhatched

116

      pancake sunday
practicing my one handed
crack

117

      Poached the egg
In the pan, seems like
Your brain, smile.

118

      postpartum . . .
the hollow
of a robin’s egg

119

      pregnant woman
removes warm eggs
from mother hen

120

price hike . . .
again poor mom replaces
egg with eggplant

121

      pros and cons list
the clink of her bangles as
she scrambles eggs

122

      pysanky —
in hope of
resurrection

123

      reconciliation
in my cupped hands
a fresh egg

124

red vein
runs through the cracked egg
needs no name

125

      red-spattered vulture eggs
my father decides
if they hatch

126

robin’s nest the blue in her eyes

127

rooftop nest
speckled shell
two floors below

128

      school lunch
a boy shares his egg
with the watchman

129

      silent gravel works
an egg moon hides
in every crater pool

130

Silken-wrapped captive
fighting against tight embrace
Emerge, butterfly!

131

      small spot
at the corner of her lips
Easter eggs

132

so much
depends upon you
my last egg

133

      sock drawer
finding a candy egg
from last year

134

source of life
for the dove and the snake
egg

135

speakers’ corner —
smashing into hot air
one good egg

136

      spring nesting —
a cowbird provides
the surprise ending

137

      spring reprieve
she slips a store-bought egg
beneath the old hen

138

      summer sizzle . . .
the temp required to fry
eggs on a sidewalk

139

sun likes his scrambled
planet peace too hard boiled
moon brings down the heat

140

      sunny side up
grateful . . .
for the good eggs

141

      suspended egg
the gibbous moon on a post —
Easter night

142

      

Symbol
of rebirth,
The perfect
egg could
kill me

143

      Symbol
of resurrection
an egg

144

      talking of eggs
to the chickens . . .
the dog listens

145

      test tube egg
a message in a bottle
we’ve been expecting

146

      that one-legg’d chick
— tho hatch’t from a crack’t egg —
still hops-n-pecks

147

      the blood stain
that is just another stain
broken egg

148

      the chicken or the egg —
all dilemmas end
on my plate

149

      The crack of dawn
scrambling
for the bus

150

      the look
in her eye
this egg
this time

151

      the nursery walls
painted eggshell white
still clean, still untouched

152

      the rooster’s wing dance . . .
chicks breaking through
their shells

153

      the world as an egg
with us inside
happy beginning of life

154

      this new product
with magical chick yolks — Ah!
wrinkles be gone

155

      this wish
to start again . . .
egg moon

156

three blue eggs
the scattered remains
of dad’s n

157

      thud
of the fallen egg . . .
autumn grief

158

      tracks in the sand —
the turtle hatchling’s journey
unfinished

159

Twilight dawns
Mother bird croons lullaby
To her eggs.

160

      Unfertilized egg
He holds me close to his heart
As emptiness stings

161

unfertilized eggs
angst of who what when and where
none over easy

162

      unhatched
another fried
egg

163

warm April rain —
the egg-shaped shadow
on the cat’s bed

164

      Warm shelter
Inside of a 360 degree
Umbrella

165

      Where from the chicken
from egg white or egg yolk
na me so atta

166

      which came first, chicken
or egg — like asking where
a circle begins

167

      white & yellow
my empty plate
in her loving gaze

168

wildflowers everywhere children foraging for Easter eggs

169

      winter chill
the warmth of the egg
in my palm

170

      years later
and still undecided
frozen eggs

 

Kukai Results

On the first day of the following month, results of the tally of the kukai will be announced. The top vote-getters as voted by readers will be posted, along with the number of points each poem tallied, and each poem’s authorship will be revealed at this time. Winners will be invited to select from a list of prizes provided by The Haiku Foundation. The theme for the new month will be announced at the same time, and the process repeated. Poems remain the copyrighted property of their authors, but The Haiku Foundation reserves the right to publish, display and archive all submitted poems for this and other purposes at its discretion.

Congratulations to all our participants!

 

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Ja ,już głosowałem ,dlaczego drugi raz.Tym bardziej ,że mój tekst ,nie jest zamieszczony w tej turze głosowania ,a w poprzedniej był:

    Jajko
    Wielkanocne w szpitalnym
    Menu nadziei

    egg
    Easter in the hospital
    hope menu

    Bardzo mi przykro!!!

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