Last Chance to Vote in the July 2022 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
heat
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 | 100 degrees the maternity ward out of ice chips | |
2 | a gentle breeze slides through the garden wrecked by the heat | |
3 | a melted visage of their former selves vintage wax manikins | |
4 | a monk’s nub end notes the stones heat | |
5 | a red mole below his right shoulder . . . the heat | |
6 | a sultry childhood crush malabar heat | |
7 | after swim goosebump skin on smooth sun-warmed boulder | |
8 | after the blaze the odor remains, trying to forgive | |
9 | afternoon heat shining even more your summer color hair | |
10 | all sweat and flow not in one swipe his peevish looks | |
11 | at my red bee balms the flutter of hummingbird wings — a gentle breeze | |
12 | Balloons full of anger — Cheeks of the young lady With a cheerful hat | |
13 | beauty cooling off under a willow — atsui desu ne | |
14 | blue sky summer . . . lovers kiss so faint they evaporate | |
15 | bonfire in all eyes the heat | |
16 | carefree childhood left with the burnt house her shelter life | |
17 | child’s pelvis looking for shade in the sand full of warmth | |
18 | cool morning the injection site still warm | |
19 | cool sheets a dog day’s mirage | |
20 | deep summer another bird drops out of the morning chorus | |
21 | desert heat a horntoad dashing from shadow to shadow | |
22 | dog days the cat barley elicits a yawn | |
23 | downtown “TENT CITY” — a triple-digit heatwave — we are losing us? | |
24 | dry heat . . . the slosh, slosh of the coconut | |
25 | endless heat wave — a couple kiss with ice cream lips on the courthouse steps | |
26 | Equal parts sticky A bead becomes a trickle Summertime sweating | |
27 | escaping the heat I see my breath in a winter poem | |
28 | Even flies cannot fly August wind | |
29 | even in this heat goldenrod is shivering | |
30 | evening heat . . . mom holds my hands one last time | |
31 | evening heat — voices filter through wet curtains | |
32 | extreme heat grabbing a cold beer can the oak tree shadow | |
33 | fire games — under the stars the heat of passion | |
34 | From the hot pavement children skip, hop on singed soles to the green, cool grass | |
35 | Full sickbay too hot for exercise summer camp | |
36 | Fynbos on fire Bulbs need heat to burn open Death and life cycle | |
37 | Grandma’s new glasses cooling her eyes rounds of cucumber slices | |
38 | Great bulky sunset Robed in shivering colors Sultry fiesta | |
39 | Great Salt Lake is dying — will the city choke on PM10 laced with arsenic | |
40 | heat advisory trespassing to swim at the quarry | |
41 | heat all over even cool cool mother’s lap | |
42 | heat breaks — morning dew lingers beyond sunrise | |
43 | heat index hitting 100 . . . a hawk circles again | |
44 | heat index zenith some thrive, others cook depending what zone built for | |
45 | heat is energy emanating from the sun golden hibiscus | |
46 | heat of the day a mosquito’s laboring buzz | |
47 | heat shimmers promise magic waits up ahead — you fall for it each time | |
48 | heat wave sleep too melts in a brain fade . . . | |
49 | heat wave — spotted dove landing on empty birdbath | |
50 | heat wave your lips taste of the sea | |
51 | heated debates of the lawmakers bullets keep raining | |
52 | heatwave neighbors open their doors | |
53 | heatwave — the resilience of a cicada | |
54 | heat-wave the smell of lemons burping in ice | |
55 | hot concrete the ins and outs of anthills | |
56 | hot exchange between grand parents winter morning | |
57 | hot flashes . . . this climate change inside me | |
58 | hot love between them although he works in the sun and she sits in the shade | |
59 | hot rock growing energy in the lizard lounge | |
60 | hottest summer going troglodyte | |
61 | how many meters to the lemonade the heat | |
62 | humid twilight on the swinging couch cat furs | |
63 | hypnotic heat — a cloud pulls closer to the sun | |
64 | I find my warm Spot on the steering wheel Often | |
65 | I hose down our roof with the siren howling Diablo winds | |
66 | I stroke the last rays of evening black cat | |
67 | in the heat of the moment words we can’t unsay | |
68 | in the heat the bougainvillea colours are killing . . . | |
69 | in the house the dogs continually pant the heat | |
70 | Indian Summer shimmering heat from cars blurring the world | |
71 | insomnia dog days night heat wave | |
72 | intense heat . . . listening to Vivaldi’s La Primavera | |
73 | it’s a dead heat — the human race versus its choices | |
74 | jazz nights her dance sizzzles | |
75 | jellyfish beached on a summer tide’s receding wave | |
76 | july’s swelter — shimmering through half-closed lids a new perspective | |
77 | lake lilies the red speckling dragonflies | |
78 | late the pace of fireflies after dusk heat shimmer | |
79 | lingering heat — grandma pulls from a well a bucket of sand | |
80 | long day . . . a buffalo rolling around in mud | |
81 | long hot walk water’s gone box canyon | |
82 | longest night already almost asleep mosquito | |
83 | Lovers consume hot coals of passion which slowly die | |
84 | Marble bench in the Versailles garden — the shadow saves us | |
85 | mascara on the pillowcase — sultry evening | |
86 | melting mountains — cyclones of different names year after year | |
87 | mercury climbing the retreating ice | |
88 | Miami Heat vs Boston Celtics excitement screaming defense | |
89 | midsummer the birdbath overflows with sparrows | |
90 | minnow flopping in a parched mud puddle . . . ceaseless cicada song | |
91 | mint lemonade quells the heat of this conflict | |
92 | mirage . . . I look at the nature of thirst | |
93 | moment of heat wish i were a shape-shifter | |
94 | Mr. Squirrel stretched across the birdbath make room for me | |
95 | night heat . . . the satin sweat of the moon’s halo | |
96 | no longer alone at first my fire smolders | |
97 | ochre earth tap’s drip drop fakes distant rain | |
98 | on heat decaying star | |
99 | on her forehead lingering heat from mother’s hand | |
100 | one hundred five across the Salt Lake Valley smoke lingers | |
101 | oppressive heat of the day grandpa wipes his furrowed brow white, cotton handkerchief | |
102 | parched earth the clank of another bucket joining the queue | |
103 | persistent heat finding a carved heart in the confessional | |
104 | red java apples rot and wrinkle by the heat fat maggots | |
105 | relationship at boiling point turn to low | |
106 | Relentless heatwave a dead house sparrow its mouth open | |
107 | scorch sizzle swelter planet too hot to handle global cool down dance | |
108 | scorched by the fire of separation a night before marriage | |
109 | scorching heat a cicada sings her shell away | |
110 | scorching heat her touch on my forehead the only coolness | |
111 | scorching heat — on pavement drawn a snowman | |
112 | sharing ice cream scarecrow and me | |
113 | she lets me smell through a million windows hot summer | |
114 | shimmering asphalt feral kittens in the shade of a dumpster | |
115 | shimmering hills an old sheepdog melts into shadow | |
116 | sidewalk chalk heat ignites summer games | |
117 | sizzling sound in the heat of the night cool jazz | |
118 | smoke alarm tester he’s so hot I glow | |
119 | smoldering vacuity suspended between structures a summer breeze | |
120 | soaring summer sun . . . the dog’s tongue grows longer | |
121 | sodden winter days warmth from my new library books and a teacup | |
122 | somniloquy I spend the summer with sleeping pills | |
123 | stifling day a homeless fans herself with cardboard | |
124 | stifling heat the dog and the cat lying beneath the ceiling fan | |
125 | sultry night a white noise lullaby of the fan | |
126 | summer afternoon shadows of cedars painted on a fan | |
127 | summer festival . . . on the sidewalk is his melted popsicle | |
128 | summer heat — a hummingbird drinks from the cupped leaf | |
129 | summer heat a mirage of women’s rights | |
130 | summer heat a refugee child sleeps under a wet dupatta* *dupatta is a long piece of cloth worn around the neck, head, and shoulders by women from South Asia. | |
131 | summer heat all the commuters stifle a yawn | |
132 | Summer heat and empty once again the bird bath | |
133 | summer heat first date in her high slit dress | |
134 | summer heat one thing leads to another | |
135 | summer heat the ice cream vendor hums a tune | |
136 | summer heat the lolling of two passion flowers | |
137 | summer solstice as is . . . if there is no sun then life is a mirage | |
138 | summer solstice — dad scratches his back with the hand fan | |
139 | sunburned under shaded oak tree cool breeze | |
140 | Sushi dipped into Soy sauce and wasabi heat Asahi chaser | |
141 | tabasco sun seasoning my skin | |
142 | texting you warmth goes from fingertips right into the heart | |
143 | the heat is on deniable no more | |
144 | the high Sun — our bodies can’t stop crying | |
145 | the march in the heat at the head an old woman in a wool suit | |
146 | the melted voice of the ice cream vendor summer heat | |
147 | the mown grass exhales — a hot night | |
148 | the shade hidden under a linden insolent joker | |
149 | the stillness of aspen leaves . . . heat wave | |
150 | Timbuktu 1000 — one more bottle thrown into the trunk | |
151 | time to move on we come out of the shade me and my shadow | |
152 | tomatoes dying for another iced tea | |
153 | trip in Africa at every distant mile a mirage shimmers | |
154 | walking into the heat of the sun on the Pennine Way | |
155 | warm ride home — coming home, even warmer | |
156 | We drink beer in the shade — strings of parasols | |
157 | welcome weight on a cold winter night feline hot water bottle | |
158 | With gentle brush strokes the sun paints in hue and tone a fresh new morning. |
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!
