Last Chance to Vote in the March 2024 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
orange
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 | a boat loaded with oranges on the river — winter sunset | |
2 | a boring afternoon the little boy is juggling with three oranges | |
3 | a clown fish dart among sea anemones coexistence | |
4 | a million mini suns bursting through the orange grove | |
5 | A red kite spirals rides the sky with outstretched wings menace in the air feathers fanned and orange eye catching tiny shards of sun | |
6 | A semi-circle of tangerines . . . pretending to be cushions in a harem. | |
7 | a slice of sunlight the scent of sweet orange uplifting my heart | |
8 | a smaller slice of orange Gaza sunset | |
9 | a summer sunset — on the cocktail glass rim a slice of orange | |
10 | A T-shirt and a juice with my daughter, both her favorites. | |
11 | Adagio lights sun moon ring red madder repose. Secretly alchemy whisper. Tastes sounds light touches. Oranges fey succulent delectable death | |
12 | after the act the prostitute peels an orange | |
13 | against the green an apricot . . . no red . . . not yellow | |
14 | Agent Orange — making friends with all the dictators | |
15 | all day fishing not a nibble we gorge on goldfish crackers | |
16 | Amber leaves dance, Autumn’s brush paints in gold, Orange whispers fade. | |
17 | an orange in my olive tree king parrot | |
18 | an orange cloud looms on the horizon — sunset or wildfires? | |
19 | an orange orb drops into the sea a flash of green eludes me still “Patience” murmurs the sea | |
20 | Another child born Amidst tears of joy and gasps Agent Orange | |
21 | another long-drink smiling lonely the orange slice | |
22 | après ski justifies the ski — soup flies from an orange tray | |
23 | Autumn interlude . . . migrating birds drink in a pumpkin-spiced moon | |
24 | autumn leaves blaze o r a n g e r | |
25 | billy collins begs to differ — door hinge | |
26 | bitter orange — I wonder how long your anger will last | |
27 | bitter oranges — in the fall we remember our first time | |
28 | blazing orange sky extinguished by the sea melds into waves | |
29 | blazing sunrise — a hooded oriole perches in reflection | |
30 | blood orange the taste not at all gory | |
31 | blue moon rising complementary colour super satsuma | |
32 | bomb crater a lone crocus blooms | |
33 | Buddha Day the monks pray in front of the plants | |
34 | capping our sunset sail orange blue moon | |
35 | Ceduna sunset all the colours of orange | |
36 | childhood memories . . . the orange cake by mum for my birthday | |
37 | childhood summers the extra tang of stolen oranges | |
38 | Christmas moon inside the persimmon a bright shining star | |
39 | Clockwork Orange — the time is coming | |
40 | compassion — blooming in a vase the orange tulips | |
41 | conch whispers for a moment the ocean is part of mine | |
42 | conflict-torn town — dripping from fabricated roofs liquid orange flames | |
43 | Cool breeze Orange colour sky Sunset | |
44 | cuckoo song — in the robin’s nest an orange beak wide-open | |
45 | cult night on tv — just a lady in a little black dress with her ginger cat | |
46 | daylight savings the last blood orange bleeding out | |
47 | desert kiln fires orange peels | |
48 | disappearing railroad tracks burnished orange by the setting sun | |
49 | Eating an orange In orange prison jump suit As the sunsets orange. | |
50 | election year seeing orange till i’m blue in the face | |
51 | english channel beach another migrant lifejacket trapped in the undertow | |
52 | ennui — bottom of the bowl an orange gone soft | |
53 | evening calm — on the patient’s nightstand orange segments | |
54 | fading from grandmother’s memory the orange blossoms | |
55 | feral a family of calicoes watch the sunset | |
56 | festivities over a hint of clementine lingers | |
57 | fifty cents an hour a bracero takes home an orange | |
58 | fighting over an orange refugee children | |
59 | first bite of the apricot sunrise | |
60 | first mating calls of robins — zesting the orange | |
61 | first orange of the new year rising sun | |
62 | first time by the old orange tree blossoming | |
63 | fresh orange it slides after a working day | |
64 | freshest scent aside from spring rain — newly peeled orange | |
65 | full moon strippeding an orange for her birthday | |
66 | galvanized hay barn dazzles with orange sunburst — recycling old days | |
67 | giant persimmon amid the bare branches — misty sunset | |
68 | golden hour squirrel’s tail tangled in pumpkin vines | |
69 | Grapefruit is the name of the clown in the pediatric oncology ward | |
70 | graphite gray furrows salmon orange ridges perfectly plowed sunset | |
71 | harvest — playing catch with a butternut squash | |
72 | he squeezes the toe of his Christmas stocking an orange again | |
73 | heat warning — the forecaster wears an orange dress | |
74 | hen run towards baby hanging close to her breast a chick and orange | |
75 | high temps for winter — another wildfire | |
76 | holding memories lone orange shell gathers dust | |
77 | homegrown oranges — the apricity touched my citrusy palm | |
78 | hot rays of February sun sparkle on blue pink yellow green orange sequins Taylor Swift concert goers | |
79 | hovering lightly above bright orange pistils rapid wings delight | |
80 | hues of orange a love language of red and yellow | |
81 | In a golden dawn Ships a-sail toward the land An orange progress | |
82 | in bloom the curve of a tulip traces her hips | |
83 | in homeland the sun is still shining like an orange | |
84 | in the orange grove we kiss lips full of zest | |
85 | in the red jumping orange from teenage | |
86 | into the sunset . . . an orange ball skates on thin ice | |
87 | juicy fingers . . . the child learns to peel ripe persimmon | |
88 | laughters and grimace the picked forbidden fruit was a bitter orange | |
89 | leaving a calendula for her the crow she nursed | |
90 | Longing for scent of bitter oranges people in bombed land | |
91 | lost in forest — orange track marker seen through undergrowth | |
92 | lowering sun . . . he holds the orange peel to his eye | |
93 | March fantasy orange blossoms, a delicate scent lingering love | |
94 | menopause . . . nothing changes under the orange-peel skin | |
95 | mid-winter a whiff of the tropics as I peel my orange | |
96 | missing matching shoes and lipstick winter puffin | |
97 | Mix together two Vibrant colors like the sun Making something new. | |
98 | mixed colors bright yellow and tinges of tangerine morning sky | |
99 | Monks in matching robes Greet morning light A blaze of orange | |
100 | monks walk at peace In their meditation — orange robes | |
101 | moon bright, shiny in my palm unpeeled orange | |
102 | Morning light On her side of the table A peeled orange | |
103 | naked flesh syrup drips like blood murder scene | |
104 | near rhyme within range of orange | |
105 | not a breath in the orange windsock — still the kestrel soars | |
106 | not feeling guilty for global warming orange equinox | |
107 | Not primary Not binary In Wow between | |
108 | ochre moon: low-hanging fruit | |
109 | old age the bright colours of sunset | |
110 | old age home the caretaker picks a ripe orange | |
111 | orange juice flowing sweet kiss | |
112 | Orange that final shade of maturity . | |
113 | Orange trees grow wild Florida | |
114 | orange — spring flowers reflexion | |
115 | Orange — sun captured dew drops | |
116 | orange blossom sweet tall mountains in the distance spring has arisen | |
117 | orange bottle tossed on a green sea where to from here | |
118 | orange crescent drowned in the lake universe in a glimpse | |
119 | Orange delight — In a Christmas stocking. Somewhere a child smiles. | |
120 | orange glow along the lake shore her heart thawing | |
121 | orange glow how father loved to watch sunset | |
122 | orange hat . . . sunshine follows her around the garden | |
123 | orange oranges could be other way sometimes, somewhere | |
124 | orange peel in one strip she slips out of dress | |
125 | orange peel with sugar mom’s diary | |
126 | orange peeling my eyes on the monkey’s acrobatics | |
127 | orange peels staying on the crow’s good side | |
128 | orange robes she tells me about the baby with his other love | |
129 | orphanage . . . the sun fondles the baby in the cradle | |
130 | Osage orange stain on my fingers sunspots | |
131 | outlining the stories we share orange traffic cones | |
132 | painted storks the orangish expanse in the sunrise | |
133 | peeling an orange in the sun my ski jacket off | |
134 | peeling his hunger an orange | |
135 | peeling an orange all those sweet moments with my mother | |
136 | peeling orange her first pregnancy nonuplets | |
137 | peeling oranges . . . the thought after an afterthought | |
138 | Perseids . . . the orange orchard she never had | |
139 | pie in the sky for each refugee child a slice of orange | |
140 | pink orange scarlet streaking fill morning’s sky rosy fingered dawn | |
141 | playing make believe a child lost in fantasy in the orange trees | |
142 | promises of peace peeling a blood orange with one hand | |
143 | racemes of orange race into the veranda — La Niña daybreak | |
144 | Receding at 7, The biggest I’ve ever seen — This “eye of heaven.” | |
145 | red-orange sky a titmouse’s tiny tweet says goodnight | |
146 | reflection of setting sun in granny’s eyes | |
147 | refugee camp — an orange passes from hand to hand | |
148 | roadkill — the pumpkin falls from the truck | |
149 | roadside ditch bunches of free day lilies a copperhead | |
150 | rows upon rows of Seville oranges bitter sweet memory | |
151 | saffron-robed the child monk plays hopscotch | |
152 | scent of orange deep in the clouds his first steps | |
153 | sharing an orange in front of the sea twinkling fragrance of sunset | |
154 | she digs her nails into the orange peel . . . his excuses | |
155 | shimmering in glass pigment, ink seeking release waiting for spring bloom | |
156 | shop orange pyramid bumping the base trudge to Giza | |
157 | Sicily — oranges peeking out among the brambles | |
158 | sleek orange fur our ginger cat called Brownie | |
159 | smoky orange their old carpet like the sky | |
160 | southwest inferno human error not climate change | |
161 | spring flowers — a butterfly dipping his wings in the orange sun rays | |
162 | spring sunrise greets us like a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice | |
163 | springtime mosaic reds and yellows melding orange tulip field shimmers | |
164 | startling uncle’s henna-dyed beard now burnt orange | |
165 | street trees in flames cars trailing long shadows — golden hour commute | |
166 | Summer coolers Sugaring the edge off summer Sticky sweet smiles | |
167 | summer holidays discovering childhood in marigold fields | |
168 | sun ripens unbagged fruit her orange lips | |
169 | sun tan lotion on orange skin to mask sun tan lotion | |
170 | sunrise surprise two yolks each in both eggs | |
171 | sunrise to sunset an orange-robed mask smiles the same smile | |
172 | sunset glows in the reflecting pool — Aperol Spritz | |
173 | sunset orange horizon intense green over headlands shading upward to zenith blue. | |
174 | sunset sky orange peel in my cocktail | |
175 | sweet sunset sinking in a beach bonfire’s glare — chill late-summer nights | |
176 | tangerine | |
177 | tangerine puddle the stare of a wheelchair child | |
178 | temple moon — scent of marigolds in every prayer | |
179 | The beauty of her face He was never this bright Oranges on the table | |
180 | the color orange blares my Pacific Ocean pointing me to home | |
181 | the orange where the sun come spend the winter | |
182 | the orange you left in the icebox so cold & sweet | |
183 | the orange decade every photo — an orange hue the seventies | |
184 | The orange falls further than the apple. | |
185 | the remembrance of your blush a poem’s orange city lights first teenage love | |
186 | the sun’s orange flares shreds of heat litter the lawn mid-summer mid-noon | |
187 | vernal equinox the earth is still blue like an orange | |
188 | vine-covered limestone orange honeysuckle walls fragrance waterfall | |
189 | watching wandering stars — tommy orange | |
190 | we still remember the glow of her orange dress in the cool distance | |
191 | western clouds share the sunrise for just a moment | |
192 | wet on wet orange and blue a rainbow’s end | |
193 | wildfires the night sky crackling orange | |
194 | window frost wrapped in wax paper the last orange | |
195 | winter persimmons the painting keeps them in season | |
196 | winter sunset the scent of tangerine fading fast |
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!
