Last Chance to Vote in the March 2026 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
silver
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 few reflections from snout to curly tail hints of the past | |
2 | a flash of silver breaks the surface the splash of an osprey | |
3 | a glimmer beneath a sparkling surface the heron hunts | |
4 | a silver button dad never wore . . . day moon | |
5 | a silver note from the wind chimes spring breeze | |
6 | a silver quarter under my pillow tooth fairy | |
7 | a summer sky full of silver streaks . . . conspiracists field day | |
8 | after chemo — her silver ring loose | |
9 | after the frost — the river stitching its silver wound | |
10 | alone after chemo — the bowl where her wedding ring waits | |
11 | among her silver hair waves lies an ocean of golden days | |
12 | an old man crossing the road — three-quarter moon | |
13 | at summer camp playing taps years ago my silver bugle | |
14 | autumn loneliness . . . every cloud has a silver lining | |
15 | awning flaps in rain each drop bursts into silver sidewalk puddles dance | |
16 | birthday again yielding the gold to silver | |
17 | blue-green moss blooming in the bark of the silver maple | |
18 | borrowed book a silverfish bookmark | |
19 | braiding silver with the dark . . . early autumn | |
20 | bridal boutique — silver threads of the spider’s web | |
21 | buried under breathless stones silence jingles | |
22 | cat licking himself silver scales everywhere — shattered aquarium | |
23 | catching a sliver of the silvery moon A spider’s web | |
24 | chalk brush duty the wind gives her salt and pepper hair | |
25 | Clair de Lune I only have a silverfish to waltz with | |
26 | classroom map — pricking a fresh pin into Iran | |
27 | cold moon the taste of silver in the milk | |
28 | County Line Produce depending on the harvest of their Silver Queen corn | |
29 | currency for travel common cents | |
30 | dark lough a glistening path of silver beckons | |
31 | Dark skies all the day thinning just before sunset. Silver through the grey. | |
32 | desert wind a camel’s bell glints silver | |
33 | despite dark despair silver sliver in black night miracle prevails | |
34 | dining together in silver plate his in-laws’ gift | |
35 | disco ball spinning life away | |
36 | discovered last spring objects nest on the ground not gold — silver | |
37 | doors closed the ferryman calls last orders | |
38 | drying nets — silver fish scale on the oar | |
39 | early spring — the silver crown of the trees passing to mother | |
40 | eelgrass bed silvered outline a soldier’s dream | |
41 | empty park . . . skate marks in moonlight | |
42 | end of vacation our daughter switches silver to gold | |
43 | evening mist the silver traces of spiderwebs | |
44 | family silver gone with the wind a thinning dandelion | |
45 | filling station my name in nickel silver prickly pear cupcake | |
46 | fishing the shallows . . . a silver light leaps into itself | |
47 | floral buzz as quick as quicksilver a bumblebee | |
48 | For thirty pieces He sold his immortal soul Dawn brings Redemption | |
49 | from one star to the next silver feather | |
50 | frost silvered roof turning black as light rises | |
51 | full moon the silver glint of a tossed coin | |
52 | full moon — in the fountain of whispers rusty coins gleam silver | |
53 | funeral a silver-gray squirrel steals the show | |
54 | gaping windows cry silver tears over dark streets only ghosts remain | |
55 | giant Worm Moon — the fisherman’s empty net silver filled | |
56 | glints of silver her hair is her fortune wisdom with age | |
57 | Glistening of light — Silver moonglow in dark night Calling Earth’s creatures | |
58 | glitter to match her gown — shimmering silver | |
59 | golden anniversary silver hair and memories of young love | |
60 | gran’s voice the silvery blue of snowlight | |
61 | Grapes of Wrath in-box dinner for silverfish classic plate | |
62 | Hair sparkles silver Claiming age As it’s greatest prize | |
63 | her golden hair turned into silver but price of the years rose | |
64 | her gray hair and wrinkled face — love lasts | |
65 | her hair is silver to me she’s gold . . . mother | |
66 | her silver curls the winter of existence a blazing fire within | |
67 | Her silver hair graced a youthful woman displaced ’til grief was erased. | |
68 | heritage farmstead a silver spoon in the root cellar latch | |
69 | hi-yo Silver away take me back to yesteryear Kemosabe | |
70 | high fashion the vacant gaze of a silver fox | |
71 | high-rise glass windows quicksilvered by winter sun | |
72 | his ring on the dresser the smell of rain before rain | |
73 | holding the shape of you now on my finger your silver ring | |
74 | icy pool top silver choreography light | |
75 | in laboratory he doses a slide with a mist of silver | |
76 | in the mirror the first golden leaves and the first silver hair | |
77 | Judas’ silver coins — stock charts are falling war is on | |
78 | king number running he overtakes the second — silver | |
79 | kissing the moon — yellow-silvery the quince in the window | |
80 | laughing mountains — the silver dewdrops tell the truth | |
81 | liquid stars descend dripping in the air | |
82 | March moon night in the silver rain we build a chiaroscuro of dreams | |
83 | medieval payment intricate fleur-de-lis with Gold accents | |
84 | melting into the placid pond silver moonbeams | |
85 | mom’s hair silver falls hanging in full sun | |
86 | moonlight — a snail’s trail to the horizon | |
87 | mossy patch — with every push of the snail its silver lengthens | |
88 | mother’s cupboard — one anklet gone dark | |
89 | moving day — we leave our initials in the silver birch | |
90 | mum’s silver watch long since stopped quietly ticking | |
91 | My inner self lives Strongly ln darkness breathing Silver threads of light | |
92 | new moon her old silver skates in lamp light | |
93 | Night gardens glisten — Moonlight finds all who are lost Angels in full bloom | |
94 | night in the park under her summer hat his silver tooth | |
95 | no longer the need for pretence or polish fingers before forks | |
96 | nostalgia — rubbing tarnish off the silver-plated wedding tray | |
97 | ocean glimmers surface shimmers schools of one thousand | |
98 | old attic chest puddles of wedding dress silk and silverfish | |
99 | old cutlery lots of patina needs cleaning | |
100 | old library the silverfish and I drunk on biblichor | |
101 | old love letter — scurrying around her name a silverfish | |
102 | peeling birch bark curls of sun | |
103 | petrol crisis in the morning a new silver hair | |
104 | Piercing Silver Lake Water silking across skin . . . embraced by past lives | |
105 | platinum sky — Japanese willows silver the wind | |
106 | pure rich silver yarn she embroiders gowns — her head hanging by a thread | |
107 | purple dusk the double sink earns a new dent | |
108 | quicksilver . . . sliver of the sky supping Silvery Blue | |
109 | Ramadan moon — the glint of a Gazan’s plate | |
110 | red moon — does not seek the lost in the night of darkness | |
111 | she dyes her silvers . . . he doesn’t Why must women hide? | |
112 | shy moon — flirting cloud unveils silver smile | |
113 | silk strands here, there and everywhere — trail blazing our way to heaven | |
114 | silver the lining has retired | |
115 | silver wedding anniversary teardrop on a chain | |
116 | silver anniversary — our old beer mugs hold roses | |
117 | silver clouds . . . a dream dropped into the bucket list | |
118 | silver coin drops in a pool full moon reflects | |
119 | silver coins in an empty tin the warmth of strangers | |
120 | silver fox, they say I’m just old with hair but thank you | |
121 | silver gibbous moon mom makes peace with my second-place prize | |
122 | silver icon — on the Virgin’s hand a lipstick trace | |
123 | Silver light Valley — moonshine everything but my inner heat . . . | |
124 | silver lining clouds disappear into the spring dawn | |
125 | silver locket — the treasured picture untarnished | |
126 | silver maple leaves palm side up catching raindrops | |
127 | silver moon — for thirty pieces selling god | |
128 | silver palmed in every ripple dream river | |
129 | silver raindrops fall . . . puddles dance beneath small feet and laughter skips along. | |
130 | Silver shadows Streaming across the sky Hiding red moons | |
131 | silver spoons still holding her spiraling prints | |
132 | silver strands in the hairbrush — a life well lived | |
133 | silver threads decorate my daughter’s hair . . . our growing bond | |
134 | silver threads in the morning light the spider repairs its web | |
135 | silverberries moonlight heightens the stillness | |
136 | silvered hair time’s flow, trickling down waterfall | |
137 | silvered moonlight the braided streams of Mount Denali | |
138 | silverfish no silver no fish | |
139 | silvery birch branches shimmer under the pearl moon | |
140 | sinking into silver reed shadows | |
141 | smooth patina a lifetime brushing through auntie’s hair | |
142 | snail scribblings In silver | |
143 | soft silvery down . . . the ellipsis of spring: pussy willow | |
144 | spring — all the little soil creatures are spinning straw into silver | |
145 | spring breeze sound of the silver bell bidding farewell | |
146 | spring cleaning my Mee-Maw’s silver to polish | |
147 | spring light rolling over the sea a silver moon | |
148 | spring sun the silver lining waves in the sea | |
149 | sun strikes metal light from streamwater | |
150 | thalassemia unavoidable silver needle hundredth time | |
151 | The day is over Rumble! Such Strange September Silver cloud see-ding | |
152 | the dusty holes of father’s harmonica . . . sparse universe | |
153 | the geese return, a silver ornament in the hospital yard | |
154 | the glint off a dime as she uncurls her fingers Easter offering | |
155 | the hills I’ve climbed the birds unseen flecks of silver | |
156 | the Moon: reminder of our missed membrane silver veil swaddling stars and dreams | |
157 | the Pelican’s sudden plunge startles silver fish | |
158 | the silver badge still shining on the coffin | |
159 | The silver tray on Grandma’s buffet, that turned my tooth into a dime. | |
160 | the sprinter and the silver in the catch-up game | |
161 | the wind — the whitecaps we turn our kayaks around abrupt awakening! | |
162 | The winter morning hugs a field of silver frost here the sparrows whisper | |
163 | their twenty-fifth the tableware polished bright as the first night | |
164 | thread of moon — grandmother mending torn memories | |
165 | tinsel emerges in spring snowmelt bling for the robin’s nest | |
166 | to the bar to get silvered lacquer all the broken vessels | |
167 | twilight silver a hoot pierces the shadows night clouds | |
168 | under the silvery sky — tuberose wafting allure in the moon garden | |
169 | unpolished silver the bones in her fingers show through | |
170 | unpredictable — the spontaneity of mercurial moods | |
171 | Venus at dawn — perhaps one last drop of the Milky Way | |
172 | war news in mom’s hand a silver star | |
173 | wedding silver their vow to love the tarnish | |
174 | whitish glitters but it’s me who builds the world | |
175 | wind-silvered grass — nothing to prove | |
176 | winter aspens silvering the sky | |
177 | Wooden carriage moving, Carries a silver ore — Alley men watching. | |
178 | wriggling in a beak a strip of silver | |
179 | you in a Bugatti cuts in front a silver Toyota |
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!
