Last Chance to Vote in the October 2025 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
eye
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 blink Captures An infinity | |
2 | a flight over the sea my gazing at her dark blue eyes | |
3 | a hermit’s prayer dissipates the mist of dawn third eye | |
4 | a mountain waterfall her gaze cascades along the page | |
5 | a protuberance eyed those passing by . . . knotty pine | |
6 | a threaded needle weaves through our lives captures memories | |
7 | a window to the soul — his lying eyes | |
8 | a yellow-eyed black cat my new roommate for Halloween | |
9 | afterglow — one eye open she’s choosing to stay | |
10 | all eyes a peacock stalks its next insect | |
11 | All Saints’ Day . . . in the pearly eyespot a glimpse of the gates | |
12 | all-seeing eye in abu’s hand a glimpse of home | |
13 | a̶n̶ e̶y̶e̶ for a̶n̶ e̶y̶e̶ ? | |
14 | an eye and an eye the hand-knitted teddy bear needs to have them both | |
15 | an eye for an eye reading the tea leaves I choose coffee | |
16 | and you’re the apple of my i | |
17 | Anxious moment. Dressing off, cataract gone — first light for new eye! | |
18 | apple of her eye I become my mother in the reflection | |
19 | arranged marriage the eyes of the young bride full of tears | |
20 | at last, this stillness . . . blue sky above the hurricane’s eye | |
21 | at the end of the wet beach trimming eyelashes | |
22 | autism meeting somewhere in the middle our eyes cross paths | |
23 | autumn equinox closing eyes to an eye for an eye | |
24 | autumn forest in the embers of the dying fire — the dragon’s eye | |
25 | autumn leaves the sun sets in mother’s eyes | |
26 | autumn sunset in the eye of a salmon — river spawning | |
27 | baby’s eyes rolling the world side by side | |
28 | behold, hungry koi gentle creatures gobbling a feast of goodness | |
29 | Beyond the binary a third eye winks | |
30 | big monkey and i with locked eyes in my hall the survival | |
31 | bird’s eye view — a speck of a human on planet earth | |
32 | blizzard wind the old tree squints its eye knots | |
33 | Blue aster eyes toss And bob on blustering winds. Hard frost by morning. | |
34 | blue eyes the monthly shots saving his sight | |
35 | blue eyes — fallen from the sky couple of tears | |
36 | blue iris in the sun in her eyes | |
37 | blurry eyes . . . the day slips laden with questions | |
38 | bride on his arm in his mind’s eye newborn covered in vernix | |
39 | bright world as If the sunrise begins within my eyes | |
40 | bulls⦿ young grass dancing over the fence | |
41 | by the cottage window me and the hummingbird eye to eye | |
42 | caged Crow the stoic eye a stone | |
43 | carried by the wind a firefly quivers — a tearful eye | |
44 | casting a spell . . . in the cat’s eye shimmering starlight | |
45 | cave painting prey in the hunter’s line of sight | |
46 | central eyed cyclops freshwater crustacean lacks an eye for an eye | |
47 | compost bin wrinkled spuds spurting eyes | |
48 | cor(e)nea(r) | |
49 | crater early Earth stares back | |
50 | dark eye of the poppy — grandad’s passing | |
51 | daunting eye of the crow, speak | |
52 | Deep dark water waits One eye mirrors the ship light A distant journey | |
53 | defying the necessity of harmony chameleon eyes | |
54 | dekko from storms to potatoes eyes have it | |
55 | dementia home — the parched gaze of homesick eyes | |
56 | Diwālī high . . . grandma giving me the side-eye (Diwālī is one of the major religious festivals in Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, celebrated in India and the diaspora.) | |
57 | dodecahedron all the faces staring at me | |
58 | drab drizzle a flicker of summer in the green of her eyes | |
59 | drawing my eye and heart to Him | |
60 | dreamy baby blues sexy alluuurrring women hot on a tin roof | |
61 | drifting refugees . . . nameless tomorrows pass from eyes to eyes | |
62 | driving in the dark — by the roadside skipping two shining cat eyes | |
63 | each night eight moons shine for you spider’s lullaby | |
64 | enchanted vision: you see secret messages everywhere you look | |
65 | evening light playing in my uncle’s eyes Parkinsons | |
66 | every Halloween a cyclops | |
67 | eye contact the weight of their last goodbye | |
68 | eye of the storm I leave blue sea glass behind me | |
69 | eye of the storm . . . the lash of rain to come | |
70 | Eye opens Sun peeking through The buttonhole | |
71 | eye patch and peg leg pirate parrot squawks aye aye cap’n | |
72 | eye see I the pupil and the student visionary | |
73 | eye shadow the comfort of his cover band | |
74 | eye to eye heart to heart body to body | |
75 | eye to eye through the looking glass the deer and I | |
76 | eye within screens her face seeking the truth | |
77 | eyes on phones the loneliness of crowds | |
78 | eyes closed stifled screams after the siren | |
79 | eyes filled with sadness limbs frail yet so heavy windless hang your sails | |
80 | eyes wide open the brown creeper i can’t see | |
81 | false calm Susanoo’s eye pauses splintered trees brace | |
82 | fear for me only in your blue eyes — still growing | |
83 | Fierce eyes on The butterfly’s wings — Please go away.. | |
84 | flat on the sill the trout’s eye an absence of rainbows | |
85 | fog collecting on my eyelashes — blurry waves | |
86 | frozen lake in midsummer my eyes | |
87 | graveside blue irises from your mother | |
88 | green eyes gleam sleek gray newt I stare back | |
89 | green shade — her closed eyelids wear smiles | |
90 | ground zero a hyena eyes the lion’s leftovers | |
91 | headlights ripples leave behind a trembling moon | |
92 | helix nebula turns into a dwarf star sharing its eyes | |
93 | her eyes pop open his tongue slips past red lips first kiss | |
94 | her eyes wrinkled smile behind the mask | |
95 | her open eye the curved blackness of space-time — beached whale | |
96 | his hugs always in my memories . . . with eyes closed | |
97 | hope flickers in the eye of the storm world leaders pull the strings | |
98 | hunter’s moon . . . the blind child listening out for silent drones | |
99 | I still see the sparks in your eyes when you look at me | |
100 | if only the daffodil could see duchenne smile | |
101 | immortality it’s the eye of the needle will you fit through it | |
102 | in musing a butterfly with its wings tight between Buddha’s stone eyes | |
103 | in search of light — piercing the darkness his blind eyes | |
104 | kaleidoscope a prism of colours in her tiny smile | |
105 | Lid slowly closes flirts | |
106 | Life nearing the end the view from her window playful squirrels | |
107 | lilac in the sun an iris shines deep into my pupil eye | |
108 | long-awaited rain blue sky drifts out the salamander’s eye | |
109 | looking into the eyes of my beagle . . . one last breath | |
110 | luminescent eye sways in the breeze as peacock struts by | |
111 | midday’s shadow — the eye of the well blinking hides the sun | |
112 | moonlit iris the clouds in her gaze | |
113 | morning crow . . . the kitten’s eyes rounder | |
114 | morning light rising from wrack a gull’s eye pupil | |
115 | morning sun catches the locket in my hand blinking back tears | |
116 | my eyes color blind see a different world | |
117 | needle’s eye . . . granny threads another memory | |
118 | new bride . . . her eyes tiptoe with the patterned skylight | |
119 | new leaves . . . mom’s eyes green again | |
120 | night sky I find a new star between my eyes | |
121 | no border. heart to heart. kitten’s eye. | |
122 | nobody cries for my childhood except the two blue eyes of my stuffed babe bird | |
123 | one eye test after another only negative space | |
124 | one eye laughs and the other tears . . . clown on stage | |
125 | one wonky eye a child falls in love with an unloved bear | |
126 | our eyes on the feeder she asks me if birds blink | |
127 | peacock butterfly on each wing not an eye just a lie | |
128 | peering into my heart I see darkness staring back at me | |
129 | Perseid meteors — in his eyes a universe unfolds | |
130 | poolside party a snapper’s stare from a bed of lettuce | |
131 | portrait your eyes escape the frame | |
132 | prayer time the smudge of an eyeliner | |
133 | ragweed haze as this Indian summer day ends seen through bleary eyes | |
134 | raising river from the gulmohar top a crow’s surveillance | |
135 | reaching for us storm’s circling eye decides other prey | |
136 | Rescue puppy’s eyes, fathomless deep brown pools, hold fear, fury . . . love? | |
137 | ring of gold within my mother’s eyes forget-me-nots | |
138 | river leaves the blue dawn in her eyes | |
139 | settling dusk the old duck’s blue eye | |
140 | Smashing Pumpkins song High school memories recalled Oh no: true love fades. | |
141 | Snowscape Leopard Blinks | |
142 | soap bubbles in the child’s eyes the sky | |
143 | soon the sunrise of her waking eyes | |
144 | speaking silence expressed in your eyes where tears well up | |
145 | spring shower the weight of a raindrop on an eyelash | |
146 | state fair the prize bull sizes us up | |
147 | stealing eye colour his iphone | |
148 | still pond the many eyes of a painted lady | |
149 | stink eye the voice in my head matching the look in the mirror | |
150 | sudden fanfare the seductive eyespots of a peacock | |
151 | Sun through the skylight, Enticing my inner self, Sparkle in my eyes. | |
152 | sunken eyes of the bare windows dementia ward | |
153 | sunrise — wedding florist stares in disbelief at frosted dahlias | |
154 | sushi bar the boy’s eyes on the roe | |
155 | swatting the fly, the cold stare of guilt | |
156 | taught to see beauty each day he does . . . even with cataracts | |
157 | the blue heron’s yellow piercing eyes a woman’s scorn | |
158 | the crow’s eye scanning my face after each treat | |
159 | the eye of grief rose colored | |
160 | the eye of the storm red leaves cling to the window | |
161 | the eye to see within leaves changing colours | |
162 | the lizard’s ebony pinhead eye — how does it see me? | |
163 | the only moving thing, the eye for an eye | |
164 | the street is empty leaves turning red and so my soul | |
165 | the windflower blooms — I dare not blink lest I crush it between my lids | |
166 | their panel now done each eye of its members left more open with tears | |
167 | those wide open eyes he looked up at the fall sky for the last time | |
168 | Through iridescent window what feared soul conjured by butterfly’s wings | |
169 | through the eye of her needle . . . threading hope | |
170 | tide pool from a different view eagle aerie | |
171 | today we see sky comes all the way to earth walking in sky | |
172 | tonight fireflies from your eyes fill city’s starless sky | |
173 | touch gleans earth first light follows the open eye | |
174 | vacant eyes back from the front strangers | |
175 | violet chrysanthemum through the bouquet my daughter’s eye | |
176 | watching it watching me red-eye moon | |
177 | weathered pier dragonfly and I eye each other | |
178 | wet drops crossing boundary of silent voices | |
179 | wet, dark stones — a tear in my eye rests on Mother’s grave. | |
180 | white-eye here and gone in a wink | |
181 | wind dried tempest tears cracked the lovelorn mango tree bloodshot eyes, still sea | |
182 | windfall pears something watching from the hedge | |
183 | winter dusk horse’s glassy eye full of stars | |
184 | With one eye on its mom rescued pup naps | |
185 | Yellow v Blue eye to eye with a currawong |
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!
