Last Chance to Vote in the September 2022 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
sunset
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 crimson sun colors the lilies . . . Easter Eve | |
2 | A Day dies in a symphony of color and light. | |
3 | a golden sunset slips gently into tomorrow | |
4 | a summer sunset the woman slowly turns gray over her child’s grave | |
5 | across the pond last light fades a duck sleeps in the reeds | |
6 | all the reds in a sunset — you refuse to move in with your daughter | |
7 | almost sunset our joint tax returns in the shredder | |
8 | alpine sunset — starting to feel like fall | |
9 | amber falls warming the earth for night | |
10 | another ending this scarlet sky almost painful | |
11 | another last look out the rear windshield the shrinking sunset | |
12 | another sunset the old age home echoes silence | |
13 | arabesque of vines entwine a Jackson Pollock twilight splashes praising grapes | |
14 | around the corner another great performance my sunset is yours | |
15 | As day leaves the sky one tiny sun-suffused cloud lights the birds’ farewells | |
16 | at the violet hour I give in to infinity | |
17 | august heat heavy as sundown | |
18 | autumn dusk — five geese fly over water disappear | |
19 | autumn dusk my expectations as low | |
20 | autumn equinox . . . sun hides behind a tombstone | |
21 | autumn sunset at the lifeboat memorial a whirlpool of leaves | |
22 | autumn sunset colors their faces at the funeral | |
23 | autumn sunset the doctor shows him her faces | |
24 | autumn sunset . . . we dine in silence | |
25 | autumn the sunset becomes a season | |
26 | azure sunset on the ferry crossing her head in her book | |
27 | backwater cove . . . an old man fishes out a bit of sunset | |
28 | Beach sunset strolling sands, holding hands. | |
29 | beach sunset we become our shadows | |
30 | blurry sunset as my life sometimes — I miss my love | |
31 | bopping on the waves a golden sail at sunset young boy coming home | |
32 | Bullseye brilliance slipping to the bottom of a dark humdrum | |
33 | Cicadas ebb and flow echo spreads among the trees — swaying with rhythm | |
34 | clouds at sunset . . . all the places we promised to visit | |
35 | Comes the eruption Hues of orange-red engulf Today’s memories | |
36 | corn harvest glowing in stripes of sunset | |
37 | Cotton candy colors I wish I could eat the clouds Go to bed hungry | |
38 | crimson glow a gentle reminder . . . her idle moments | |
39 | crimson leaves curtsy above Westminster Abbey her last fascinator | |
40 | day ending mopped the floors glowing finish | |
41 | daylight exits burning palette for new season | |
42 | December sunset on the highest bare branch a cardinal looks west | |
43 | desert sunset a communion of stars in the silence | |
44 | Divine Mother Kali on the horizon her wild red tongue | |
45 | driving at sunset scent of cow shit dances on the spring breeze | |
46 | dusk cloud entering his dream of her | |
47 | each sunset — a bookmark to end my day | |
48 | early autumn — all the colors of sunset in a wine blend | |
49 | end of summer the widow turns her chair too to the west | |
50 | evening encounter shades of purple and orange his swollen eye | |
51 | evening sky a last hint of red on her lips | |
52 | evening walk pink sunset binds my legs | |
53 | eventide a swatch of sunset colors setting the sea on fire | |
54 | Fading day light more graceful; vibrant man reaches twilight years . . . | |
55 | fading sun . . . the desires I once had | |
56 | fiery rays stab the dusky sky sailors delight | |
57 | first frost my eyelids dropping with the sunset | |
58 | for a moment the dipping sun in her eyes | |
59 | glowing skies farewell the dying day melancholy | |
60 | half light blackening jasmine’s heavy scent | |
61 | he sweeps a path through his shadow autumn sunset | |
62 | horizon sun her dog awaits at the house gate | |
63 | hues till dusk prepare a world whose energy wanes Regeneration | |
64 | I’m the beaten path who should sunset this marriage Autumn’s trail flutters | |
65 | into the sunset — dropping Dad off at the nursing home | |
66 | just before sunset the sky over the graves is the most beautiful | |
67 | last quarter the sun sinks through my basketball hoop | |
68 | last turn sunset stretches a cockatoo’s wings | |
69 | late summer sunset . . . plump grapes oozing memories | |
70 | London rests, Golden hour Raise a glass! | |
71 | Look up from eating: behind pines on top of dune, red sun descending. | |
72 | migrating birds . . . all the truth about sunset | |
73 | more colours than I expected autumn sunset | |
74 | my grandson in silhouette saffron sunset | |
75 | my kitty sitting in late evening sunlight too old to stand | |
76 | nightfall . . . the whispered words in her doll’s ear | |
77 | not on my watch sunset | |
78 | painting the town red on the last day of summer a smoky sunset | |
79 | Perpetual eve Sunflower tints thwart the shore Sky drapes in saffron | |
80 | pink sunset the hedgerow quiets with crickets | |
81 | red sky at night sailors delight or evening dust storm | |
82 | red sun drops in the slot of the sea smuggler paid | |
83 | red sunset the alluring shades of a new day | |
84 | Reflect off water Bounce into my eyes and spark The coral presence | |
85 | retired sun papa and my walks a bag of peanuts long | |
86 | ridge top a sinking sunset seesaws the moon | |
87 | ripe sunset the child picks up an orange from the bowl | |
88 | romantic inspiring Instagrammable | |
89 | saffron sunset the clouds lining their pockets with gold | |
90 | scarlet lake the assassin creeps behind a hill | |
91 | sea at sunset I don’t see anymore my shadow | |
92 | sea mushroom — in the stem of his hat a floating couple | |
93 | setting by the shore orange sun reflects its weariness | |
94 | setting sun I own being alone | |
95 | Setting sun — The lone tomato turns gold. | |
96 | shimmering salmon scales the sunset surfaces again and again | |
97 | shiraz sky fractured through a filigree — of budding willow | |
98 | sinking sun the things we lost in-between | |
99 | skid row sunset the hustle and bustle of soup kitchen staffers | |
100 | sky ablaze scattering embers pale to stars | |
101 | slowing the more I watch it summer sunset | |
102 | slowly relinquishing its territory owl-light | |
103 | smiling faces the sun sets on how it used to be | |
104 | spring sunset still looking for a blood donor | |
105 | summer breeze the sunset on the one-way street | |
106 | Summer cicadas I sit watching the pink fade From the sunset clouds | |
107 | summer end a monarch settling among the stars | |
108 | Sun sets, so moon can rise | |
109 | sun spots — the horizon at sunset shattered dreams | |
110 | sundown already longing for sunrise | |
111 | sundown in time, he rakes all of his shadow | |
112 | sundown the sickroom blinds stay open | |
113 | sunrise sunset all the lives we live in between | |
114 | sunset a bittersweet birthday cake you’d adore | |
115 | sunset an elderly couple clasping hands | |
116 | sunset clouds — the canvas in the process of soaking magenta | |
117 | . . . sunset dawdling on this path halfway through | |
118 | sunset . . . daylight settles in the camera’s lens | |
119 | sunset — goldfish dart in a koi pond | |
120 | sunset hues penetrating through his letter foreign sepia memory | |
121 | sunset hurrying the footprints in the snow | |
122 | sunset in Nashville go for a walk evening mists | |
123 | sunset in the park the pale king runs out of squares | |
124 | sunset — knowing I’ll never see you again | |
125 | sunset my boyish eye fleeing towards you | |
126 | sunset — my phone battery is low | |
127 | sunset . . . nothing left to say except goodbye | |
128 | sunset . . . our animosity on lockdown | |
129 | sunset reflected within my empty wine glass | |
130 | sunset skeins of geese honk their goodbyes | |
131 | sunset squall the luminescence of a mussel bed | |
132 | sunset sunrise in child’s eyes — mom’s arrival time | |
133 | sunset: the last bag of tea pushed under | |
134 | sunset the scarecrow ready for a sleepless night | |
135 | sunset . . . the sleepy volcano erupts again | |
136 | sunset — the sparkles of her eyes tomorrow again | |
137 | sunset work begins on a sandcastle | |
138 | the smoke from the mountains blazes redder, deeper sunsets | |
139 | the sound of sunset rises in a forest of pines | |
140 | the sun in a blaze slips into the sea if this is not true, what is? | |
141 | the sun sets on a day of birdsong spring evening | |
142 | the sunset catches a wave | |
143 | the world turns the swirl of leaves flow over waterfall | |
144 | this and that . . . I can’t pack these sunsets for new windows | |
145 | town sunset the old cinema curtain slowly rolls up | |
146 | training wheels removed riding off into the sunset | |
147 | twilight awash with magenta & plum distant wildfires | |
148 | walking slowly . . . too long this sunset | |
149 | war-torn land the sunset too goes down bleeding | |
150 | where war prisoners laboured chinks of sunset in the drystone walls | |
151 | wildfire smoke . . . a more vibrant sunset in between coughs | |
152 | winter sunset — the abating glow of her ardent love | |
153 | winter twilight her husband’s close look at the newborn | |
154 | with light brush strokes setting sun paints the clouds | |
155 | Without her sunrise and sunset in grayscale | |
156 | world rolling backwards I lose my balance — sunset | |
157 | you linger after sunset the soft glow |
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!
