Last Chance to Vote in the September 2023 THF Monthly Kukai
This month’s theme:
balance
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 bicycle too big for me I wobble but hold on | |
2 | a boat on the lake croaking of frogs neither day nor night | |
3 | a cat stares at me I stare back . . . equinox | |
4 | a flamingo on his insecure foot the moon in balance | |
5 | a gypsy girl’s effort to balance her future — tight rope walk | |
6 | a trill takes off — balancing herself still the small branch | |
7 | an autumn evening mother and father take turns rocking the cradle | |
8 | an evacuated playground on the see-saw their laughter | |
9 | an old man pauses at the log bridge — his staff useless | |
10 | an unbalanced mind keeps staring pole vault girl. | |
11 | another fall still seeking her balance on new blades | |
12 | another moment pinned to the earth by mountain sky | |
13 | autumn equinox the bob and weave of a waiter’s tray | |
14 | autumn equinox the division of assets finally signed | |
15 | autumn scent — missing mother’s apple pie with too much sugar | |
16 | backyard balance beam Mom and Dad argue in hushed tones | |
17 | balance — I tell my daughter about yin and yang | |
18 | balance is fools gold symmetry comforts the soul but earth pirouettes | |
19 | balance . . . the silence of the heather in a zen garden | |
20 | balancing equations a chemistry professor’s eulogy | |
21 | balancing sun and shadow two ends of the seesaw | |
22 | balancing . . . the boy adds a tail to his kite | |
23 | beer after beer he can’t find his balance | |
24 | beggar’s day’s earning for sick child’s medicines going hungry | |
25 | between wife and mother tightrope walk | |
26 | bitter black coffee in the morning, sweet hot chocolate in the evening — balance. | |
27 | bridegroom wife and mother swinging sailboat | |
28 | burned pond pine the charred cone opens and sound seeds fly | |
29 | buzzards circle and circle and circle | |
30 | Cathedral half light city sounds fade into strings | |
31 | clinic park struggling to keep the balance a magpie in the tree | |
32 | clothes shop sudden urge to try on a teen’s dress | |
33 | clown loses his balance crowd clapping | |
34 | coldest day a white camellia opens | |
35 | corroded tin moon is hanging on a birch tree in a calm sound | |
36 | curve-billed thrasher chirps head swivels, alert — eats a pokeberry | |
37 | dad’s orchid balanced by his conductor’s baton | |
38 | daily weigh-in, then counting by twelves while standing on one shaky foot | |
39 | dawn — each wing of the heron the same weight of light | |
40 | day and night a cycle of yin yang needed by all | |
41 | day care center squeaking of the empty seesaw | |
42 | dead leaves it begins afterlife | |
43 | distant peace — two spiders weave their web | |
44 | even the bay tires of tossing its waves — autumn evening | |
45 | fair divorce I can keep our children instead of the car | |
46 | fall equinox the delicate balance of a seesaw | |
47 | finding a f o o t h o l d tree pose | |
48 | finding the child in an old man’s eyes skipping stone | |
49 | first chrysanthemum her shadow in my neighbor’s garden | |
50 | forced retirement so much to let go of to find her center | |
51 | Fu-Sang tree at dusk stands on tiptoe looking west waving at a friend. | |
52 | Grandma in the pool Coughing as she swims her laps On the precipice | |
53 | grasses swaying the damselfly’s equipoise | |
54 | grasshopper balanced on my morning tea cup waiting | |
55 | h0£iday’$ €nd my acc0unt ba£anc€ way 0ff-ba£anc€ | |
56 | herons clinging feet balance on a submerged rock . . . sharp stiletto strikes | |
57 | honeybee the weight of the world upon its wings | |
58 | hummingbird hovers between sky and ground | |
59 | I adjust kite string wind does the rest | |
60 | “I don’t do enough” I think, then I burn myself out by doing too much | |
61 | I totter nervously from my tree pose | |
62 | ice melt . . . from deep within the sound of time trickling away | |
63 | ignoring the deep ravine below — a funambulist | |
64 | In fall, hydrangeas morph into toy tumbleweeds then blue orbs spring forth | |
65 | It’s two PM and, I’m hyperventilating — Lots and lots to do. | |
66 | kilos that force too thick and too thin again seldom balanced | |
67 | kitchen scale . . . grandma’s bread raises my mood | |
68 | Lakshmibai strides A water pitcher on head Hands clasp two toddlers | |
69 | late again for the part-time job full-time mother | |
70 | late summer days shorten, wind shifts lose my balance | |
71 | letting go — in the earth tulip petals | |
72 | libra married to libra the delicate balance of yin and yang | |
73 | lift of the branch relieved of the wren weight of a wish | |
74 | Like an equatorial seesaw Balancing my life An old Druid speaks | |
75 | like river water you flow away me here on the sky walk | |
76 | meadow at dusk a barn owl floats on the silence | |
77 | morning dew from the milkmaid’s shoulder yoke the bounce of wooden pails | |
78 | mother’s gourds living in balance with their soil | |
79 | Nature’s balance Day’s cacophony and chaos laid to rest with the night | |
80 | night fishing my bait tries to hook the moon | |
81 | off balance footwork disguised as dance steps | |
82 | office creche — my baby smiles from across the glass partition | |
83 | old man falls on stairs balance gone | |
84 | old pond a dragonfly in balance on my fishing line | |
85 | on one hand music, on the other noise a coyote’s falsetto | |
86 | once a month: eating an egg McMuffin mindfully | |
87 | over fifties class balancing act — swaying on my tip toes | |
88 | parenting — balancing the why and why not | |
89 | passage towards tomorrow brings unknown destination until in a moment | |
90 | perched on a frosty twiglet a melting droplet falls | |
91 | perched on a one-legged stool — he croaks! | |
92 | plates all along the server’s arm the ride without training wheels | |
93 | playground antics . . . young girls balance on a teeter-totter | |
94 | post-retirement losing the balance of my shadow | |
95 | pre-dawn to endure the noise of the tractor | |
96 | Precariously Holding on to my breath It’s over | |
97 | pulling out the thorn stork pose | |
98 | raindrops fall into place as stars leap toward the ground eyes search for balance | |
99 | reflections . . . the sky behind me with crows | |
100 | resting butterfly on mother’s bouquet late anniversary | |
101 | return by bike balance between rain and sun | |
102 | Rising mountain chains and the deep Valleys in front Nature’s Balancing | |
103 | river pollution even the catfish turn their noses up | |
104 | Sane enough to die, deeply aware it is no one else’s business. | |
105 | seesaw the abrupt bump of hitting bottom | |
106 | short changed while I was off balance one for the road | |
107 | sifting down from a slate-grey sky . . . rising pond | |
108 | soap bubbles even a breath can revolutionize the world | |
109 | spring equinox our relationship at a tipping point | |
110 | spring equinox running from office to be with my newborn | |
111 | standing on tiptoe small hands reaching . . . for the cookie jar | |
112 | stepping stones — juggling kids and career | |
113 | stepping stones trusting one more time this feeble body | |
114 | stilettos the issue of balance all my life | |
115 | storm watch — the next stone I choose for the cairn | |
116 | straddling borders — each foot in different countries | |
117 | Summer cycling, Girl with prosthetic leg beats them all. | |
118 | summer solstice the noonday sun still above its reflection | |
119 | summer’s final breath September whispers welcome fading golden days | |
120 | sure-footed gymnast on the balance there’s no drop off | |
121 | tai chi butterflies on the arms of a young widow | |
122 | tai chi i move suspended between heaven and earth | |
123 | teeter-tottering around pink and orange ballerinas become flamingos | |
124 | teetering, she laughs “right on beam,” coach shouts, but she loses on balance | |
125 | Telephone wires Serve as resting spots for the Social pigeons | |
126 | temple bells swirl on incense smoke devi stands still | |
127 | temple burial no one knows the old man’s religion | |
128 | That is her fault too falling over moon’s white back spilling his whiskey | |
129 | the backyard runs wild — in the wind without color creaks of a seesaw | |
130 | the balance sheet of joy and sorrow . . . autumn dusk | |
131 | the moon the stars, the sun orbital balance | |
132 | The squirrel holds tight As the thin branch bows lower, The acorn awaits. | |
133 | the squirrel on a wire stops to scratch an itch and moves on | |
134 | the strong pallbearer slowing his grandpa’s descent lost footing | |
135 | the ten months’ old seeking her balance takes her first steps | |
136 | “They have this incredible balance,” Says the surfing instructor Of the goat who teaches humans | |
137 | three-legged deer . . . the doe’s light landing under the quarter moon | |
138 | thunderclap balancing on her head a bucket of water | |
139 | tightrope walker balancing the act with extended arms | |
140 | tightrope walker in front one foot of the other | |
141 | time with my daughter every other weekend ikigai | |
142 | triplets mother cuddles a song in synchroneity | |
143 | Undeterred by multiple flops my granddaughter stood | |
144 | waiting room . . . holding crane pose in my head | |
145 | walk on crutches my broken left leg balancing in the air | |
146 | Watermelon stack Supermarket war zone after a careless poke. | |
147 | weighing scales finding the right balance between truth and pain | |
148 | whether | |
149 | willow over the river to be or not to be wet body | |
150 | winter approaching i give up dyeing my hair | |
151 | winter solstice the street vendor’s balance tilts on onion price drop | |
152 | wobbly paddle board all the jellyfish waiting below | |
153 | women’s rights a thumb on the scale of Lady Justice | |
154 | work life balance will someone stop moving the goal posts | |
155 | wrenching me back from the edge passionfruit vine | |
156 | zazen with the koi autumn’s briskness penetrates . . . internal balance |
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!
