The 2013 THF Touchstone Awards

The Touchstone Awards reward excellence and innovation in the haiku genre.

Over 500 poems published during 2013 were nominated for Touchstone Poem Awards, and over 70 books published during 2013 were nominated for Touchstone Book Awards.

After several rounds of careful deliberation, the Poem Panel and the Book Panel have chosen to recognize the following poems and books with Awards: (author names are in alphabetical order)

2013 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems

nagasaki . . .
in her belly, the sound
of unopened mail
     —Don Baird, 2013 HaikuNow! Contest (The Haiku Foundation)

overnight the spider's mathematics
     —John Barlow, Robert Spiess Awards (Modern Haiku)

night border crossing—
the elephant calf holds
his mother's tail
     —Sonam Chhoki, Shamrock 26

washed up body
the one who moves
toward it
     —Mike Dillon, Modern Haiku 44.3

sand dune    the width of the wind
     —Harry Frentz, Jeanette Stace Memorial Awards (New Zealand Poetry Society)

overcast morning
the road worker's gaze
on southbound geese
     —Ferris Gilli, Acorn 31

prenuptial contract
fish bones neatly spaced
on white china
     —Ron C. Moss, Acorn 30

silence of snow
we listen to the house
grow smaller
     —John Parsons, Frogpond 36:2

2013 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems Shortlist

august mist
the magnificence
of thought
     —Ernest J. Berry, Polish International Haiku Competition

gale-force wind
a bird's nest becomes
what it was
     —Alan S. Bridges, IHS International Haiku Competition

cubist lesson . . .
I look at my cat
differently
     —Dawn Bruce, Shamrock 26

dysle,xia s,ympto.ms? Sp,ring. fever
     —Metod Češek, Modern Haiku 44.3

cold snap—
a sparrow flicks its tail
of snowflakes
     —Marion Clarke, Shamrock 25

purple clematis . . .
changing her wardrobe
into summer
     —Anne Curran, Shamrock 26

Father's Day . . .
the weight of his hammer
that never fit my hand
     —Michael L. Evans, Francine Porad Memorial Haiku Contest

waiting for the blossoms
the birds are still
up the magician's sleeve
     —Marco Fraticelli, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Contest

intensive care
the plant's last leaf
hangs on
     —Scott Glander, Mayfly 54

the love we once shared
in the phone book
a hundred of you
     —Kate Godsey, Chrysanthemum 14

Memorial Day
I paint each fingernail
a different color
     —Carolyn Hall, A Hundred Gourds 3.1

cowlick
some part of me
still wild
     —Annette Makino, tinywords 13.2

no escaping
this moonlight—
Pompeii
     —Scott Mason, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest (Haiku Society of America)

morning fog
when my embryo . . .
had gills
     —Tyrone McDonald, The Heron's Nest 15.1

fire duty
the newly ironed shirt
still warm
     —Ron C. Moss, The Heron's Nest 15.1

a meteor flares—
the scrape of a tailpipe
throwing sparks
     —Chad Lee Robinson, Mariposa 29

humid evening—
the census taker's
arched eyebrows
     —Sandra Simpson, Kokako 19

southbound birds the loop of identity
     —Dietmar Tauchner, Kusamakura Haiku Contest (City of Kumamoto, Japan)

breaching whale
the time between
too soon and too late
     —Julie Warther, Polish International Haiku Competition

orange blossom—
lifting her niqab
just enough
    —Sarah Winteridge, Modern Haiku 44.2

a blue coffin
one nail escapes
the solar system
     —Peter Yovu, Roadrunner 13.1

2013 Touchstone Distinguished Books Awards

Where the River Goes: The Nature Tradition in English-Language Haiku
edited by Allan Burns
Snapshot Press, Ormskirk, UK
available here

apology moon
by Cherie Hunter Day
Red Moon Press, Winchester VA, USA
available here

The Disjunctive Dragonfly: A New Approach to English-Language Haiku
by Richard Gilbert
Red Moon Press, Winchester VA, USA
available here

Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years
edited by Jim Kacian, Allan Burns and Philip Rowland
W. W. Norton & Company, New York, USA
available here

A Five-Balloon Morning
by Charles Trumbull
Red Mountain Press, Santa Fe NM, USA
available here

2013 Honorable Mentions

• Christopher Patchel Turn Turn (Red Moon Press, Winchester VA, USA) available here
• Paul Pfleuger, Jr. A Zodiac (Red Moon Press, Winchester VA, USA available here

2013 Complete Shortlist

• Burns, Allan, ed. Where the River Goes (Snapshot Press)
• Carter, Steven The Distances of Sleep (Alba Publishing)
• Colón, Carlos Haiku Elvis: A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) (Laughing Cactus Press)
• Day, Cherie Hunter apology moon (Red Moon Press)
• Harter, Penny The Resonance Around Us (Mountains & Rivers Press)
• Gilbert, Richard The Disjunctive Dragonfly (Red Moon Press)
• Kacian, Jim & Allan Burns & Philip Rowland, eds. Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W. W. Norton & Co.)
• Martone, John Bheid (Samuddo/Ocean)
• Martone, John Perleromeq (Samuddo/Ocean)
• Muirhead, Marsh Her Cold Martini (The Island Journal Press)
• Patchel, Christopher Turn Turn (Red Moon Press)
• Pfleuger Jr., Paul A Zodiac (Red Moon Press)
• Stensland, Lucas Fun Again (Yet to be Named Free Press)
• Trumbull, Charles A Five-Balloon Morning (Red Mountain Press)