THF Monthly Kukai — September 2025

 
 
Welcome to the THF Monthly Kukai.

This month’s theme:
pink
 
 
 
Note: Anonymity is an essential part of any kukai. Please respect this to offer the reader (and voter) the opportunity to choose only the poem.

The THF Kukai Overview

A kukai is a (usually quite casual) poetry contest. The administrator of the kukai (that’s us) assigns a theme for a given writing period and posts to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) on the THF site, which is then redirected outward through our various media outlets. Poets write work to this theme during the allotted time and submit it to the administrator. The work submitted is gathered into an anonymous roster and posted to Troutswirl (The Haiku Foundation blog) for public viewing. At that time all participating poets and other interested readers may vote for their favorites. Votes are tallied and the results made public. The top winners will be acknowledged each month, and offered their choice of prizes from a list compiled by the Foundation. Please remember that everyone who votes is a winner — the process of choosing your personal favorites is not just fun, but also one of the best ways to improve your own haiku practice!

Results of Last Month’s THF Kukai

theme: light

In August there were 189 submissions from thirty-five countries across six continents.
One hundred nineteen voters casting ballots determined the following results.

First Prize
 
clearing clouds
sunlight puddles
in the potholes
     — Helen Ogden (51 points - 2; 4; 5; 3; 4)
 
On first read, this haiku seems straightforward, but it takes skill to write a seemingly effortless poem, and this rewards re-reading. In the first two lines, there’s a nice balance of light and shadow — clearing and sunlight, clouds and puddles. Our line of sight moves from the sky to shining light to the ground, where we learn more about those puddles. They are potholes — perhaps the kind that can trip a person up or wreck a car’s alignment. What are we to make of this? Word placement in a poem is important. The opening words establish tone and echo as we read the rest of a line. The closing words are what a poet leaves us with — in this case, “potholes.” So is the takeaway: beware, surfaces can be deceptive? For me, the uplift in “clearing” and “sunlight” carries to the end of the poem and provides a hopeful counterweight to those potholes.
 
Second Prize (tie)
 
autumn twilight
his trembling hands
buttoning the shirt
     — Nitu Yumnam (47 points - 3; 5; 2; 2; 2)
 
This haiku shows the effectiveness of a well-chosen kigo. Autumn is a season of transitions, and here it frames our understanding of what follows. A man is having difficulty dressing. We don’t know if he is elderly and the trembling is a function of age, or if he has experienced illness or trauma. Whatever the underlying cause, in “autumn twilight” we sense decline, and there is poignancy in our heightened awareness of the brevity of life.
 
Second Prize (tie)
 
dark window —
through the needle mom passes
a thread of light
     — Elena Zouain (47 points - 6; 1; 0; 5; 3)
 
That third line is a lovely and powerful image, but it is also ambiguous. What kind of needle has “a thread of light”? Read literally, it could be a sewing needle, with its thread catching the light. Perhaps the mother is holding the needle against the light to pull the thread through. But needles are also used in home healthcare to deliver medicine. Then, the thread of light is metaphorical. It is the relief offered — hope against the dark that opens the poem.
 
 
Honorable Mentions
 
all the sky
on my hands . . .
light rain
     — Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
 
What an opening — there is such vastness in that image. To have it on your hands, rather than “in,” suggests a weight or heaviness that is belied by the closing line. “Light rain” is gentle rain, nurturing, not destructive. It is palpable and really opens up the haiku. It feels like a gift from the sky, and that opening “all” emphasizes the enormity of this gift.
 
blind date
one firefly
lights another
     — Marilyn Ashbaugh
 
I can’t read this haiku without smiling. It’s playful. Fireflies attract mates with their call-and-response flashing in the dark — a marvelous metaphor for the early days of dating — and a blind date is like being in the dark as you get to know someone, but there is joy in that. I get the sense the poet had fun writing this haiku!
 
just before dawn
the light
in a robin’s song
     — Anne Fox
 
Light can be interpreted in different ways, and this haiku makes good use of that. The second line is both a hinge line and an example of sense-switching or synesthesia. The light before dawn is a beautiful visual, then when we read the third line, we hear lyrical birdsong. The visual has become auditory. Well done!
 
nightfall
   remains of the day
in a solar lamp
     — Matthew Rye
 
If you have walked along a garden path at night, edged with solar outdoor lamps, you know the magic of photovoltaic light. It literally brings the light of day, stored in the lamp, to night. This haiku creates an enchanting scene, but it also prompts me to reflect: What do we carry from day to night? What powers us through the dark?

Beverly Acuff Momoi is THF Monthly Kukai Commentator. She is an award-winning poet and author of how the wind sighs and Lifting the Towhee’s Song. From 2019 to 2021 Beverly served as a panelist for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards.

Writing for The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai

On the first day of each month The Haiku Foundation will announce the kukai theme for that month. This theme should be the topic of your poem, and may be stated (by using the theme word or words) or implied. Form may be traditional (three-line, 5-7-5) or free (various numbers of lines and/or syllables). Season words (kigo) may or may not be used at the poet’s discretion. A poet may submit one poem per theme. All poems must be the original, unpublished work of the author. In order to maintain the spirit and fairness of the kukai, a poem that has appeared anywhere with its author’s name cannot be allowed for submission.

Please use the Kukai submission form below to enter your poem, and then press Submit to send your entry. No other submissions will be recognized or honored. Once a poem is submitted it cannot be revised. All poems must be signed (that is, no “anonymous” poems will be accepted, and the Submit button will not be available until both Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in). Poets will not receive acknowledgment of their submissions. Poems will be accepted from the announcement of the theme through midnight of the 15th of that month. All poets are eligible to participate. Administrators of the kukai are ineligible to submit poems. Your submission form to us should look something like this:

line one
followed by line two
and then line three

or

this poem is all in one line

or

            jjjjjjjjjjj
kkkkkkkkkk
                    lll
   mmmmm

[all lines right-justified]

If your poem has special formatting requirements you should note them as in the third example above.

Good luck, and have fun!