THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — April 2025
This month’s theme:
eggplant
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 bit oily his wife’s eggplant moussaka smells of summer | |
2 | a goth amid the fruit and veg eggplant | |
3 | a high-pitched whistle then groundhogs feast blissfully on nightshade eggplants | |
4 | a house divided over the many names and forms — eggplant | |
5 | A pendant berry This paradise of purple, No trans-vegetable. | |
6 | afternoon — charred baigan, garlic notes smoke rises like sun | |
7 | all the bitterness gone with the smoke — a charred eggplant | |
8 | all the bruises the wind left behind . . . ripe eggplants | |
9 | aroma of mom’s love eggplant parmesan | |
10 | aubergine is just a word like a heater | |
11 | aubergine purplish-brown in soft places no one sees | |
12 | aubergine stripe in the sunset now that he’s in hospice nothing changed | |
13 | aubergines still clinging to the vine whispers of home | |
14 | autumn wedding amidst the harvest her eggplant dress | |
15 | bedtime story how the eggplant lost its yolk | |
16 | between the squash and eggplants a girl blows into a bag | |
17 | bird flu chickens on strike blue eggplant | |
18 | boiled or baked, gourmets love eggplant | |
19 | breaking news from Gaza — sabich and baba ghanouj on the same plateau | |
20 | burnt eggplants . . . you finally prepared them like my mother | |
21 | confession — the hooker’s mouth smelling like eggplant salad | |
22 | dark and bright slices a night and a day in the eggplant | |
23 | deep purple eggplant . . . rock and roll | |
24 | deep weight in the palm skin drinks the summer light a held thunder | |
25 | digging through layers of Eggplant Parmigiana our first and last date | |
26 | dubious husband paints eggplant walls for dining room — vegetable fritters | |
27 | earthy smell in nonna’s kitchen . . . eggplant pasta | |
28 | egg – PLANT! What happened to the chicken, oh well, make mine over easy | |
29 | eggplant dinner for two pear of love | |
30 | Eggplant Hundreds of wings and legs Don’t fly don’t walk Standing on the land | |
31 | eggplant my cruelty free steak with marinara | |
32 | eggplant what a degradation of aubergine | |
33 | eggplant — a Gulf between his ears | |
34 | eggplant — Rubber Soul David Lynch | |
35 | eggplant . . . patting warmth deep in the seed | |
36 | eggplant at dinner the thick layer of makeup around mother’s eyes | |
37 | eggplant basket contrasts with the blue eyes of the picker girl | |
38 | Eggplant could be pink But it’s a dark earth purple its fruity color | |
39 | eggplant curry the things I miss about home | |
40 | Eggplant in rain Smooth like a scar Scent of earth and pain | |
41 | eggplant lasagne — my taste buds remember Mum’s cooking | |
42 | eggplant moon within your tough purpleness a heart plump with love | |
43 | eggplant purple the incision scar bisects her hip | |
44 | eggplant sapling my child asks whether hen or duck | |
45 | eggplant seller between violet hills valley of kindness | |
46 | eggplant skin stains weighing the whether to call home | |
47 | Eggplant so jumbo Big black roasted happiness Aromatizing | |
48 | Eggplant, yet no egg Men with sticks stretch high to pluck — Kalyug’s small stature. | |
49 | eggplants awaiting in the garden sunny-side up | |
50 | eggplants all over paving the way to my secrete | |
51 | eggplants on my umbrella heavy rain keeps pouring over mom’s garden | |
52 | eggplants ripening in the kitchen garden . . . eviction notice | |
53 | fairy tale eggplant her first farmers’ market in a free country | |
54 | fall in the kitchen a young wife and withered eggplant halves | |
55 | fallen white eggplant nestled on the ground an old hen | |
56 | farmers’ market bruised hands the color of her eggplants | |
57 | Favorite Italian dish eggplant | |
58 | first light nodding through the windowpane a flowering eggplant | |
59 | first taste of eggplant a trattoria in Rome | |
60 | Freesias Washed with eggplant light Need you to see me | |
61 | fried eggplant at the beach stall appetizing breeze | |
62 | golden anniversary the color of her hair is eggplant again | |
63 | grandma’s spring visit secret eggplant recipe smuggled in her bra | |
64 | grilled eggplant the zen circle turns back to childhood | |
65 | grocery aisle — one eggplant weighs on my mind | |
66 | guests at lunch . . . the inviting smell of eggplant parmigiana | |
67 | He sends, “Hi beautiful” She sends, “How are you?” He sends [eggplant emoji] | |
68 | he slices slow the eggplant’s curve unchanged | |
69 | heavy with purple a stem holding eggplant — her worried face | |
70 | her singing on the eggplant branch in the queue | |
71 | her slender curve in the night shade Chinese aubergine | |
72 | high egg prices mom subbing eggplant for the fiber | |
73 | I am not Purple neither am I Violet call me Aubergine | |
74 | icebreaker . . . as the sky turns aubergine eggplant parmigiana | |
75 | in every color of my bruise eggplant stall | |
76 | in the kitchen a lone aubergine seeks enlightenment | |
77 | in the melting pot all the nightshades simmering | |
78 | innocently she sent an eggplant emoji little did she know . . . | |
79 | iridescent dark purple sheen feminine allure | |
80 | Is it really egg? Have you seen its purple blush? Answer me, Eggplant! | |
81 | It makes me laugh Innocent veggie turned joke Eggplant emoji | |
82 | Kharkiv dawn — bordered by battlefields a field of eggplant | |
83 | last year’s blackberry now aubergine — fabric swatch | |
84 | late sun on the soil one last dark teardrop clings autumn wind | |
85 | lavender to deep velvet to indigo her last breath | |
86 | Lenten purple covers the crucifix the color of eggplant | |
87 | Little lilac ears now in hide and seek for the eggplant in our garden | |
88 | loneliness my spirits reflect aubergine walls | |
89 | lost in translation Grandma’s recipe for aubergines | |
90 | making dinner the eggplant stains match her bruises | |
91 | midnight craving eight months pregnant stuffed eggplant | |
92 | mother takes two sips before giving to the baby | |
93 | mum’s egg plant moju symphony of flavours in one homebound for lunch | |
94 | mushy aubergine — the hidden scars of a child bride | |
95 | my fingerprints on your reflection on the skin of the brinjal | |
96 | my four-year old’s find the camouflaged brinjal peeks through | |
97 | neighborhood tandoor charring eggplant from mother’s garden | |
98 | nonna’s specialty eggplant parmesan at sunday dinner | |
99 | oh tender flower — and yet, your fate . . . an eggplant! | |
100 | Old Wives’ Tale motherhood’s induction eggplant parm | |
101 | online dating — message after message full of eggplants | |
102 | our flirtation with food eggplant emoji | |
103 | pink full moon new shades on ripening eggplant | |
104 | plump purple globes tempt me to try one more time — bitter eggplant | |
105 | Purple aubergine, Smooth skin hides white flesh within; Winter’s casserole | |
106 | purple eggplant outside the kitchen window, children pick violets | |
107 | purple eggplants the flavour chameleons delightful on tongue | |
108 | rabbit food . . . he casts unhappy glances into the frying pan | |
109 | rich harvest — in an eggplant field Big Dipper | |
110 | ripe eggplant jeans on a hot day to cover the bruise | |
111 | ripened eggplant . . . struggling to shed postpartum weight | |
112 | Sacred white dove of peace fly your gracious laurels here | |
113 | salted eggplant her rounded belly slowly softening | |
114 | scent of eggplant stew I inhale the warmth of family | |
115 | searching for egg in eggplant dish — grandson’s purple face | |
116 | secret garden — he grows aubergines on her backbone | |
117 | secret handshake between the cabinet members eggplant emoji | |
118 | she says aubergine he says eggplant — together they love moussaka | |
119 | slicing eggplant and peppers, somewhere it’s summer | |
120 | small, shriveled eggplant rest upon the dark green moss rabbit nibbled ends | |
121 | so many dishes from country to country . . . one eggplant | |
122 | soft amethyst browning on the stove sunburn in April | |
123 | Stone lions breathe snow Shangri-la changes menu Market baskets gape. | |
124 | stray goat bumps the eggplant cage dew shower | |
125 | sultry afternoon he relieves the boredom with an eggplant emoji | |
126 | summer harvest, text with emojis from granny | |
127 | summer moments my first kiss my grandma’s ratatouille | |
128 | summer sun a master’s last highlights on aubergines | |
129 | Sweet bitter eggplant deepest purple, glossy skin sacred soul foo. | |
130 | Sydney market — my Aussie roots regained aloud: ‘eggplant!’ | |
131 | that smokey taste on pita — baba ganoush | |
132 | the eggplant outshines its tomatoey friends healthy competition | |
133 | The world has gone mad Lamb and eggplant makloubeh I hunger for you | |
134 | the worm inside like mother with child | |
135 | the young wife holds up an eggplant to match the sky | |
136 | there’s nothing to say about eggplant but “parmesan” | |
137 | There’s a secret you know To make Bernie’s eggplant parm’ I miss her | |
138 | this humanlike penchant to hold onto the crown eggplant | |
139 | Time always passing The moment, already gone Forever forward | |
140 | Too many seeds! A child pushes eggplant around his plate. | |
141 | twilight the smells of purple from the eggplant | |
142 | under high heat eggplant explodes we the people | |
143 | walked into a door . . . my bruises the color of eggplant | |
144 | war news — char curls away from grilled eggplant | |
145 | warranting a surrender of my senses hot eggplant fritters | |
146 | washed eggplant on the kitchen counter; her third trimester | |
147 | when the bitterness goes away from bathing in milk — breaded eggplant |
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!
Comments (1)
Comments are closed.
Hi Tom,
perhaps you can provide a tip that teaches voters how to use “control F” for toggling between the various haiku’s to winnow down the voting.
I use “control f” in many documents, but this was the first time i used it to help me vote. It sure beats scrolling.
warm regards
dee slavutin