THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — December 2021
This month’s theme:
long night
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 good life — grandma goes gently into the long night | |
2 | a long autumn night I measure time with raindrops and a drip | |
3 | a long night the things that we lost | |
4 | A long night Waiting to view mom In the morning | |
5 | A long winter’s night A frosty breeze Even the monkeys need a winter coat | |
6 | A Small drop of dew Foggy Long night runs slowly On stable Green leaf | |
7 | a trail of droppings proof of their visit — chocolate reindeer | |
8 | all night long the soft touch of flurries on his bedroom pane | |
9 | all night the moon holds its tears until you leave | |
10 | all through night sharing secrets with stars — insomnia | |
11 | Apollo 11 a dark night that lasts for eight days | |
12 | as if we are still together long night | |
13 | catching z between nippy and nappies long nights | |
14 | cemetery breeze a blackbird pulls a worm out of darkness | |
15 | cold moon in your blind eye a long night | |
16 | cold seeps in from the empty side of my bed — long nights | |
17 | coming out of the ER into freezing rain beautiful night | |
18 | Contractions begin The moon rising and setting Laboring past dawn | |
19 | COVID nights the brightest star in my neighbor’s window | |
20 | covid year my list of angels longer than winter night | |
21 | dark chocolate all those nights of unanswered longing | |
22 | darkness only enfolds those without inner light | |
23 | dawn wanting to know how it ends | |
24 | dusk till dawn the length of an apology | |
25 | end of war — a night trying to forget them before the first train | |
26 | every tree a thousand shards of light nightlong ice storm | |
27 | flickering candles strive against downed power lines, foreshadow the long, bitter night | |
28 | Fresh snow on the way Cloud sky wall torn apart Star glitters at night | |
29 | full moon — crawling across the sky | |
30 | gate latch silent through the night . . . no road goes home | |
31 | Gone night, the long night. Haunt night, the lone night Mourned night, my love burnt night | |
32 | her cremation – the night stretches into an endless pause | |
33 | holding her hand until she lets go assisted dying | |
34 | hospital bed — the night when time forgets to tick | |
35 | how quickly dawn arrives just as sleep takes over . . . insomnia | |
36 | how the teeth of night unless you learn to outlast it bites you in the ass | |
37 | howling wind the long night of the soul | |
38 | if patience is the way I shall become a river and flow forever | |
39 | insomnia, a long night undisturbed | |
40 | insomnia oh to be counting sheep instead of worries | |
41 | insomnia . . . this headlong rush into the past | |
42 | into my ears mosquitoes chanting new mantras | |
43 | know-it-all the snowy mountains beyond | |
44 | long night — a drunkard fries eggs on broken stove | |
45 | long night — a silence of snow behind the door | |
46 | long night all the stories that could fit | |
47 | long night another odd-shaped tablet for the pill box | |
48 | Long night before the dawn Uncertainty gone . . . | |
49 | long night bizarre & anticipated the surge of an odd pandemonium | |
50 | long night — both insomniacs me and the moon | |
51 | long night counting stars on the ceiling | |
52 | long night finally the time for A Suitable Boy | |
53 | long night . . . he parts with her in the middle of road | |
54 | long night . . . I attempt to understand the cricket’s story | |
55 | long night . . . I can pick stars with my hands | |
56 | long night — I’m still planting daffodils | |
57 | long night in the ICU corridor autumn stillness | |
58 | long night . . . last candle last flicker | |
59 | long night listening again and again to a gnat’s solo | |
60 | long night moon a deeper groove in my worry stone | |
61 | long night star gazing too numerous to count errors I have made | |
62 | long night — staring at the urn from across the room | |
63 | long night . . . the calmness of the universe during the pandemic time | |
64 | long night the cry of a new born at dawn | |
65 | long night . . . the hissing noise of his oxygen mask | |
66 | long night — the steady wink of a neon in the emergency room | |
67 | long night trying to recall the quiet thoughts of Li Bai | |
68 | long night wails the alley full of them cats in their cradles | |
69 | long night walks over the day starry eyes | |
70 | long night warmer and warmer grandma’s rosary | |
71 | long night wishing to grow back into my childhood | |
72 | long night you bring the deepest silence | |
73 | long nights full of demons hiding in our dreams | |
74 | long nights our snowman too gains weight | |
75 | Long nights Short days Winter flies, brings sunny days | |
76 | long nights what starts with a shadow | |
77 | long winter night . . . fixing the dropped stitches in mom’s scarf | |
78 | long winter night the wind gusts restless outside tosses and turns too | |
79 | longer nights . . . the growing cold never leaves | |
80 | longest night . . . I watch our horizon dissolve into icebergs | |
81 | longest night watching the overdraft | |
82 | longnightsshapingmylongingshapingmydemons | |
83 | looking eastward and then at the west elusive dawn | |
84 | lovemaking how long this first night | |
85 | lucky hour the long night torn to pieces by fireworks | |
86 | mascara lashes — night sleeps in the eyelids of my baby | |
87 | midwinter night forest in deepest sleep | |
88 | mother among the stars I count . . . long night | |
89 | naughty coal banned for covid jabs around the world — Santa’s long night | |
90 | new site new dreams long night | |
91 | night birth paces too many to count | |
92 | night crawls into the shadows . . . moonset | |
93 | night of smells — memory overflows beyond the street lamps | |
94 | night wind when the tv’s off and there’s no one else awake | |
95 | nightlong journey . . . the calls unanswered | |
96 | O mild middle fiddles in hand fire’s flutists & fifes | |
97 | on his last legs long night | |
98 | our hug extend the night winter solstice | |
99 | our longest night her candle still burns in the hospice window | |
100 | pacing with the floor moon maternity ward | |
101 | pain management the night lengthens into dawn | |
102 | past midnight we do the dishes while our baby plays | |
103 | power cut the candlelit night is long | |
104 | quiescent moon a long night stretches to Java island | |
105 | Santa’s helpers Overtime required to QR code Eve to be triple time | |
106 | She sat there, watching As snow fell furiously It was a long night | |
107 | sleepless lighting candles against the dark | |
108 | snow upon snow the long night’s heaviness of her passing | |
109 | solstice fever dream long night ghosts play sentinel warding off the sun | |
110 | staying up all night only the scent of coffee and the heat of my laptop | |
111 | still embers . . . the last page glows | |
112 | Street lights and chill winds for company | |
113 | sunset through a raised wine glass — to cool! | |
114 | temptation to be a singing bird end of winter’s night | |
115 | the earth-grazer slowly meteors through the sky gibbous moon | |
116 | the long night begins its creeping first Christmas alone | |
117 | the long night has passed the hopelessness veil lifted — a Saviour is born | |
118 | the long night lengthening the owls’ duet | |
119 | The mirror is there in front of me My face is not | |
120 | The moon is closer the road is longer the morning farthest | |
121 | the weight of silence fills the dark and empty room . . . search hampered by snow | |
122 | this long night the silence of snowflakes falling into snow | |
123 | tornado extending the night to last a lifetime | |
124 | toss and turn — tossing ghosts from the past turning nightmares into dreams | |
125 | tracing the river to its source . . . long night | |
126 | train whistle fading into darkness . . . the long night | |
127 | twilight peace nights many times as long without you | |
128 | wake myself snoring the night growing shorter as dreams collide | |
129 | we love a long night waiting for the stars, the moon real magic begins | |
130 | weak sun peeks through gap over levelled storm-blown pine — hedge has lost first tooth | |
131 | what a long night! I’m waiting for myself to sing the rooster | |
132 | winter chill — on your side of the bed | |
133 | winter morning my spouse’s feet finally warm | |
134 | winter solstice all the more time for stargazing | |
135 | winter solstice amaryllis drops petals on the floor | |
136 | winter solstice among the greetings cards a seed catalogue | |
137 | winter solstice . . . on the tip of my pen myriad thoughts | |
138 | winter solstice stars delighted with the extra screen time | |
139 | winter solstice . . . stories warm up around the hearth | |
140 | winter solstice — the photo I kept of you | |
141 | witching hour where lantern light ends three raccoons | |
142 | wooden trunk i preserve the few years my child lived | |
143 | you are dead tonight the tree and i sit silent weary christmas eve |
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!
This Post Has 9 Comments
Comments are closed.
my submission not included
Sorry to report that my submission is also not included.
My submission is also omitted.
my submission too is not included
Yes, me, too. I don’t see my submission in the list.
I STILL think people are sending in multiple submissions, disregarding the rules. How many would think to start a poem about a long night with the single word “insomnia”?
Hi James! Your comment reminds me of Michael Dylan Welch’s article, An Introduction to Deja Ku. He says, “we are surely likely to have similar experiences and use similar words to write about them.”
Here’s the link to the full essay if you’re interested: http://www.graceguts.com/essays/introduction-to-deja-ku
Goid luck with your kukai entry!
La mia presentazione non è stata inclusa sopra.
Grazie .
My submission was not included above. Is there a preselection process that weeds out certain submissions?