THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — March 2025
This month’s theme:
violet
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 concrete wall borders the dusty tarmac — but a violet | |
2 | a fly escapes the common butterwort — near miss | |
3 | a prayer card lost in the grass violets bloom | |
4 | a soft makeup brush: the violet of her eyelid turns to sparkling pink | |
5 | a violet flower pressed between the pages of a book my life | |
6 | after the armistice a bouquet of withered sweet violets | |
7 | aids quilt mood indigo | |
8 | air strikes the sky another shade of viole(n)t | |
9 | almost forgotten Grandma’s violet brings back my lost memories | |
10 | amid the clovers a lone violet seeks companionship | |
11 | amidst the teeming swathe of white and yellow a violet crocus | |
12 | and violets are blue I never got valentines from the boys | |
13 | are you scared, too the crocus closing at night | |
14 | at the cusp of dawn amidst the crunch of leaves lavender love | |
15 | at the threshold something stronger than me — wild violets | |
16 | azaleas and violets . . . the original bouquet of a young bride | |
17 | bare feet on wild violets on bare feet | |
18 | bartering at the market a violet-ear hummingbird trades one flower for another | |
19 | between lightning and thunder the violet hush | |
20 | bird foot violet the step dance of spring robins | |
21 | blueish-purple bloom receiving dappled sunlight behind mother’s tomb | |
22 | Brooding clouds Shrug their shoulders At us. | |
23 | bruised violets the guilty party blames them | |
24 | Burst of violet reddening horizon too deep for tears | |
25 | ceramic rows house windmills in markets violets grow deep | |
26 | Cicadas quiver, lavender fields fade to burning twilight. | |
27 | clothesline the violets on her socks ruffled by the wind | |
28 | cluster bombing the thoughtless violets | |
29 | cold floating corpse wrinkled and white violet peeping from fist | |
30 | colour blind — I ask what a violet looks like | |
31 | concealed in the manicured lawn wild violets | |
32 | copse of trees meditate around wild violets | |
33 | cousin Violet . . . aristocracy bereft of a weekend | |
34 | crushed violets in my palm . . . shaded love | |
35 | death with honor a purple heart | |
36 | Deep cold violet night Daylight stars evolve and shine Sleep sweet sparrow — sleep | |
37 | deep in the woods violets push through a deer’s white bones | |
38 | dot of violet a wildflower in the mix | |
39 | dreams pure stitched promises of yore under silken sheets | |
40 | early childhood nothing for a birthday gift but a violet | |
41 | everyone is born today violet spring | |
42 | fading bruises . . . violets still bloom in the garden | |
43 | fading on my skin . . . the violets you gave | |
44 | February sun she wears the white dress with violets | |
45 | finest nectar here! flower market-traders shout in ultraviolet light | |
46 | first day of spring — sunrise and the violet of your eyes | |
47 | foreign recess little boy runs away, ICE lullabye, violets of the dead the sweetness — footsteps flee, again, again | |
48 | fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that crushed it is forgiveness | |
49 | garden knockouts! *crocus*primrose*iris* flare such violet blasts! | |
50 | garden walkway caught in her sandals purple violets | |
51 | grandsons love . . . bouquets of violets wilt in tiny hands | |
52 | Granny’s garden forgetting forget-me-nots I praise her violet | |
53 | hedge shadows violet on new snow mastectomy scars tattooed | |
54 | her African violets empty pots in a stack at the estate sale | |
55 | her birth flower on her deathbed wild violets | |
56 | her body a sea of violet hues hidden beneath a smile | |
57 | Her heart, despicable to the expanse, A violet, too fragile, Eternal in the deathbed. | |
58 | her Lenten vow to stop turning tricks wild iris | |
59 | her violet bruise leftover from that night turns golden | |
60 | herbarium violet reduced to sepia root and branch | |
61 | hurricane season — she changes her name to Violet | |
62 | hysterectomy the violet tint of the sky | |
63 | I heard violets in the wind — words unspoken | |
64 | I know under the feet of snow — violets are lurking | |
65 | in violet garb | |
66 | in a nursing home . . . the violet is still blooming at her window | |
67 | in my mind it is the cadbury’s color and also the name of a sad, beautiful girl; yet I was born under the yellowest Sun. | |
68 | in the iris patch in a violet tutu someone else’s cherub | |
69 | Inappropriate name for a Traviata Violet, so scented | |
70 | independence day time to sow some wild violets | |
71 | into spring morning first violets tiny and white | |
72 | It blooms it doesn’t shrink violet ink spills carefully | |
73 | It is not its own Joining two, Red and Blue It becomes one | |
74 | last day of chemo a bouquet of violets on her windowsill | |
75 | last light fading from the horizon — the color of her eyelids | |
76 | last stitch . . . the finishing of violet | |
77 | late winter night sky darkening to violet like a bruise | |
78 | learning English from crayon wrappers my violet childhood | |
79 | like autumn, like caterpillar — and- and- all on same path colours and characters transmute | |
80 | like her namesake in a rainbow Roy G Biv always the last word | |
81 | lingering autumn . . . Elizabeth Taylor’s eyes seeing off the sun | |
82 | Long forgotten The fallen soldier Cover of violets | |
83 | looking for love in a cup of heart-shaped leaves — sweet violet tea | |
84 | making sure pills are swallowed purple blue violets | |
85 | melting on my tongue ready to kiss you . . . parma violets | |
86 | mid-life blues . . . watching the days slip by purple light | |
87 | mid-run breathing in harder at distant violets | |
88 | Mom’s favorite flower Framing her grave With purple bloom | |
89 | moment by moment words break hard tinkling symbols violet | |
90 | month of March for women’s rights a sea of violet bandanas | |
91 | mother cabrini’s fistful of violets, fading from my touch | |
92 | my backyard alive with wild violets . . . invasive beauty | |
93 | My old diary — Pages spill fragrance of Your inky blue violets. | |
94 | n viole t the bruise you gave her | |
95 | neon violet — her reflection glitches a second too long | |
96 | nestled on the sill above her kitchen sink all the violet shades | |
97 | new neighbour we make small talk . . . the bruise on her cheek | |
98 | nightshade — another lamb cries of ear-tagging | |
99 | no black around the graveside purple | |
100 | nostalgia . . . a nosegay of violets | |
101 | not sure what to say just can’t raise a violet is there help for me | |
102 | old herbarium on the violet page a love letter | |
103 | online class teacher in game theory students in practical | |
104 | our patch up meet a lemon drop stirs the violet tea | |
105 | our village priest wearing over the alb deep-violet chasuble | |
106 | palma violets fade on my tongue . . . her absence heavy | |
107 | park violets how a robin breaks the silence | |
108 | peace offering — a bunch of violets placed on her father’s grave | |
109 | periwinkle joy sunlight drapes the whispering waves of morning’s grace | |
110 | please remove the “n” be soft like a violet | |
111 | pressed violets — the book opens gently into spring | |
112 | pressed violets . . . the fragrance of granny’s love. | |
113 | purple coneflower our time already slipping away | |
114 | purple hyacinths — his desperate need to be forgiven | |
115 | purple twilight — frost-bruised smoke from a chimney | |
116 | purpling under her eyes twilight shadows | |
117 | receding tide water violet shrub bow down | |
118 | red shifts to violet. war yawns — and smiling opens an eye. | |
119 | restorative sleep a plant doctor offers violet syrup | |
120 | returning soldier — a bride tosses her violets high into the wind | |
121 | Robust stems thrust up Through reluctant springtime soil Crowned with soft flowers | |
122 | Saint in violet robes Love’s pure touch elevates soul Sin’s gentle release | |
123 | scent of love . . . dried violets in a library book | |
124 | scrubbing away her acrid gaze — iodine tincture | |
125 | shrinking violet the flush of first love | |
126 | sleepless nights violet bruises beneath her eyes | |
127 | sleepyheads violets slip through little fingers | |
128 | sliding off the edge of a rainbow into violet | |
129 | So beautiful, rare Even much more to her Violet, so softly at touch | |
130 | so many violets for a moment she is like other children | |
131 | sound of violet shaking on windowsill as grandfather walks | |
132 | sounds of spring the scent of violets from the forest | |
133 | spring makeover the garden wears a fringe of violets | |
134 | spring sunlight spreading uphill violets run wild | |
135 | Summer en Provence Lavender fumes bursting souls Intoxication | |
136 | sun melts slowly and merges with the dusk a violet bruise | |
137 | Sunday lunch my mom’s eggplant parmigiana | |
138 | sunrise the bruise ripens to violet | |
139 | sunset . . . red orange yellow green blue indigo violet black | |
140 | sweet violet the scent of Grandma’s fresh baked scones | |
141 | tai chi class the beginners pushing scent of violets | |
142 | talking religion Bathtub Mary among the daisies | |
143 | The butterfly embraces The swooning violet | |
144 | the geode splits amethyst sharp enough to cut | |
145 | the old house is amazing violet flowers | |
146 | the pull of an old bruise violet dusk | |
147 | the purple feeling of guilt war news | |
148 | The scattered violet — broken heart’s tear drop. | |
149 | the scent of earth in the taste of greater yam violet afterglow | |
150 | the violet end of the rainbow a comfortable chair | |
151 | the violet lifts the rainbow on its shoulders Atlas shrugs a smile | |
152 | this Lent violet covers His violent cross for Easter rising! | |
153 | this violet field as far as the eye can see beyond that, darkness | |
154 | thistles the color of her name | |
155 | too much ink — the sumi-e irises turn into twilight violet | |
156 | twilight casting such violet shadows | |
157 | ultraviole(n)t radiation a marriage wilts | |
158 | ultraviolet — burning in flickering silence a prayer candle flame | |
159 | unknown graves — those fallen soldiers before the violets bloom | |
160 | upcountry drive we follow the scent of lavender fields | |
161 | UV harm we don’t see it coming | |
162 | V for Violet under purple clouds geese heading north | |
163 | very early in the evening — o let autumn dusk linger | |
164 | Violet happy to find her place on the spectrum | |
165 | violet bruises he stopped watering her plants after her death | |
166 | Violet bruises mar her arms She says she fell again | |
167 | violet crocus warms the March morning hope is near | |
168 | violet dawn a dewdrop pauses on the petal’s edge | |
169 | violet eyelids make her look like a winner despite that black eye | |
170 | violet eyes a starlet twinkles with diamonds | |
171 | Violet Eyes on a tender young shoot the fleeting nature of life | |
172 | violet flowers candle light birthday celebration at your grave | |
173 | violet ink fades on my forgotten poem lost between the lines | |
174 | violet irises — the surrounding world has the color of her eyes | |
175 | violet jelly still warm from Mom’s canning pot springtime on our tongues | |
176 | violet mood the night gets drawn from the well bucket | |
177 | Violet on the violin Pours her heart into a song When the night arrives | |
178 | violet sabrewing her song a moody blue | |
179 | violet scarf drapes over sunset desert inhale, pause, listen | |
180 | violet sky a field of caws | |
181 | Violet tears Stain her lonely eyes Violet cries | |
182 | Violet tinted Those fleeting bygone years like Soaring soap bubbles | |
183 | violet undertones on dusk’s palette nostalgia’s balm | |
184 | violet whispers justice dances through the streets — Carnival’s pure soul | |
185 | Violet, my day’s dream, fadingly fragrances your pied Irises. | |
186 | Violets growing in a field home | |
187 | violets pilot starlings and fly | |
188 | violets shyly greet me as I grow up | |
189 | violets — bending down to pick up the scent | |
190 | violets and primroses — clouds chase each other in the new sky | |
191 | violets at the wayside mothers blue eyes on me | |
192 | violets in the sun and in the shade of the hedge — I can do it too | |
193 | Walking In wooded violet Silence | |
194 | walking amidst the lavender plants of cotswold my scented soul | |
195 | White and purple violets My grandmother’s garden Blooms even without her | |
196 | wild flowers beneath an oak violet confetti | |
197 | wild violets filling her yard foster children | |
198 | wild violets tarring driveway cracks put on hold | |
199 | wild violets . . . she tries to hide her bruise | |
200 | wild violets . . . the blind man and his dog know where to find them | |
201 | with delicate hands grandma lovingly tends her violets | |
202 | woodland violet — were an orchid a haiku | |
203 | world spinning madly rose, violet invocations I think this is spring |
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)
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I never realized how fertile the violet image is. Guess it takes the conciseness of haiku to strain it out.