THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — November 2020
This month’s theme:
resolution
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.
The Ballot
1 | a creek blocks the way their bodies bridge the water army ants | |
2 | a little boat chases low lying clouds in the horizon | |
3 | a new beginning after the freedom struggle Independence Day | |
4 | a rose blooming blooming and blooming again | |
5 | a thousand origami cranes fly . . . mushroom clouds recede | |
6 | acorn shells under an oak . . . a blackbird breaks the silence | |
7 | after all this kerfuffle my pledge to turn a blind ear | |
8 | calendar filled with dark blue circles . . . AA meetings | |
9 | cat fight the way wild ferns accept the loser | |
10 | chanting sutras the blind man plays his violin until the last string | |
11 | cheerful spirit embers still crackling in a cold room | |
12 | Cobwebs at my desk A pencil-shard labyrinth Resolute dreamer | |
13 | deciding to believe what I want to believe darkness descending | |
14 | decision made the slowing beat of a life unplugged | |
15 | despite the warning beautifying the walls with sharpies | |
16 | dropping daffodil . . . her first step post-op | |
17 | Empty battery! Even my weighing scale Was eating too much | |
18 | first cold — let’s go to breathe the last rose | |
19 | freshly grated — nutmeg tops mum’s hot toddy | |
20 | frozen lake — falling ducks learn to skate | |
21 | grandmother my childish resolutions in her secret box | |
22 | Happy New Year, snail! I’ll keep you company on the way to Mount Fuji | |
23 | her eyes . . . I find my resolve weakening | |
24 | hoarfrost the arresting beauty of his lie | |
25 | i will certainly give up smoking this time | |
26 | inner flight — on the butterfly wing weighs the winter | |
27 | Jack ‘O Lanterns — a few names short on Orwell’s list | |
28 | kintsugi kindness restore the crack in the liberty bell | |
29 | last leg . . . a hail of bullets outside the doors of power | |
30 | Leaf on the leaf’s only begotten wind | |
31 | life resolution the cocoon gives birth to a butterfly time keeps running | |
32 | literacy for women — thousand tanka before I breathe last | |
33 | lockdown — two monkeys are looking for fleas from each other | |
34 | loving you anyway cracked mirror | |
35 | Mind and heart at one no horizon is too far patience drives the way | |
36 | musical even when gusts thrash the wind chime | |
37 | my child’s funeral . . . on return I shop some baby clothes | |
38 | my resolve to walk the sunny side of the street . . . winter light | |
39 | new resolution — the first snowfall covering today newspaper | |
40 | New Year — in front of laughing Buddha my star-resolution | |
41 | night sky — how a star scatters just for a wish | |
42 | no resolutions people still fighting pandemic | |
43 | not losing sight of that lighter footprint fetus kick | |
44 | octogenarian — a mother to her grandchildren | |
45 | on Monday I’m cleaning the apartment maybe the next day though | |
46 | peace accord she bans politics at the dinner table | |
47 | racing clouds all those forgotten plans | |
48 | ration line-up . . . statued people on their marks | |
49 | reminding me of last year’s resolutions autumn leaves | |
50 | resolution — remembering last year’s promise | |
51 | resolution talk the skeptical glance of my wardmate | |
52 | resolutions with fake champagne I toast to drink more | |
53 | resolved, he says I won’t hit you again after he hits her again | |
54 | secret trophy twenty-five years later dried-out cigarettes | |
55 | sensing her anger he swears off drinking for good she changes channels | |
56 | she in her house I in mine a bridge of rainfall | |
57 | shoreline dash over blazing Bondi sand umbrella oasis | |
58 | slow motion — my final bow | |
59 | smoke haze their wedding vows crystal clear | |
60 | Sometimes Resolution within Takes lifetime | |
61 | street lamp casts a shadow for the moonless sky | |
62 | submerged the duck and i | |
63 | the devastation of too many affairs — their divorce | |
64 | the graduate on New Year’s Eve pixelation | |
65 | the last vote the last leaf finally falls | |
66 | the leftover from my birthday cake new resolution | |
67 | the void of silence a bridge of three words | |
68 | therapy session — with her autistic son she learns to tie a lace | |
69 | utility poet o-for-four in the kukai | |
70 | visit time a ray of sun peeks into the hospital ward | |
71 | wet leaves grandma with her (Johnnie) walker staggering away | |
72 | wildflower they say I am not ambitious |
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!
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Great collection!
Thank you very much