THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — October 2022
This month’s theme:
harvest
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 cloud of starlings scraping a well-picked field border wait times | |
2 | a harvest of memories my mother’s passing | |
3 | a patient’s harvest gazing at distant wildflowers through glass | |
4 | a swipe of tail a blur of fur my beefsteak gone from the garden | |
5 | after harvest the sallow complexion of the landscape | |
6 | after the harvest hungry crows glean the field | |
7 | Ah! mesmerizing tune as I wake up; bird in glee rich harvest within heart . . . | |
8 | another cornfield — the night harvests more of the moon | |
9 | apple harvest I inhale the labour of our afternoon | |
10 | Apple picking, Benedictine abbey — Gregorian chant. | |
11 | Auntie Marigold is back with a truckload of pumpkins | |
12 | Autumn collects the summer’s harvest And sends them back to school | |
13 | autumn leaves harvesting memories family trip | |
14 | autumn wind medals and memorials an empty harvest | |
15 | autumn’s voice a boy sings apples to cider | |
16 | barber shop — harvesting what’s left of my hair | |
17 | bare tree wrapped in the mist the homeless man | |
18 | battle for custody she wins a gibbous divvy of the early harvest | |
19 | bitter harvest — the nurse says it’s a girl | |
20 | bitter harvest this year’s field planted with mines | |
21 | blackberrying the juiciest fruit just out of reach | |
22 | blessings from La Niña . . . finally a wheat crop | |
23 | car accident . . . harvesting his organs | |
24 | carving the pumpkin thoughts turn to rising trout nevertheless, still carving | |
25 | children lost in war the wind gathers them all in a cloud | |
26 | city playground two old friends harvest their memories | |
27 | collecting social security our harvest years | |
28 | combine harvester half a meter of her hair on the hospital floor | |
29 | corn dollies the harvest of stem cells | |
30 | corn is ripe harvest time is here Midwestern traffic | |
31 | corn maze finding our way out of adulthood | |
32 | corolla yawns wide crimson dragon snaps no fire within | |
33 | dad on his deathbed empty fields stare back at him after the harvest | |
34 | decayed, broken limbs quiet, forgotten orchard one perfect apple | |
35 | Deluge of droplets Such spectacular sunshine Helpfully hitched in Harvest | |
36 | distant voices of early evening-fall, shadow of an unpicked grape | |
37 | early harvest a sickle wind through fields of conscripts | |
38 | ears of wheat caressed by the sun a cricket ruins the silence | |
39 | earth’s color galore autumn casts its spell on us time for peace and rest | |
40 | end of harvest migrations from the fields field mice | |
41 | fall harvest: a feast for me and the snails | |
42 | Farmer’s daughter Elopes Amid bountiful harvest! | |
43 | feasting on the pumpkin . . . black slugs | |
44 | first harvest in the fisherman’s net shy sun | |
45 | first harvest . . . the child shares her pudding with the scarecrow | |
46 | [Poem withdrawn.] | |
47 | funeral ends the harvest moon walks me home | |
48 | gathering sheaves of grain moonless threshing floor | |
49 | gathering the grains of myself harvest moon | |
50 | getting a feel for fresh figs . . . our hands ripen on the tree | |
51 | golden beams black glass infinite harvest | |
52 | golden harvest homemade pumpkin soup his signature dish | |
53 | grape harvest . . . a good reason for having fun | |
54 | grape harvesting . . . a flock of starlings ready for offensive | |
55 | grasshopper rasp — a chill wind rustles dry corn husks | |
56 | half-moon . . . a dragonfly settles on a pond rock | |
57 | hands cupping the child’s face . . . harvest moon | |
58 | harvest a lesson for life — I reap what I sow | |
59 | harvest day rice plants turn over their crowns to the farmers | |
60 | harvest festival — the scarecrow wears the same clothes | |
61 | harvest fields of havoc disconsolate birds | |
62 | harvest gathered on the threshing floor — Empty field | |
63 | harvest . . . gathering all that you gave | |
64 | harvest moon aĺl the wishes that came through | |
65 | harvest moon . . . every farmer’s suicide a blot on it | |
66 | harvest moon — four ventilated patients recover from covid | |
67 | harvest moon . . . his calloused hands gentle on the lamb | |
68 | harvest moon i eat a pear ripened on the tree | |
69 | harvest moon I gather my ku for a chapbook | |
70 | harvest moon lighting the stubble on the farmer’s chin | |
71 | Harvest Moon over stony desert hills — irony sucks | |
72 | Harvest Moon Rising Ripe pumpkins await the morn For their carved faces. | |
73 | harvest moon still waiting for my 15 minutes of fame | |
74 | harvest moon — the first kick in her belly | |
75 | harvest moon the newborn’s tune of latching sounds | |
76 | harvest moon — this wish to grow old together | |
77 | Harvest of sorrow HOLODOMOR My parents’ past | |
78 | harvest over the scarecrow remains at his post | |
79 | harvest over . . . wild turkeys feast on fallen grain | |
80 | harvest reeling in the lure on-line grooming | |
81 | harvest season — a burly bull’s rambling walk | |
82 | harvest season through the mill wheel flickering twilight | |
83 | harvest sun — shadows reach a bit longer to pick the fruit | |
84 | harvest time again a rough touch on a grain field just like years ago | |
85 | harvest time not a single free bed to maternity | |
86 | harvest time the mist moves to the silo | |
87 | harvested paddy field scarecrow all alone under sickle moon | |
88 | her harvest in, through a sticky intimacy | |
89 | his hopes on . . . tomorrow’s sugar-cane harvest suddenly elephants everywhere | |
90 | I attempt to count — The Churns that are turning and, I hear the brows bark | |
91 | ice harvest working up a sweat | |
92 | In autumn Nature slips into fine robes Trimmed in goldenrod | |
93 | In jail He pondered over His karma | |
94 | in the beginning . . . a golden harvest of apples | |
95 | informant — 30 silver pears on the tree | |
96 | Inner autumn calls, time to embrace season’s change. The wind howls for rest. | |
97 | kindness, empathy doled out in spring of her life gets her through its winter | |
98 | Laden Mulberry tree visited by feasting blue tongued lizard. | |
99 | Lantern fixed to the sky watches over the harvest | |
100 | lap child still many apples to be picked | |
101 | late fall until the next crop half a bag of wheat | |
102 | late pepper harvest in a stoneware bowl Christmas lights | |
103 | lean harvest the scarecrow loses his shirt | |
104 | Makar Sankranti the children flying kites know the sky’s the limit | |
105 | mango harvest gathering helping hands | |
106 | migrant workers — harvesting the fruits of the earth for others | |
107 | mischief in the air a whirlwind scattering hay | |
108 | my brother’s harvest — fifty pounds of backyard grapes bound for jelly jars | |
109 | new wine — the first autumn dinners with roast chestnuts | |
110 | new year persimmons as unappealing as ever | |
111 | no matter which side harvesting ukraine sunflowers | |
112 | of the wheat or the tares from which will i be counted | |
113 | on a white sky in inky starling scribble the year’s accounts | |
114 | one by one shucking the cobs . . . ancestors’ story | |
115 | our toddler brings in the harvest — one plastic carrot | |
116 | outside kitchen window sparrows playing with golden apples | |
117 | over Ukraine disturbs the silence of sighs flight by plane | |
118 | past karma reaping more karma | |
119 | peppered on the scorched hill hay bales | |
120 | picking apples annual family outing crisp yet warm fall air | |
121 | picking quinces — just burgeoned her breasts | |
122 | pile of sugar beets mother-in-law remembers her childhoods | |
123 | Plentiful harvest Of unsown dandelions Scattered by the wind | |
124 | plop! plop! acorns dropping — bountiful harvest | |
125 | pomegranate seeds flow down a white school wall fate of the harvest | |
126 | popping out of your lantern cape gooseberry | |
127 | pueblo seed keeper harvests the three sisters corn beans squash | |
128 | reaping hook my mom’s memory still bleeds | |
129 | rice paddy blues fertilizer costs another pest | |
130 | rows and rows of corn . . . the promises you made never harvested | |
131 | running this way that field mice are wind up toys in the stubble of corn | |
132 | scatterred seeds over the mass graves . . . the first harvest | |
133 | season finale — the brittle chatter of the cornfield | |
134 | september rice fields white egrets fatten | |
135 | seventieth birthday how old is too old to be Harvest Queen? | |
136 | shorn wheat migrating geese feed by moonlight | |
137 | sickle and bent only for empty barn — untimely ghost spell | |
138 | skirting the Aleutians crab boats dance on the waves | |
139 | smell of grain knitting with the sunlight — the old farmer cries | |
140 | stepping on ladder whistling his favorite song plucking the apples | |
141 | sterile white ceiling respirator hiss grow soft autumn fades away | |
142 | subsistence harvest only what you’ll eat and use | |
143 | sunflower seeds spill from a pocket autumn field | |
144 | tasting the apples too september breeze | |
145 | temple priest harvests the fruits — strong taste of nothing | |
146 | term starts a new crop of kids through the school gates | |
147 | the bee sows honey sealing off each honeycomb cell — a vital harvest | |
148 | the curved blade embracing the stalks and cutting | |
149 | the Grim Reaper — still harvesting the disciples of big tobacco | |
150 | the tiny pods of chive seeds harvest moon | |
151 | the trees of autumn my eyes harvesting the colors | |
152 | the vineyard ripening to purple autumn sunset | |
153 | Uncaffeinated I preorder on the app Ripe for the pickup | |
154 | village fest a corn seller reaps tons of laughter | |
155 | when time is ripe I’ll tell my grandchildren about their mother | |
156 | whether or not the war ends . . . harvest moon | |
157 | windy day — a scarecrow waving back to me | |
158 | yellow grapes . . . the sweet light of summer | |
159 | Yokey orb shrivels A decision has been made Grow the cells of babe |
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!
