THF Monthly Kukai Voting Ballot — September 2026
This month’s theme:
fire
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 ball of fire city street ablaze with the setting sun | |
2 | a beacon in the darkest night you tend the flame | |
3 | a burning pyre . . . Dad says he’s ready | |
4 | a child’s shoe on the cindered porch all that remains | |
5 | a crumpled letter ignites another forest a dying heart | |
6 | A former lifetime on the other side of the fire is burnt away, leaving only the phoenix. | |
7 | a kid with a toy gun — the firing squad just ordered fireeeeeee . . . | |
8 | a radiant glow dances across the valley the theatre ghost light | |
9 | abject suffering — glowing in the heat of the forest fire | |
10 | ablaze the wigwam of a cured leprosy patient | |
11 | after everything said and done the blue flames | |
12 | after supper around the hearth fire memories alight | |
13 | again and again the fire springs forth anew from the forest’s roots | |
14 | an adult cradles her firefighter teddy bear 9/11 anniversary | |
15 | anonymous gift of a multicolored quilt after the bushfires | |
16 | as if in love the flicker y e a r n s for the moth, too | |
17 | ashtray filled — all those words left unsaid | |
18 | at a distance fires glaze a flickering aster | |
19 | attracted to the firethorn bee and i | |
20 | autumn afterglow the sky set on fire | |
21 | autumn again all aflame . . . in iran | |
22 | autumn dusk spirals of smoke chase a family of deer | |
23 | Autumn in Pompeii through the eyes of the ancients lava and fire | |
24 | autumn is afire with golden sun, red leaves, brisk wind In this warmth we shake | |
25 | autumn morning fire rains on an ordinary day | |
26 | black beach sand swash and backwash memory of fire | |
27 | blackened tongs rice hulls smoking Raku teacups | |
28 | blazing sunrise and a hibiscus bud same fire | |
29 | bonfire sparks a poem | |
30 | bonfires on the beach — searching for memories of my adolescence | |
31 | building on fire . . . something burning in all of us | |
32 | burn barrel — my unread letter smolders | |
33 | burning house someone across the street turns on a lamp | |
34 | burning pyre . . . where would you be today if not here | |
35 | burning sea — a bluefin caught parboiled | |
36 | burnt grass . . . dark waters El Niño | |
37 | bush fire among the ashes charred canopies | |
38 | by the fireside a storybook opened at the dragon’s tale | |
39 | carrying it home in my jacket fire from the camp | |
40 | catherine wheel finding fault with my wife | |
41 | cease fire on Christmas day . . . sharing cigars and cakes | |
42 | charcoal mist all that remains of a forest | |
43 | chariots of fire — in a hospital room the TV on mute | |
44 | clumps of poppies the wheat field on fire | |
45 | cold ashes — a maple leaf drifts into the clearing | |
46 | cold December morn conceived, born cool autumn day bears redemptive fire | |
47 | Crackled red fades pink Consuming power begets calm light The last embers | |
48 | Cremation by the Ganges Wood fire burns round the clock Deathless Purifier | |
49 | dying embers lovers ignore cold hands kindle a new blaze | |
50 | dying embers . . . the hardest part is letting go | |
51 | embers of past revived by nostalgia early autumn | |
52 | emerging hatchling fire ants swarm across its shell burning little feet | |
53 | evening romance the sun shining through the trees autumn leaves aflame | |
54 | f r o i e beach b n sparks lighting the path to the Milky Way (bonfire is a concrete poem extending over sparks) | |
55 | fading light a puddle holds the fire | |
56 | faint memories of my mountain homeland smoke haze | |
57 | fall farmhouse hooting yelling crash black soot | |
58 | fire is stealing itself back | |
59 | fire man’s first step toward extinction | |
60 | Fire rages thru trees lightning strike | |
61 | fire aftermath in the origami world a flock of Pegasus | |
62 | fire between them stories smolder in the coals smoke puffs unspoken | |
63 | fire burns nothing to explain ash still falls | |
64 | fire crackers — this urge to find fireflies | |
65 | fire drill the last question unanswered | |
66 | fire escape — a black cat measures the iron steps | |
67 | fire fire and fire left ashes | |
68 | fire in his eyes she silently slips out the door | |
69 | fire starter the judges hand him another match | |
70 | fire strings refugees in water Benares ghats | |
71 | fire-colored leaves fall . . . autumn whispers through the trees and sunset warms the earth | |
72 | fireflies . . . lighting up my pathway into night | |
73 | fireflies . . . writing another definition of enlightenment | |
74 | fireflies blink coded messages for summer fire | |
75 | firefly does it know it shines | |
76 | five heads huddled together tongues of fire | |
77 | flames, wind, earth reach for pond’s brow to reflect | |
78 | flash floods . . . stirring the skyline funeral pyres | |
79 | flashing signals fireflies don’t need to join Tinder | |
80 | flickering flames by the campfire making s’mores | |
81 | forest burns beneath the smoke another forest | |
82 | forest fire — a lone rhododendron rises from the ash | |
83 | forever in transit the fire in me fused by the earth | |
84 | found a new flame sparks in abundance fade to the void | |
85 | from 85 to 3 kg funeral | |
86 | frosty day she clutches his firefighter’s helmet | |
87 | full moon white smoke erupting from a chimney | |
88 | ghost story the ashen faces around the campfire | |
89 | Green sprouts Poking through the ash Life after death | |
90 | haunting echo the cries of creatures who couldn’t escape | |
91 | heart ablaze love flows elusively fingers caressing | |
92 | held glance she lights a cigarette | |
93 | her dreams — in the fast spreading sparks dying embers | |
94 | her long hair he can still smell the smoke from the last bonfire | |
95 | homes in flames — a child paints the rising sun | |
96 | hot summer nights smells of distant fires little meadow mouse digs deeper | |
97 | Ice moon who can be a stranger around a campfire | |
98 | in the dark below the choir loft — candles singing | |
99 | kitsunebi what harvest will we get this year? | |
100 | late moonrise no longer waiting for the fire to go out | |
101 | leaves afalling like red-fire — forest confetti | |
102 | life dissolves in sparks | |
103 | Light my fire The singer crooned . . . And I wondered | |
104 | lightning finds the tinder beneath our borrowed forests — waking from a nap | |
105 | logs burning — the glow of a screensaver | |
106 | long night we toss and turn the embers | |
107 | love story — outside the window a fire tree | |
108 | mother arranges the wood hungry son watches fire burns brighter | |
109 | mountain village smoke just the old neighbor burning dead leaves | |
110 | negative again . . . trying to light a wet match | |
111 | neighborhoods melt while denying climate change floods take over | |
112 | new moon four wallabies join us round the campfire | |
113 | new things grow after the fire fed by ashes | |
114 | night fire — a spark disappears among the stars | |
115 | no more music we keep dancing — fireflies | |
116 | no rain this month we walk this hill of dry grass sparks rise — just firefly | |
117 | Nothing lit the stars: they all became blazing suns. Star-born, we are fire. | |
118 | October night sky the revelation orbits the fire pit | |
119 | old snapshots scattered across the kitchen table his first s’more ablaze | |
120 | Olympic flame — old hands steadying the young | |
121 | on the shore left in tears — weeping willow | |
122 | our fire even grief cannot quench | |
123 | Outside the rain — inside the fire — warm and happy . . . | |
124 | parched i carry you in an urn | |
125 | pine forest under the red flame — I’m swallowing dumplings | |
126 | praying for rain only Thor answers | |
127 | preparing for tomorrow she banks her fire the marital therapist sighs | |
128 | promising him that he won’t get burned fire of an Aries | |
129 | rain — after the bush fire fireweeds | |
130 | re-growth in the forest — fireweed | |
131 | Red and poofy white fireweeds line the cobbled beach. Waves bow to their flames. | |
132 | rows of small coffins . . . that scorching boom from the sky | |
133 | rubbed together two pebbles sparkling childhood | |
134 | saving a seat by the campfire for the smoke | |
135 | seven rounds we meld our lives around the fire | |
136 | shadows made of light fireplace casts eclipses on empty porch — another twig cackles and burns | |
137 | siding, windows, roof adding up home repairs I pray for fire | |
138 | sitting together by the crackling fire old flames rekindled | |
139 | smoke-covered moon, crackling flames in forest winds — cigarette butt | |
140 | so beautiful palms are glowing yesterday they caressed a little firefly | |
141 | sparks fly up from the campfire to mingle with stars | |
142 | Stroking his white ball, Over ego-drenched greens — Fire engulfed forests. | |
143 | struck by lightning the introvert tree betrayed by fire | |
144 | summer fire we take long walks through love | |
145 | summer night firefly flashes light dancing for love | |
146 | summer noon fire in the air Invisible | |
147 | summer’s end — the prayer tree bursts into flame | |
148 | sunrises alone the welding spatter burns on dad’s coveralls | |
149 | sunset after the fire in the woods the fire in the sky | |
150 | the bombing’s end . . . two homeless men put potatoes on coals | |
151 | the candle burns empty pews hold the silence my bones remember | |
152 | the day’s last light — smoldering | |
153 | the diamond’s fire the darkness that created it | |
154 | the fire within not enough to kindle a single candle | |
155 | the first thing she said was it’s gone it’s all gone wildfire | |
156 | the flame dims — the house stills now only a ghost | |
157 | the mother of my children her stretch marks shining silver swimming in the sun | |
158 | the secret of fire young girls teaching each other how to smile | |
159 | the tai chi teacher in a temper tantrum Fire Dragon Year | |
160 | things will never be the same again wildfire summer | |
161 | this world cold, cold, cold — how you warm me | |
162 | treacle scent o’er burning cedar marshmallows | |
163 | twig burns; my numb hands regain warm animation flames sway east with wind | |
164 | twilight lingers all through the night wildfires | |
165 | two stories of chimney bricks wildfire path | |
166 | unpacked baggage homeland tagged — last heatwave | |
167 | water and clay — a face on fire cooled in his hands | |
168 | whiff of burning bacon just before the fire trucks arrived | |
169 | wildfire lighting another cigarette | |
170 | wildfire slowly then quickly aaaiii aaii AI | |
171 | wildfire the wind takes it where it will | |
172 | wildfire season — even the moon rises smelling of smoke. | |
173 | wildfires the flaming red of the dead cardinal | |
174 | winter morning a shadow of smoke passes through her windswept hair | |
175 | winter rain a bamboo stick rakes the sandalwood bier | |
176 | world on fire a grove snail path ends on hot tarmac |
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 (2)
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What a truly engaging collection of haiku!
All winners in their own way!
So many wonderful haiku this month. It was difficult to choose. Fire – primeval