Touchstone Awards

Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems 2019

The Haiku Foundation is pleased to announce The Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems winners and honorable mentions for work published in 2019. Nearly 900 poems were nominated this year by poets, readers and editors around the world. The panel considered every poem as a group as well as individually. Through a series of votes and discussion, the panel members arrived at the Shortlist. Following another round of voting and discussion, the panel members recognizes six award winners and two honorable mentions.

I speak for the entire panel when I say that everyone recognized that each poem on the Shortlist was unique and had great merit. I wish to thank the panel for their diligence, expertise and effort, especially in the last month as we have all coped with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Touchstone Award for Individual Poems Panelists for 2019:

	
	Chuck Brickley
	Susan Constable
        Anna Maris 
	Christopher Patchel 
	Wally Swist
	Michelle Tennison

 

Touchstone Award for Individual Poems Winners for 2019
strawberry season
acres and acres
of bent backs
     — Gregory Longenecker, The Heron’s Nest XXI:2
 
wind song
between boulders —
ochre handprints
     — Leanne Mumford, Echidna Tracks 2: Landscapes (17 March 2019)
dappled light
the voice a crow has
for its young
     — Polona Oblak, The Heron’s Nest XXI:4 21
be still     wind
and know     rain
that I am    tree
     — Renée Owen, Modern Haiku 50.2
carving
the snow
ulu moon
     — Robin Anna Smith, Seventh Annual Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, Third Place
day moon
the only witness
remains silent
     — Julie Warther, Acorn 42
The Touchstone Award for Individual Poems 2019 Shortlist
country road
the long ride through the scent
of cattle gone ahead
     — Adjei Agyei-Baah, Wales Haiku Journal, Spring
living alone . . .
both ends
of the wishbone
     — Francine Banwarth, The Heron’s Nest XXI:3
light rain the karst of everyday mind
     — Sondra J. Byrnes, Sonic Boom 15
lichen
in a stone angel's palm
advancing rain
     — Paul Chambers, Presence 67
hardening the tractor ruts blackthorn wind
     — Simon Chard, Presence 64
rain —
earwigs spill
from fennel stalks
     — Sarah-Jane Crowson, Wales Haiku Journal, Autumn
dust of a moth
all that i’ve been
belongs to the moon
     —Lucia Fontana, Failed Haiku 46
moonlight what’s left of the river
     — Lorin Ford, The Heron’s Nest XXI:2
mom’s grave—
the breeze parts my hair
just so
     — Warren Gossett, Acorn 42
oak leaf frozen to the sidewalk a celibate life
     — Lee Gurga, Mariposa 40
strawberry season
acres and acres
of bent backs
     — Gregory Longenecker, The Heron’s Nest XXI:2
field of poppies the war somewhere
     — Elmedin Kadric, Presence 64
three tiny bones
in my inner ear
meadow lark
     — Marietta McGregor, The Heron’s Nest XXI:4
power cut
we reach Mordor
by candlelight
     — John McManus, hedgerow 129
summer the heat of his punch
     — Lori A Minor, The Haiku Foundation's Troutswirl Blog, Haiku Dialogue: Poet's Choice
backyard weeds everyone has a name
     — Ben Moeller-Gaa, hedgerow 129
wind song
between boulders —
ochre handprints
     — Leanne Mumford, Echidna Tracks 2: Landscapes (17 March 2019)
dappled light
the voice a crow has
for its young
     — Polona Oblak, The Heron’s Nest XXI:4
be still     wind
and know     rain
that I am    tree
     — Renée Owen, Modern Haiku 50.2
night bus
the emptiness
well lit
     — Bryan Rickert, The Heron’s Nest XXI:2
both tent flaps
tied open
morning solitude
     — Chad Lee Robinson, Acorn 43
maple keys tomorrow a sermon on doors
     — Dan Schwerin, Modern Haiku 50:3
Woodstock forever stamps summer's end
     — Charlie Shiotani, The Heron’s Nest XXI:4
carving
the snow
ulu moon
     — Robin Anna Smith, Seventh Annual Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards, Third Place
bioluminescence
I skip a pebble across
the universe
     — Debbie Strange, Seashores 2
ghost apple
this emptiness
inside
     — Debbie Strange, Shamrock Haiku Journal 42
weathered oars
we fold our worries
into the river
     — Debbie Strange, Acorn 42
day moon
the only witness
remains silent
     — Julie Warther, Acorn 42
immigrant
seeds sewn
into her dress
     — Mary Weiler, Frogpond 42:2
late-life affair
the weathered stone wall
wild with foxgloves
     — Lucy Whitehead, Modern Haiku 50.3

Bruce H. Feingold
Chair, Touchstone Awards Committee
The Haiku Foundation

This Post Has 9 Comments

  2. Congratulations to all the poets honored here. You bring such beauty into our lives.

  5. To
    Jim Kacian,
    greetings.

    Delighted to know every award winning entries , a chance to know more about their wiring potential, at the same time, many thanks for those judges for having given an opportunity to know more the authors.

  6. Thank you to the judges for their hard work. Congratulations to all the shortlisted poets, and to my fellow winning poets. This is my first poetry award, so it’s an incredible feeling for me to see my work honoured. I knew this was a special poem, because it came out of an ancient and special place, but to have that recognised at an international level is really wonderful.

  7. Thank you for the work of the judges and congratulations to the poets for the very fine poetry represented by these awards!

  8. A deep bow to the judges and all the entries in this year’s Touchstone Awards.

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