So I was thinking it might be fun to sponsor a little contest. Nothing too taxing — just haiku.
You probably know what a haiku is already: a very short poem whose origins are primarily Japanese, whose three lines are measured in syllables numbering 5-7-5, and which (as we often learn in elementary school) traditionally has something to do with nature. There are a couple of other considerations here, too, for the poetic purists. A good haiku will entertain a play between pure description and commentary on the subject matter.
Sounds easy, right? So I’m challenging you to write a haiku. Post it in the comments section of this blog post for it to count as a contest entry. The prize will be a copy of David M. Bader’s hilarious collection Haiku U. Your deadline is midnight central time on Thursday night this week (January 26th). The poet whose haiku is deemed to be the best all-around in terms of interest and style will win!
And your subject? Well, it doesn’t, strictly speaking, have to be about nature. Let’s go for something a bit more timely and topical: how about the current Republican primaries? (Feel free to be funny or serious — and if you can find a way to work nature in, all the better.)
If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section. Chances are, you aren’t the only curious (or confused) person.
Ready? Set? GO!
Sappho's Torque 
Hypocrisy flows
like a rain swollen river
Gettin’ deep in here
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I’ll pick up that gauntlet! 🙂
I’m always up for a little haiku action. Here’s the opening gambit, then:
– – – – – – – – – –
The herd watches as
power-mad bull elephants
brawl in filthy mud.
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Mitt Romney scares me:
His kind burn mine at the stake.
More Obama, please?
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“Half moon goblin eyes”
Three women let Newt touch them.
You threw up too, right?
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I’ve decided people may enter more than once, if they have more than one haiku in them. 🙂 Please just make each entry a separate comment/post. Thanks!
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one day will they tell
us what their plans are to get
people back to work?
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Newt, arrogant man,
“I want an open marriage.”
Romney had a dog.
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Ron Paul is a kook
Gingrich, Romney – misanthropes
Spreading Santorum
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Lots of great entries here already! Any more? Just three hours till the contest closes…
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Keep up the debates
until the presidency
is out of your grasp
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Gingrich, Romney, Paul…
The Best the G.O.P. has?
Seriously, dudes?
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WOW! Such great entries! Thank you, everyone, who participated (and who followed along). It was a very tough choice, but I think we’re going to have to factor in not just wit and form, but also style and bringing nature elements in, or there’ll be more winners than we have prizes for. 😉
First place goes to CINDY, for capturing with exquisite precision even the aura of a traditional haiku. Go, cherry blossom, go.
Honorable mention goes to DANA.
Thanks again! I’ll post another contest in the future.
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And here’s one from me, although it’s not originally my idea; I just shaped it into the haiku form. I’d love to give credit for this. It was tweeted and retweeted several days ago and came across my feed. The original author maybe have been Gerry Duggan.
Last time dudes this nuts
debated, it was over
how to kill Batman.
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Hooray! Thanks much . . . and may I say how fabulous I thought all of these entries are? Very fabulous indeed.
I particularly liked the way Dana meshed the classic nature imagery with no-nonsense, down-home wisdom in that last line. 😉
Thanks for the fun inspiration!
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Indeed, Dana’s clever voice shone through like sunlight through whisky.
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