RESULTS OF FIRST HAIKU CONTEST "SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL"

First Prize

the hunter's moon

a night is not enough

to get the point

luna plină de toamnă

o noapte nu-i de-ajuns

pentru-a înţelege

traducere din limba engleză de Eduard ŢARĂ

Artūras ŠILANSKAS

Vilnius, LITUANIA

Second Prize

falling leaves

one by one

my old friends

frunze căzătoare

unul câte unul

vechii prieteni

traducere din limba engleză de Eduard ŢARĂ

Andrea CECON

Cividale del Friuli, ITALIA

Third Prize

rattling windows

dad gasps his final breath

during a blizzard

geamuri trântite

tata-şi dă ultima suflare

pe viscol

traducere din limba engleză de Eduard ŢARĂ

Karen O'LEARY

West Fargo, STATELE UNITE ALE AMERICII

Commendations
(in alphabetical order)

whiz of a scythe

in the transparent blueness

larks’ undersongs

 şuierul coasei

în albastrul transparent

isonul ciocârliilor

translated from English into Romanian by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU

Ljubomir DRAGOVIĆ

Banja Luka, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

His roots and branches

hold earth and sky together –

the old oak tree.

Rădăcini şi crengi

unind pământul şi cerul –

bătrânul stejar.

translated from English into Romanian by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ

Verleyen HERWIG

Bruges, BELGIUM

sumi-e mountains

a blackbird tries to fly

from the drying ink

munţi sumi-e

o mierlă-ncearcă să zboare

din tuşul uscat

 translated from English into Romanian by Darrell LINDSEY

Darrell LINDSEY

Nacogdoches, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

snow storm –

petrified raven travelling

on a withered tree

 

viscol –

corbul de piatră

pe-un pom chinuit

translated from English into Romanian by Corneliu Traian ATANASIU

Ljubomir RADOVANČEVIĆ

Zagreb, CROATIA

 

in the dream

my dead friend has to go

winter solstice

pregătit de drum

prietenul mort din vis

solstiţiu de iarnă

translated from English into Romanian by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ

Bruce ROSS

Bangor, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

peach season –

the way his foot

fits my hand

timpul piersicii –

felu-n care picioruşul lui

îmi umple palma

translated from English into Romanian by Cezar Florin CIOBÎCĂ

Sandra SIMPSON

Tauranga, NEW ZEALAND

 

woodland

the silence

of history

pădure

liniştea

istoriei

translated from English into Romanian by Eduard ŢARĂ

Dietmar TAUCHNER

Puchberg, AUSTRIA

The Haiku Contest SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL

The Haiku Contest

SHARPENING THE GREEN PENCIL

organized by the Romanian Kukai Group

The ROMANIAN KUKAI monthly contest will have been celebrating 5 years of online activity on April 1st, 2012. The contest is addressed to those who can write in Romanian only. It has been and still is an excellent means to promote haiku for those who can speak Romanian. Furthermore, the haiku online contest has become a genuine school where a new generation of authors have promoted it.

The experience which has been gained in these years determine us to initiate a contest in English, language which the mostly used by the haiku writers presently. The majority of the subscribers to our contest in Romanian have been participating to the international contests in English rendering appreciating results. We agree that the time has come to offer them a chance to confront the world wide writer in a contest organized by us. It is a celebrating contest but we hope and wish it will become a yearly event. A contest which, as most recognized contests, comes to stimulate the creativity of the authors and the quality of their poems, to represent a means of mutual understanding and to enriching everyone’s experience.

The contest's name is inspired by one of the well known lyrics of Elena Manta Ciubotariu's haiku : spring - / the child is sharpening / the green pencil, awarded in 1995 at one of the international contests organized in USA.

Contest rules

1. The contest is open to the public, regardless of age or nationality. Members of the executive committee are not eligible.

2. The contest is free of charge.

3. There is preference for the unpublished poems in media, volumes or on the internet.

4. The participants are required to send two haikus in English. They are asked to send the native variant of the poems also.

5. There is no theme imposed.

6. The poems will be sent only by e-mail at eduard_tara@yahoo.fr. At the subject box it is mandatory to write haiku contest 2012. The actual message must contain the poems which should be accompanied by the participant’s credentials: (name, surname, postal zip code, e-mail address).

7. The deadline is 15^th of March 2012.

8. The secretary of the contest will copy and transmit the list of poems to the members of the jury by e-mail, without mentioning the contestants’ names or personal data.

9. The jury will appreciate the originality and the complexity of the poems in accordance with the spirit of the classic haiku.

10. The jury will award three prizes and, also, a number of commendations which will be decided depending on the quality of the poems. Each rewarded author will receive by mail a diploma and a copy of the printed anthology of the contest.

11. The awards will be made public on April 1st, 2012 on the official Romanian Kukai site http://romaniankukai.blogspot.com.

12. The received poems will be published in an anthology dedicated to the contest which will be available to the public on the official Romanian Kukai site http://romaniankukai.blogspot.com.

13. The authors who send poems for the contest agree that their poems should be published in the contest’s anthology under no pretense of financial demands. The authorship can be claimed following the publication of the poets in the anthology.

14. The jury will be formed by Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, the founder of the online haiku movement from Romania, Dan Doman and Cezar Florin Ciobîcă.

Other three poems from Romanian Kukai

hand in hand
on the sunny path-
fall shadows
Corneliu Traian Atanasiu

meagre horse
slowly moving off-
frozen trough
Ioan Garda

the red carpet-
in the frame a squirrel
holding a nut
Corneliu Traian Atanasiu

My favourites among the RK and HC winners in 2011

Lamp of watch-
mosquito's shadow
as big as a horse

Petru Ioan Gârda

"To make a horse out of a mosquito", in Romanian, is the equivalent of "to make a mountain out of a molehill". When one is on the watch, worrying, this is very likely to happen. But it is also easy to imagine the actual shadow of a mosquito cast on a wall in the size of a horse by a small lamp.

wedding suit-
a couple of moths
in a pocket

Dan Norea

The old wedding suit is shelter for a new couple. I find the image rather tender, although moths are usually associated with decrepitude.

after the downfall-
deeper the colour
of forget-me-nots

Virginia Popescu

Is this poem about flowers after rain, or is it about blue eyes and tears?

lunch break-
on the plough handle
sparrows prattling

Mihai Mateiciuc

autumn wind
opening all gates-
no caller

Valeria Tamas

The results of the haiku Contest organized by the Haiku Journal (edition 2009)

The editing board of the Journal of Romanian-Japanese cultural interferences HAIKU has organized in the first semester of this year, the annual competition of haiku poems, edition 2009, with international participation.
It has received by e-mail or by mail a number of 554 haiku poems, belonging to 94 poets. From these number of 203 poems belonged to the Romanian poets and 351 poems belonged to the foreign poets.
The foreign poets have chosen for communication their own language and also English or French. The choice and the quality estimation of the haiku poems were made by the jury in three distinct sections. Finally, the prizes and honorable mentions were awarded to the sections Romanian, English and French.
The criteria for accepting poems are the requirements communicated in the notification of the contest: haiku following the formal 5-7-5 syllables per-line structure and original poems which were not published in newspapers, journal or in any other forms up to the date of the competition. Also, the most appreciated was the presence of the kigo, kireji in the poems, and the suggestive power of the poems.
The jury was composed of:
- President – the poet Radu Cârneci
- Members: the poets Paula Romanescu,Vasile Moldovan and Valentin Nicoliţov

The jury congratulates the poets that have been awarded a prize and thanks to all competitors for the participation.
The winner of the prizes and honorable mentions are:



Romanian Section

First Award – George BĂDĂRĂU, Iaşi

Altă ninsoare
în azilul de bătrâni…
poate ultima

Another snowfall
in the asylum of old people...
as it seems the last

Second Award – Ştefan G. THEODORU, Bădila

S-a dus bunicul-
acum doar stelele
păzesc ograda

Granda is gone -
lots of stars are still guarding
his farm every night

Third Award – Vali IANCU, Bucureşti

Cămin părăsit-
totul sub stăpânirea
păpădiilor

Abandonated home -
all under the possession
of dandelions

Mentions:

Adina ENĂCHESCU, Râmnicu-Vâlcea


Totu-n ruină –
doar o fetiţă-i cântă
păpuşii rupte

All is in ruins -
only a girl sings for
the broken doll

Ioan MARINESCU PUIU, Cluj-Napoca

O libelulă
poposită pe bancă-
stau în picioare

A dragonfly
resting on the bench-
I stand up

Oprica PĂDEANU, Bucureşti

Trandafiri trecuţi-
un fluture amorţit
chiar în palma mea

Whitered roses -
a benumed butterfly
just in my palm

Mentions for senryu:

Florin GRIGORIU, Lehliu-Gară

Arşiţă mare-
cu brusturele pe cap
nici nu îmi pasă

Scorching heat -
with a bur instead of hat
I don’t care a straw

Ion UNTARU, Băneasa, Giurgiu

Câştigat pe stradă
pierdut până acasă
ultimul haiku

Won on the street
lost until home
the last haiku


French Section

Premier prix: Alexandra IVOYLOVA-Bulgaria

Nuages passants-
tantôt lumiere, tantôt l’ombre
sur le cimetière

Nori trecători-
când lumină. când umbră
peste cimitir


Second prix: Anna Do So TADJUIDEEN-Franţa

La première gelée-
petit ange de la fontaine
s’arrête de pisser

Primul îngheţ-
micul înger la fântînă
şi-opreşte jetul

Troisieme prix: Jessica TREMBLAY, Canada

Finis les cerisiers-
les touristes regardent
les cartes postales


Gata cireşii-
turiştii văd acum
doar cărţi poştale

Mention: Jean-Michel AUBRUN, Franţa

Coucher de soleil! Soare-n asfinţit!
L’epouvantail du verger, Sperietoarea în pomi
lui, este insensible

Soare-n asfinţit!
Sperietoarea din pomi
nepăsătoare

Mention: Aksinia MIHAILOVA, Bulgaria

Rue de Sofia.
Au-dessus les poubelles
acacias en fleurs

Stradă-n Sofia.
Peste pubele pline
salcâmi în floare


Mention: Frans TERRYN, Belgia

Village natal- Satul natal-
ou sont les épouvantails unde-s sperietorile
de mon enfance?

Satul natal-
unde-s sperietorile
de altădată?
de altădată?


English Section



First Award: Anatoly KUDRYAVITSKY – Irlanda

Aspen in the rain-
every leaf drip-dripping with
the sound of autumn

Un plop în ploaie -
în fiecare frunză
sunetul toamnei

Second Award: Ludmila BALABANOVA - Bulgaria

First kiss…
the scent of lime
reaches the stars


Cel dintâi sărut -
mireasma florii de tei
ajunge la stele

Third Award: Verica ZIVCOVIC – Serbia

Little bells tinkling-
from the coachman’s greysh beard
smell of melted snow

Clinchet de clopoţei -
în barba vizitiului
neaua topindu-se

Mentions:

Angelee DEODHAR – India

Late afternoon light-
hand-picked tomatoes
glow in her hand

Lumina serii -
roşiile culese
lucind în mâna ei

David McMurray – Japonia

Boy with autism
turns every leaf right side up
straight line pointing home

Băiatul autist
întoarce fiecare foaie
în direcţia casei

Barbara A. TAYLOR – Australia

My guard of honour-
on both sides of the bridge
a line of pelicans

Gardă de onoare -
de ambele părţi ale podului
şiruri de pelicani

Sasa VAZIC –Serbia

Frightened by
my mirrored image
a scarecrow

Înspăimîntată
de înfăţişarea mea
o sperietoare

English translations for the Contest of Haiku Journal made by Vasile Moldovan.

WINNERS OF ROMANIAN MONTHLY KUKAI OCTOBER 2008

We go on to publish our winners. These are the awarded poems at Romanian Kukai contest for Oktober 2008. The theme of the contest was quince.

First place

a single lamp

for the old woman’s winter

quince by the window

Corina Ion

Second place

the same yellow:

a quince in my window

and the full moon

Maria Tirenescu

Third place

Autumn service –

the quince swings

scenting the yard

Gabriel IORDAN-DOROBANŢU

Translation made by Magdalena Dale. We are not native English speakers. In this way we will appreciate if you will point out the possible mistakes of the English version of our poems.

WINNERS OF ROMANIAN MONTHLY KUKAI SEPTEMBER 2008

We go on to publish our winners. These are the awarded poems at Romanian Kukai contest for June 2008. The theme of the contest was holiday.

First place

Nocturnal silence –
in the shell of my suitcase
the sea's roar

Simona Dobrescu

Second place

only a tourist –
looking at the moon
at the window

Maria Tirenescu

Flocks of cranes -
in the holiday village
a tent and a shadow

Doina Bogdan Wurm

Third place

Hoarfrost on vineyards –
holiday memories
sweet as grape juice

Mihaela Băbuşanu Amalanci

On corner of the desk
the holiday souvenir –
a steering wheel clock

Henriette Berge


Translation made by Magdalena Dale. We are not native English speakers. In this way we will appreciate if you will point out the possible mistakes of the English version of our poems.