Romanian Monthly Kukai March 2020

Special Prize

early thaw -
the child changes the book
with the makeup kit

Argentina Stanciu


First Place

old cross -
the thaw makes lighter
Jesus’ cross


Cezar Florescu


Second Place

first thaw -
sky and earth
in a puddle


Ioana Bud



Third Place

thaw on a mountain lake -
crushed among trouts
Polar Star


Ion Rășinaru



Fourth Place

thaw weather –
the antique dealer gets out
his table with old books

Mona Iordan



defrosted river -
the night carriages starting
full of stars

Lucreția Horvath


Fifth Place

window thaw -
dripping from the flower
the last petal

Ion Cuzuioc



Sixth Place


early thaw -
heartbeats
are getting faster

Béa Hurmuz


late thaws -
on the old woman's shirt
only rivers

Mihai Pascaru

Romanian Monthly Kukai Results September 2016

Theme: using the word plum

Special Prize

plum season –

the grandson more often

at his grandma’s

Claudia Ramona Codau

       

First Place

night in the hammock -

Big Dipper charged

with ripe plums

Florin Florian

Second Place

a dish lacking –

tasting bitter this year

the plum jam

Petru-Ioan Gârda

Third Place

on the way to school

repeating division –

first plums

Roxana Dumitrache

Fourth Place

years of drought –

just a stack of wood

from father’s plum trees

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă

Fifth Place

dry plums -

the widow counts

her wrinkles

Dan Iulian

Sixth Place

dry plums -

grandma’s oven

has also collapsed

Vasile Conioși-Mesteșanu

Romanian Monthly Kukai July 2016

Theme: using mulberry, summer kigo


Special Prize

dinner under the wild strawberries –
riddled with mulberries
the moon in bowls
Rodica P. Calota



First Place


the old white mulberry tree -
the starlings darkening
even its shadow

Vasile Conioși-Mesteșanu


Second Place


dinner under the wild strawberries –
riddled with mulberries
the moon in bowls

Rodica P. Calota


Third Place


back home -
sweeter than ever
the black mulberries

Argentina Stanciu


Fourth Place


mulberries on the sidewalk –
as sweet as ever the traces
of childhood

Grigore Chitul


Fifth Place



mulberry season -
washing non-stop
mother’s hands

Valeria Tamaș


Sixth Place



alone in the night -
the silk road goes over
a mulberry

Mihai Mateiciuc


ripe mulberries -
a glimpse of her breast through
the broken lace

Bea Hurmuz

Romanian Monthly Kukai June 2016

 Theme: using the word "pollen"

Special Prize


funeral under the lime tree –
retouched by pollen
the decorations

Doina Bogdan Wurm


Everything takes on a special aura under the linden tree in bloom. The funeral coincides with the vital unleashing of nature. And, ironically, the deserved decorations acquired in life are satirized by the continous falling pollen, which slowly overwhelms them. Vanitas vanitatum. (Corneliu Traian Atanasiu)

First place

after the storm -
golden with pollen
the puddle in the road

Valer G. Pop


Second Place

pollen on the eyelashes
thighs and hair -
butterflies in the stomach

Vali Iancu


Third Place

origami flower –
searching for its pollen
thirsty butterflies

Ana Urma



funeral under the lime tree -
retouched by pollen
the decorations

Doina Bogdan Wurm


Fourth Place

pollen over the photos -
the black and white wedding ring
golden again

Cristina Pârvu


Fifth Place

moon getting smaller –
all the pollen shaken off
into the old lake

Gabriel Iordan Dorobanţu


on the last road -
the pollen smoothing
his wrinkles

Florin Florian


Sixth Place

intoxicating smell –
the pollen goes into the hive
staggering all the way

Grigore Chitul



the wind through the willows -
the pollen in the catkins
making the sight look golden

Argentina Stanciu

Romanian Monthly Kukai April 2016

The theme was using the word SEEDLING.

First Place

night of vigil –
ready to break the moon
a thread of seedling

Rodica P. Calotă

Second Place

still alone -
turning towards the gate
even the seedlings

Vasile Conioși-Mesteșanu

Third Place

another sunrise -

grandma stares at

the seedlings

Mihaela Nadin Ghileschi

Fourth Place

withered seedling -
a child’s picture
on a crooked cross

Violeta Urdă

Fifth Place

end of rain –

around the seedling

cloudy moon

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă

after the storm -

on the wet alleys

seedlings of stars

Gabriela Vlad

Sixth Place

convalescence -
mom puts her seat
between seedlings

Daniela Zglibuțiu

mourning at the gate -

among flower seedlings

mother’s slipper

Letiția Iubu

removing weeds from among seedlings -

the old man kneels

among white butterflies

Rafila Radu

Comment for a winning haiku in Romanian Monthly Kukai March 2016

stall in the market –

over yesterday’s news

piles of nettles

Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă

Right from the first reading, this poem caught my eyes. And it bit me. The nettle could not do otherwise. Especially when it is caught in the mood of the local environment. Through an expressive touch: the stall in the market place. Coming proudly into the foreground. 

The newsprint, for the poem speaks about it even if it does not name it, has always had a universal use in the countryside: as wrapping paper, as an improvisation for a tablecloth, to put in the home’s window to stop the bleaching light of the sun and even as an avant la lettre replacement of toilet paper. The pragmatic benefit of the support has far exceeded the need and respect for everyday information.

With some piety and with a strange national pride, you can see in the nettles, the true, native, specific virtues of the place. Slightly undermined by the miser-like air of the spring herbs  advanced to the rank of early vegetables (which obviously refresh the blood). G. Valer Pop, offering each time a multimedia presentation for the winning poems of Romanian Monthly Kukai, chose a brilliant photo for this poem.

The faces of the three women, although they have a very different expression, are a perfect comment for the poem. No, the news were not obsolete, but the realities are more eloquent this way - without words.

The poem has inside it a sarcasm that certainly, by biting us, refreshes our anemic blood due to much too flabby news. And you exclaim: Aha! No way, this is it!

(Corneliu Traian Atanasiu)