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HAIKU CONTEST RESULTS
The First Annual
Magpie Haiku Poets
and Eleventh Transmission
Haiku Contest: Analysis
Winners will be notified via email later this week.
First Place Winner
new year's frost
crossing the threshold
of my old door
First place goes to Jacek Margolak of Poland.
Analysis by Shaun Hunter of Magpie Haiku Poets
I like how this haiku embraces a whole world in 12 syllables. It begins with "new" and ends with "old", and in between,
there is a crossing between and connection of these two poles, and a sense of everything in between. The scene is
vivid: frost creeping around and under a door frame, the outside world nosing its way into the inside world, oblivious of
the door closed to keep it out, to insulate what's going on inside. There seems to be no stopping frost, and no
stopping the new year. In this sense, the frost has an ominous kind of feeling, but it also evokes the opposite -
something sparkling and beautiful. The sense of touch is here too - it's hard not to think of or picture frost without
feeling its coolness.
The world "threshold" is rich and allusive. A physical, tangible part of a doorway, it has many figurative meanings - a
point of entry, a beginning, a line marking difference between something not being noticed or experienced, and then
noticed and experienced. A perfect word for capturing a moment of awareness. The word "crossing" is evocative. The
haiku captures the sense of continuous motion between old and new, new and old, the constant movement of time
and change.
Modifying "old door" with "my" gives the haiku's final line an added twist, makes the impersonal scene set up in the first
two lines personal. When I read the haiku, the word "my" felt like the turning point; it subtly changed what came before,
imbued it with different layers of meaning. I liked the spareness of this haiku very much, and its possibilities. The
haiku made me think of many different things: the porous membrane separating people and nature; the forward urging
of time, propelling us from the old into the new, whether we like it or not; the way life is filled with crossings; and the
beauty and wonder and insistence of frost.
Second Place Winner
first love -
ferns curl in
upon themselves
Second place goes to Angelee Deodhar of India.
Analysis by Shaun Hunter of Magpie Haiku Poets
I liked the image of tender green ferns held together with the idea of first love. I also liked the alliteration of "first" and
"ferns"; the "eff" sound echoes the fragility and tentativeness of spring fronds and the notion of first love.
The curling in is an interesting connection between ferns and first love - vulnerability, but also privacy, out of the glare of
sunlight and other people's gazes.
The haiku evoked not only an image of ferns, but a sense of touch. I could feel the humidity in this haiku, in the leaves
and the physicality of first love. This haiku felt damp and sticky and sensual.
Third Place Winner
dandelions' seeds
through the window
hay scent
Jacek Margolak wins third place with his second of two haiku. Congratulations on winning both First and Third place
in the contest!
Analysis by Joanne Morcom of Magpie Haiku Poets
What appeals to me most about this haiku is the sense of smell, combined with the implication of a season. In just
ten words, all but two of them nouns, the poet quietly and effectively paints a lovely rural picture that suggests change,
both natural and human. Also, the absence of punctuation adds mystery and ambiguity to the poem: do the seeds
and/or the scent drift through the window?
The First Annual
Magpie Haiku Poets
and Eleventh Transmission
Haiku Contest: Analysis
Winners will be notified via email later this week.
First Place Winner
new year's frost
crossing the threshold
of my old door
First place goes to Jacek Margolak of Poland.
Analysis by Shaun Hunter of Magpie Haiku Poets
I like how this haiku embraces a whole world in 12 syllables. It begins with "new" and ends with "old", and in between,
there is a crossing between and connection of these two poles, and a sense of everything in between. The scene is
vivid: frost creeping around and under a door frame, the outside world nosing its way into the inside world, oblivious of
the door closed to keep it out, to insulate what's going on inside. There seems to be no stopping frost, and no
stopping the new year. In this sense, the frost has an ominous kind of feeling, but it also evokes the opposite -
something sparkling and beautiful. The sense of touch is here too - it's hard not to think of or picture frost without
feeling its coolness.
The world "threshold" is rich and allusive. A physical, tangible part of a doorway, it has many figurative meanings - a
point of entry, a beginning, a line marking difference between something not being noticed or experienced, and then
noticed and experienced. A perfect word for capturing a moment of awareness. The word "crossing" is evocative. The
haiku captures the sense of continuous motion between old and new, new and old, the constant movement of time
and change.
Modifying "old door" with "my" gives the haiku's final line an added twist, makes the impersonal scene set up in the first
two lines personal. When I read the haiku, the word "my" felt like the turning point; it subtly changed what came before,
imbued it with different layers of meaning. I liked the spareness of this haiku very much, and its possibilities. The
haiku made me think of many different things: the porous membrane separating people and nature; the forward urging
of time, propelling us from the old into the new, whether we like it or not; the way life is filled with crossings; and the
beauty and wonder and insistence of frost.
Second Place Winner
first love -
ferns curl in
upon themselves
Second place goes to Angelee Deodhar of India.
Analysis by Shaun Hunter of Magpie Haiku Poets
I liked the image of tender green ferns held together with the idea of first love. I also liked the alliteration of "first" and
"ferns"; the "eff" sound echoes the fragility and tentativeness of spring fronds and the notion of first love.
The curling in is an interesting connection between ferns and first love - vulnerability, but also privacy, out of the glare of
sunlight and other people's gazes.
The haiku evoked not only an image of ferns, but a sense of touch. I could feel the humidity in this haiku, in the leaves
and the physicality of first love. This haiku felt damp and sticky and sensual.
Third Place Winner
dandelions' seeds
through the window
hay scent
Jacek Margolak wins third place with his second of two haiku. Congratulations on winning both First and Third place
in the contest!
Analysis by Joanne Morcom of Magpie Haiku Poets
What appeals to me most about this haiku is the sense of smell, combined with the implication of a season. In just
ten words, all but two of them nouns, the poet quietly and effectively paints a lovely rural picture that suggests change,
both natural and human. Also, the absence of punctuation adds mystery and ambiguity to the poem: do the seeds
and/or the scent drift through the window?
| April 2007 Issue 11 |
