2008 Sakura Award Winners

• For the dolls’ tea
  small fingers gather
  cherry blossom petals

Cheryl Ashley
Nanaimo, British Columbia

• a chessboard
  abandoned in the park
  cherry blossoms

Colin Barber
Marion, Arkansas

• Reminiscing . . .
  as her walker wheels
  gather cherry blossoms

Una Bruhns
North Vancouver, British Columbia

• early shift
  the roadsweeper’s cart
  fêted with blossoms

Helen Buckingham
Bristol, United Kingdom

• the shared smiles
  of passing strangers . . .
  cherry blossoms

Karen Cesar
Tucson, Arizona

• job interview—
  through the office window
  cherry blossoms

Amitava Dasgupta
Houston, Texas

• cherry blossom . . .
  trembling with the weight
  of its bee

Billie Dee
San Diego, California

• under the blossoms
  business men
  loosen their ties

Julie Downsbrough
Burnaby, British Columbia

• my old cherry tree—
  beneath its falling blossoms
  his last resting place

Gill Foss
Maberly, Ontario

• cherry blossom rain . . .
  I take the convertible
  back to the showroom

Alice Frampton
Seabeck, Washington

• cherry blossoms
  pink
  in the blind woman’s hand

Keith Frentz
Tauranga, New Zealand

• cherry petals
  falling
  into words

Zeljko Funda
Varazdin, Croatia

• first cherry blossoms—
  creaking swings
  in the twilight

Damien Gabriels
Leers, France

• the rest of the day—
  cherry blossoms
  to spare

Gary Hotham
Zwingenberg, Germany

• senior’s arm
  rests against the branch
  with no cherry blossoms

Jean Anne Jorgensen
Edmonton, Alberta

• wheeling herself
  to the living room window . . .
  cherry blossoms

Darrell Lindsey
Nacogdoches, Texas

• blossoms
  on a leafless bough—
  the evening star

Peggy Lyles
Tucker, Georgia

• cherry blossoms—
  our moonlit walk
  becomes longer

Tomislav Maretic
Gornje Vrapche, Croatia

• cherry buds
  my daughter tries on her first
  brassiere

Jacek Margolak
Kielce, Poland

• his children’s names
  forgotten . . . he asks about
  cherry blossoms

Marilyn Murphy
Providence, Rhode Island

• on the empty bench
  where we last kissed
  cherry blossoms

Neil Muscott
Peterborough, Ontario

• cherry blossoms . . .
  a child asks
  if they are real

Rita Odeh
Nazareth, Israel

• storm warning lifted
  her car sheds
  cherry petals

Richard R. Powell
Nanaimo, British Columbia

• stolen kiss
  under the cherry tree her cheeks
  the colour of petals

Katarzyna Predota
Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki, Poland

• blossomy footpath—
  difficult for the snail
  to wend its way home

Gabriel Rosenstock
Dublin, Ireland

• wash day
  grandpa’s pant cuffs
  full of cherry petals

Marilyn Sandall
Seattle, Washington

• tattoo booth
  she inquires about
  a cherry blossom

Grant D. Savage
Ottawa, Ontario

• cherry blossoms
  collect at the base of the tree
  her painted toes

Trish Shields
Courtenay, British Columbia

• alone
  a cherry petal settles
  in the other chair

Judt Shrode
Tacoma, Washington

• calving season
  cherry blossoms fly
  from kicked-up heels

John Stone
Elverta, California

• neglected garden—
  the slow drift of cherry petals
  from my neighbor’s tree

Sasa Vazic
Batajnica, Serbia

2008 Adult Honourable Mentions

• dusky full moon—
  the shadows of cherry blossoms
  across the path

Sharon Hammer Baker
Findlay, Ohio

• petals drift
  from the busker's flute
  decorating his grey hair

Winona Baker
Nanaimo, British Columbia

• shaking off
  cherry blossoms
  the deaf dog

Roberta Beary
Washington, District of Columbia

• branches of blossoms
  fill the viewfinder
  a child skips by

Jeannine Bertoia
Surrey, British Columbia

• cherry blossom
  the bees read each petal
  in detail

Tony Beyer
New Plymouth, New Zealand

• cherry blossoms
  a young girl dances
  along the boulevard

Leonie Bingham
Stony Chute, Australia

• cherry blossoms
  falling; we too
  separate

Peter Brady
Gatineau, Quebec

• dappled shade
  the toddler's fist spills
  cherry petals

Nathalie Buckland
Nimbin, Australia

• Fluttering down
  through driving hailstones . . .
  cherry blossoms.

Matthew Coleman
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

• wrinkled hands
  reach to touch it –
  cherry branch in bloom

Sonia Coman
Cambridge, Massachusettes

• Mother's Day picnic
  pitchers of pink lemonade
  among the blossoms

Pamela Cooper
Montreal, Quebec

• Cherry blossoms—
  Young lovers shake fallen
  petals from their hair

Jeff Crawford
Surrey, British Columbia

• The white cane
  caresses the low branches—
  a smell of blossoms.

Willy Cuvelier
Gullegem, Belgium

• evening breezes
  stir the cherry blossoms—
  a newborn's sweet breath

DeVar Dahl
Magrath, Alberta

• On the old bench
  two lovers illuminated by
  the cherry blossoms

Magdalena Dale
Bucharest, Romania

• weeping cherry
  my sandwich peppered
  with pink petals

Susan Delaney
Plano, Texas

• frog chorus—
  half hidden in blossoms
  a heron scans the pond

elehna de sousa
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

• Carpet of blossoms—
  my granddaughter in her pink dress
  does a twirl

Lesley Donaldson
Vancouver, British Columbia

• tea leaves—
  a wandering blossom
  begins to melt

Jamie Edgecombe
Devon, England

• tropical holiday
  away from home
  I dream of cherry blossoms

Tracie Fisher
White Rock, British Columbia

• raincoast garden
  cherry petals land
  on the seaweed mulch

Ann Forest
Cortes Island, British Columbia

• a blanket
  under the cherry blossoms—
  two freckled faces

Laryalee Fraser
Salmon Arm, British Columbia

• after lovemaking
  cherry blossoms

Marco Fraticelli
Pointe Claire, Quebec

• Cherry blossoms!
  The tax computation
  falls onto the grass.

Volker Friebel
Tuebingen, Germany

• in a gust of petals
  his old box camera
  pink pink pink!

Lin Geary
Paris, Ontario

• grumbling husband—
  all over his car
  sodden cherry blossoms

Ann Harreby
Coquitlam, British Columbia

• Amidst the blossoms
  I thought I saw
  Her smile again

Neil Hershfield
Vancouver, British Columbia

• patio breeze
  leaving the blossoms
  fallen

jim kacian
Winchester, Virginia

• Cherry blossoms
  we wear
  our party clothes

Doris Kasson
Belleair Bluffs, Florida

• alone
  after returning the ring
  cherry blossom rain

Deborah P. Kolodji
Temple City, California

• stairs covered
  with cherry blossom petals . . .
  piano music

Anthony Anatoly Kudryavitsky
Dublin, Ireland

• reading Chekhov
  with cherry blossoms blooming
  in grandma’s garden

natalia kuznetsova
Moscow, Russia

• cherry blossoms . . .
  paper lanterns glow pink
  under the stars

Catherine J.S. Lee
Eastport, Maine

• cherry trees in bloom . . .
  the cracked sidewalk
  of the science museum

paul m.
Bristol, Rhode Island

• fine mist falling—
  cherry blossoms stick
  to the duck's back

Curtis Manley
Bellevue, Washington

• date under a cherry—
  the lovers leave with petals
  still on their car

Dubravko Marijanovic
Zagreb, Croatia

• cherry blossoms
  a child's arms back and forth
  to make a snow angel

Terra Martin
Toronto, Ontario

• cherry blossoms!
  we remember
  to exhale

Scott Mason
Chappaqua, New York

• poised
  on a storm-drain grate—
  cherry petal . . .

Vicki McCullough
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Behind cherry blossoms
  Two blue tracksuits
  A quick kiss

Helen Moon
Salt Spring Island, British Columbia

• waking up at night
  whiteness of cherry blossoms
  is the only light

Lukasz Muniowski
Plonsk, Poland

• gentle breeze
  curtain folds catch
  the first cherry petal

Boris Nazansky
Zagreb, Croatia

• evening joggers
  along the roadside
  spent blossoms

Roland Packer
Hamilton, Ontario

• pavement café
  my cup overflowing
  with cherry blossom

Katrina Shepherd
Dunblane, Scotland

• sudden shower
  you kiss
  each petal on my face

Sandra Simpson
Tauranga, New Zealand

• through the hedge
  one by one
  cherry petals

Karen Sohne
Toronto, Ontario

• whirl of cyclists
  windswept cherry blossoms shift
  to yet another spot

Carmen Sterba
University Place, Washington

• pink snow—
  already the cars fashion
  new ruts in the road

Richard Stevenson
Lethbridge, Alberta

• morning stroll—
  first cherry petal
  I become the breeze

Maria Steyn
Johannesburg, South Africa

• between
  the toddler's toes
  pink cherry petals

Andre Surridge
Hamilton, New Zealand

• first blossoms . . .
  grandmother reaches
  for the newborn

Theresa Thompson
Lufkin, Texas

• Swaying here, swaying there
  from the cherry blossom tree
  a wet pair of pants.

Tina Tran
Vancouver, British Columbia

• again and again
  in the reflecting pool
  cherry blossoms

Charles Trumbull
Evanston, Illinois

• cherry tree in bloom—
  a bride blushes
  beneath her veil

Ursula Vaira
Lantzville, British Columbia

• with a minimum
  of restrained brush strokes—
  mum's cherry blossoms

Geert Verbeke
Flanders, Belgium

• lovers' path
  two bluebirds disappear
  into cherry blossoms

Marilyn Walker
Madison, Georgia

• My old cat listens
  to the falling pink blossoms
  under the cherry tree

Blaine Weiss
Langford, British Columbia

• funeral day
  the cherry blossoms
  about to break

sheila windsor
Worcester, England

• walking with him
  through cherry blossoms
  remembering you

Laquita Wood
Washington, District of Columbia

• the day you leave—
  first blossom
  opens on my cherry tree

Helen Yong
Christchurch, New Zealand

• family picnic
  a child slips cherry blossoms
  behind granny's ear

Quendryth Young
Alstonville, Australia

2008 Youth Sakura Award Winners 

• a picnic day
  today’s weather:
  cherry blossom

John Chung (17)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• I lick the foam
  from my milkshake—
  cherry blossom

Sophia Frentz (15)
Tauranga, New Zealand

• fallen petals
  it’s a pity to take
  the next step

Mateusz Sionkowski (17)
Torun, Poland

• cherry blossoms
  I walk on and on
  not stopping once to say grace

Janice Yang (6)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Cherry blossoms—
  Petal after petal
  The only movement

Sherry Zhou (9)
Vancouver, British Columbia

2008 Youth Honourable Mentions 

• Squishing petals
  Little boys
  Drinking pink lemonade

Heather Berringer (11)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• around the moon
  a garland of cherry blooms
  in the young lovers’ eyes

Héloïse Bonnet (15)
Rodez, France

• Snowing in spring?
  Rubber boots and scarf
  Oh! Cherry blossoms

Alicia Chung (11)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• The sweet flush of youth
  My daughter’s glowing pink cheeks
  Soft cherry blossoms

Alana Cook (16)
Maple Ridge, British Columbia

• Cherry blossoms—
  the ball bounces
  pink waves of flying petals

Olivia Feng, age 11
Vancouver, British Columbia

• the bouquet
  of pink blossoms
  a poem for my eyes

Zoe Sweetgrass Forest (11)
Cortes Island, British Columbia

• The whisper of the wind—
  the song of the blossoms
  completes the silence

Natasha Hemer (12)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Cherry blossoms everywhere
  like eyes
  they see through me

Catherine Kwok (17)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• An early morning
  the cherry blossoms
  against the pane

Heather LePard (12)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• My heart and my mind
  are overflowing with dreams
  to bloom like blossoms

Jessica Lao (11)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• The flute plays
  a haunting crescendo
  blossoms twirl

Iris Lo (16)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Soft as your skin
  Cherry blossoms caress my face
  I long for you

Megan Lozada (17)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• fallen to the ground
  cherry blossoms find me
  lying on the ground

Jana Markovic (10)
North Vancouver, British Columbia

• A hot spring day
  Light
  Shining off cherry petals

Charlotte McNeil (10)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• cherry blossoms
  adorn my poodle
  her eyes light up

Jadah Pereira (8)
Miramar, Florida

• pink petals fall
  reminding me of the days
  when you were still here

Valerie Shim (16)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Cherry trees
  White petals falling to the ground
  Into my apple pie

Victor Tang (10)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• I can feel their movement
  I can hear their music
  Cherry blossoms

Alexa Uppal (11)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Falling pink petals
  Like winter
  In spring

Leena Yamaguchi (11)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• Forever in bloom
  Cherry blossoms caught in the wind
  Inked onto my skin

Stephanie Yee (17)
Vancouver, British Columbia

• softly on the ground
  beautiful cherry blossoms
  falling everywhere

Karsen Yolland (13)
Agassiz, British Columbia

2008 Judges’ Comments 

“The primary purpose of reading and writing haiku is sharing moments of our lives that have moved us, pieces of experience and perception that we offer or receive as gifts. At the deepest level, this is the one great purpose of all art, and especially of literature.”
—William J. Higginson, The Haiku Handbook: How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku

A common quality of poems selected for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival’s 2008 Haiku Invitational is how they capture moving moments. The images move us as readers by conveying the feelings of experiencing blossoming cherries. These poems are gifts not only to the poets who wrote them, but to all of us who read them.

This year we expanded our selection categories to include a best British Columbia poem, in addition to best poems for Canada, the United States, elsewhere internationally, and for youth. It has been the haiku committee’s dream to have these winning poems engraved in stone. On April 3, 2008, this dream came true. The top 2008 poems, together with the top winners from 2007 and 2006, have been sandblasted into a stunning haiku rock at the new Honorable David Lam Cherry Grove at Vancouver’s VanDusen Botanical Garden. We are grateful to the garden for providing a beautiful home for the haiku rock and to its staff for expert installation. We also thank Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply for donating the beautiful basalt column, and thank Bob Tiller and his staff for sandblasting the winning poems into the stone. Generations of visitors can now enjoy these poems in a spectacular garden setting. If you live in or near Vancouver, or might ever visit, we hope you will take the opportunity to see the garden so you can enjoy the haiku rock yourself.

For this year’s Haiku Invitational, we received nearly 800 haiku. They came from 36 countries, our most yet, including Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Kenya, Nepal, Israel, South Africa, and many other countries. In addition to our selection of the top five haiku, which we comment on individually below, we’ve also selected a large number of Sakura Award winners and Honourable Mentions for adults and youth. We are pleased to offer our congratulations to these poets and our thanks to everyone who entered.

The real prize, of course, is writing the poetry itself—and being more keenly aware, through haiku, of the seasonal changes around you. As the cherry trees bud and blossom in spring, or as you recall this fleeting time in other seasons, we encourage you to write new haiku for your own enjoyment, and possibly to submit for our festival next year. We are grateful for your gifts of haiku, and look forward to new exchanges in the years ahead.

—Carole MacRury, Michael Dylan Welch, and Edward Zuk, judges

2008 Best Canadian Poem

a winter blizzard
I turn my calendar
to cherry blossoms

Marilyn Potter
Toronto, Ontario

Marilyn Potter’s haiku is unusual for evoking cherry blossoms out of season. The poem is set in winter, yet cherry blossoms are still present in the mind of the poet, who turns to them for relief while being snowed in. I admired this haiku not only for the surprising appearance of the blossoms, but also for its longing for the cherry trees, spring, and everything that they represent. I also liked how an iconic Canadian experience, a blizzard, is connected to the cherry blossoms in a natural way.

—Edward Zuk

2008 Best B.C. Poem

late for work—
cherry petals
in my hair

Jessica Tremblay
Burnaby, British Columbia

This poem presents a clear image with utterly direct and simple words. Jessica Tremblay tells us she is late for work and that cherry petals adorn her hair. It is easy to understand that the beauty of the cherry blossoms has entranced her so much that they’ve made her late for her daily obligation. Not only is she late for work because she’s been enjoying the blossoms, she doesn’t even brush them from her hair, thus prolonging her appreciation of their splendor.

—Michael Dylan Welch

 2008 Best U.S. Poem

cherry blossoms
the baby’s hair too fine
to hold a ribbon

Ferris Gilli
Marietta, Georgia

The image here is one of a young family under the cherry blossoms, perhaps enjoying a picnic. It’s a celebratory sort of day, and a parent or grandparent feels an impulse to decorate the baby’s hair with a ribbon. The baby is still too young to have grown thick enough hair, a fact that echoes the newness and ephemerality of the cherry blossoms they’re enjoying. The leap we make between the poem’s two parts enables us to feel, without being told, the joyousness and beauty of the occasion, tinged with the melancholy feeling that accompanies an awareness of fleeting beauty.

—Michael Dylan Welch

 2008 Best International Poem

in clearing mist
the creaking of a heavy oar . . .
cherry blossoms

Tito (Stephen Henry Gill)
Kyoto, Japan

This haiku’s subtle and sensory word choices capture the essence of a single moment in time, and the poem continues to reverberate long after we read the last line. This poem resonates not only with the sound of the oar but also with the oar’s heaviness juxtaposed against the lightness of mist and blossoms. Even the rhythm of the language evokes the slow stroking of oars. Our senses are heightened, as they would be in a mist, and we are placed immediately into this moment from real life. Both the spirit of haiku and the spirit of the cherry blossom season abound in this excellent and enduring haiku.

—Carole MacRury

 2008 Best Youth Poem

evening prayer—
the cherry petals stick
to the pane

Damian Margolak (age 16)
Kielce, Poland

In Japan, the cherry blossom is often connected with spiritual experiences. In a famous waka (31-syllable poem), the poet Saigyo (1118–1190) wishes to be buried among his beloved cherry blossoms so that he can be with them even in death:

I pray that I will die beneath the blossoming cherry,
In spring, the month of flowers,
When the moon is full.

(modified slightly from a translation by Daisetz Suzuki)

Damian Margolak’s haiku also links the cherry blossoms to a spiritual longing. Although there would seem to be little connection between the blossoms and a prayer, we are meant to feel that deep and powerful forces are at work in the juxtaposition of the two images. In particular, we are left to wonder whether the petals on the windowpane are themselves an answer to the prayer or if they are, perhaps, a sign of what is to come.

—Edward Zuk