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Haiku Photos

this side of winter (haiku by Leah Ann Sullivan)

blog-haiga-LeahAnnSullivan-winner 2013

this side of winter

tuning the mandolin

to mountain cherry

-Leah Ann Sullivan

Winner, Best International Poem

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013

“This haiku was written at the St Patrick’s Day in Nagoya’s Coat of Arms Pub and Restaurant opening party, to Irish music by Brian Cullen, Sarah Mulvey, with Aya Kawakami and others onstage. The windows were open and it was quite the night.  The fiddler played mandolin that night.

The new restaurant’s fans weren’t working yet, so the broiler smoke came right up to the second floor. They opened the window.  It was quite chilly, but without the open windows, this haiku wouldn’t have come to mind.  There were mountain cherry trees right outside Nagoya that night.

The mountain cherry comes out earlier than the other trees. We usually have the full sakura blossoms at the end of March and beginning of April, depending on the weather. The mountain cherries are my favorites, with long branches like a weeping willow.

I wrote the haiku on a Guinness coaster and modified it a few times. I got up the next morning and sent it into the contest.”

— Leah Ann Sullivan, Nagoya, Japan

 

Submit a poem to the VCBF Haiku Invitational.

Categories
Haiku

VCBF Haiku Invitational 2013 Winners

VCBF_busCard_Haiku_2013_Feb8_print

 

Congratulations to the top 5 Winners of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2013 Haiku Invitational presented by LW_LogoRGB_2c

 

Top Winners

British Columbia

a crow’s nest—
the wind drops
white blossoms
                      Julie Emerson
                      Vancouver, British Columbia

Canada

waiting for the blossoms
the birds are still
up the magician’s sleeve
                      Marco Fraticelli
                      Pointe-Claire, Quebec

United States

lighting a path
for the cherry blooms
first grade teacher
                     Robert Michael Drouilhet
                     Picayune, Mississippi

International

this side of winter
tuning the mandolin
to mountain cherry
                     Leah Ann Sullivan
                     Nagoya, Japan

Youth

a bird bath
under a tree
filled with cherry blossoms
                     Iris Liu, age 12
                     Vancouver, British Columbia

 

You can participate to the VCBF Haiku Invitational 2014 contest starting March 1 until June 2, 2014.