pink blossom
the bionic parts
of my breast
Roberta Beary
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013
Sakura Award
pink blossom
the bionic parts
of my breast
Roberta Beary
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013
Sakura Award
“My daughter who left for Milan last year to live there with her husband and whom I refer to in many of my poems as a bluebird, visited me. I love her dearly and don’t find it easy to live without her near me. So, I felt she had never gone and that there was no reason for my pain and sorrow. But, very soon, she “flew away” like cherry blossoms that leave their trees that gave them life and nourished them.”forgettingwe’ll soon have to part –cherry blossoms— Sasa Vazic (Serbia)Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013 Sakura awardSubmit your poem to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2014 before June 2 2014.
“Last spring while I was photographing the cherry blossoms in my Vancouver, Washington neighborhood I suddenly got a whiff of something I hadn’t smelled in forty plus years: cherry tobacco pipe smoke. I knew it was cherry flavored pipe tobacco because one of my college drama professors always used it even in class and I never forgot that scent. As I turned around in the direction from where the smoke was coming I saw an elderly man also viewing the cherry blossoms while puffing on his pipe. He reminded me of my professor. Unlike that of cigarette or cigar smoke the scent wafting from his pipe was not at all unpleasant. In fact it was soothing. I found it quite fitting under the circumstances and a wonderful prompt for a haiku.”
spring breeze…
the scent of cherry
tobacco pipe smoke
Johnny Baranski
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013 –
Honorable Mention
breaking light
the pale vibrato
of cherry blossoms
— Mark Miller
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013 Sakura Award
Submit your poem to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2014 before June 2 2014.
falling
through the moon
cherry blossom
— Gerald A. McBreen (Auburn, Washington)
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013
Submit your poem to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2014 before June 2 2014.
“Spring has come and I can feel its reaches making me shiver. As many cherry trees are blooming all around in my neighborhood, I am reminded of my beloved cherry tree in a yard in front of the house I used to live in as a child. I was but 7 years old when my parents moved to another town, but I have never forgotten that special cherry tree I used to pick fruits from during the big breaks between the lessons.”spring fever…the cherry tree bloomingelsewhereSasa Vazic (Batajinica, Serbia)Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013 Sakura Awards
You have until June 2nd 2014 to submit to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2014 .
“I spend most of the winter hoping for signs of spring. These are few and far between in Montreal. While I am receiving emails from the West Coast filled with cherry blossoms, I am usually still shovelling snow.
One night, I was attending a play in-the-round, which meant that there was no backstage so that we could watch the actors changing costumes. I was struck by the fact that this didn’t in any way spoil the illusion. If an actor switched hats before my eyes and became another character, I accepted it.
This is very much like watching a magician. We know those birds are up his sleeves or hidden in his long coat, but that doesn’t diminish our excitement the minute that they appear and fly around the stage.
The arrival of spring is also like this. We know it’s coming, it comes every year, and we see the signs in advance , but there is nothing more magical than that first true day of spring.”
waiting for the blossoms
the birds are still
up the magician’s sleeve
– Marco Fraticelli
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013 Best Canadian poem
Submit a poem to the VCBF Haiku Invitational.
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.
a crow’s nest –
the wind drops
white blossoms
-Julie Emerson
Winner, Best B.C. Poem
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational 2013.
Submit a poem to the VCBF Haiku Invitational starting March 1.