Judged by Chuck Brickley, Terri L. French, Claudia Radmore

2021 Haiku Invitational Winners presented by Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.
Judged by Chuck Brickley, Terri L. French, Claudia Radmore

Top Winners

Vancouver

for lease
reflected in the storefront
cherry blossoms

Ann Harreby
Coquitlam, British Columbia

United States

letting the mask fall
below my nose…
cherry blossoms

Chad Lee Robinson
Pierre, South Dakota

British Columbia

keeping her secret…
a whisper of wind
among the blossoms

Susan Constable
Parksville, British Columbia

International

first blossoms—
the child’s eyes
say it all

Rita Odeh
Haifa, Israel

Canada

the foster child’s
backward glance
falling cherry blossoms

Charlotte Hrenchuk
Whitehorse, Yukon

Youth

empty playground
fallen cherry petals
on the carousel

Sebastian Ciobica, Age 9
Botosani, Romania

Click here for commentary on winning poems & meet our winners!

All poems are listed in alphabetical order in each category.

VancouverBritish ColumbiaCanada | United StatesInternationalYouth

Vancouver

Vancouver
Sakura Awards

Cherry blossoms
ready for another day
of paparazzi

Rita Ager
Coquitlam, BC

still
in her night-time braid
cherry blossoms

Ann Harreby
Coquitlam, Canada

somehow
cherry blossoms
go with everything

David Randen
Coquitlam, BC

rover on Mars—
my palms open
to pink petals

Julie Emerson
Vancouver, BC

my grandson’s first visit
partitioned by the window
cherry blossom

Johnny Lo
Richmond, BC

Vancouver
Honourable Mentions

after the chemo
making a wish
on cherry petals

Antoinette Cheung
Vancouver, BC

this year’s blossoms,
you are viewing from
above the sky

Rachel Enomoto
Burnaby, BC

falling blossoms
land lightly on the tents
of the homeless

Joan Tyldesley
Vancouver, BC

city park
the little boy
hugs a cherry tree

Lysa Collins
White Rock, BC

bending toward
the Shawarma truck’s warmth
first blossoms

Jacquie Pearce
Burnaby, BC

British Columbia

British Columbia
Sakura Awards

senior’s home
the carved cherry blossoms
on her cane

Terry Ann Carter
Victoria, BC

cherry blossoms
hanging on
every unspoken word

George Dueck
Sechelt, BC

rain delay
cherry petals
covering home plate

George Dueck
Sechelt, BC

waning snow
moonlight follows the bough
to the blossom

Lyle Rumpel
Victoria, BC

cherry blossom
one last spring
before I move again

Sheila Weaver
Sechelt, BC

British Columbia
Honourable Mentions

a soft breeze…
cherry petals flutter
into the hummingbird’s nest

elehna de sousa
Salt Spring Island, BC

sakura viewing—
my daughter chooses
her cherry blossom mask

elehna de sousa
Salt Spring Island, BC

Mona Lisa—
your falling-cherry-blossom
smile

Ulrike E. Narwani
North Saanich, BC

cherry petals drift
settle gently
tent city

Magdalene van der Kamp
Sidney, BC

Canada

Canada
Sakura Awards

cherry petals…
the chalk rainbow
fading

Pamela Cooper
Montreal, Quebec

confinement
the neighbour’s cherry tree
blooms for the first time

Huguette Ducharme
Saint-Pie, Quebec

hand in hand
we view cherry blossoms
one more time

Joanne Morcom
Calgary, Alberta

stillborn
snow laden
cherry petals

Veronika Zora Novak
Toronto, Ontario

gender reveal party
a cascading shower
of cherry blossoms

Marianne Paul
Kitchener, Ontario

cherry blossoms
the pink lightness
of all concerns

Luminita Suse
Ottawa, Ontario

Canada
Honourable Mentions

pink petals
open then fall—
menopause

Tracey Anderson
Edmonton, Alberta

cherries in bloom—
barely visible
the setting sun

Ellen Cooper
Montreal, Quebec

hanami bento
savouring each
cherry petal

Michael Dudley
Stratford, Ontario

still shovelling snow
somewhere
cherry blossoms

Charlotte Hrenchuk
Whitehorse, Yukon

drifting blossoms
she sighs and lets go
of my hand…

Chen-ou- Liu
Ajax, Ontario

cherry blossoms
who notices
the new moon

Nancy Richards
Crapaud, Prince Edward Island

pink blossoms…
the temple dog
follows the monk

Susan Bonk Plumridge
London, Ontario

United States of America

United States of America
Sakura Awards

faded memories
sitting in our cherry tree
before I blossomed

Dana Clark-Millar
Bend, Oregon

cherry blossom rain
I fold her obituary
into a butterfly

Cherese Cobb
Maryville, Tennessee

budding blossoms
the conductor’s arms
begin their rise

June Rose Dowis
Shreveport, Los Angeles

the moon
playing second fiddle
cherry blossom

Susan Beth Furst
Fishersville, Virginia

the only stimulus
I need
cherry blossoms

Amy C Losak
Teaneck, New Jersey

pink petals
her tiny hands
unfurling

M. Shane Pruett
Salem, Oregon

no one
keeping their distance
cherry blossoms

Rich Schilling
Webster Groves, Missouri

United States of America
Honourable Mentions

sweeping the sidewalks
he fills his pocket
with cherry blossoms

Kathryn Bold
Coto de Caza, California

blossom scent
the blind girl sticks out
her tongue

Billie Dee
Las Cruces, New Mexico

child’s tea party
a sakura petal
in every cup

Rebecca Drouilhet
Picayune, Mississippi

one long year later
the cherry blossoms open
like nothing happened

Mariya Gusev
Arlington, Virginia

winter cherries
the long wait
for a vaccine

Bruce H. Feingold
Berkeley, California

new moon
you left before
the first blossom fell

Frank Hooven
Morrisville, Pennsylvania

cherry blossoms fall
we continue to count
how many we have lost

T. M. Hudenburg
Lewes, Delaware

layover
we talk about the cherry buds
and infinity

Vicki Miko
Costa Mesa, California

the baby
we wish we could have
scattered petals

Lori A Minor
Warren, Ohio

backyard cherry tree
he ties his wife’s pink head scarf
around a bare branch

Julie Schwerin
Greendale, Wisconsin

hanami
seated in the stroller
a chihuahua

John Zhang
Itta Bena, Mississippi

cherry blossoms
we pick up what remains
of our marriage

Grix
Middletown, Delaware

International

International
Sakura Award

cherry blossoms
I still believe
in pinky promises

Cezar Ciobica
Botoșani, Romania

cherry buds
she repeats silently
how to tell him

Henryk Czempiel
Strzelce Opolskie, Poland

fallen petals
the road sweeper
dithers

Nikola Duretic
Zagreb, Croatia

Canon in D
the steady measures
of petal fall

Marietta McGregor
Canberra, Australia

petal by petal
the old cherry tree
sheds the light

Mark Miller
Shoalhaven Heads, Australia

softer
through the sakura
full moon

Srinivas S
Chennai, India

the person
you would have become…
cherry blossom

Tony Williams
Glasgow United Kingdom

blooming cherries
a school excursion
to Auschwitz

Ernest Wit
Warsaw, Poland

International
Honourable Mentions

behind barbed wire
showered with cherry petals
—a refugee

Nikola Duretic
Zagreb, Croatia

blooming cherries
my daughter writes her first
love song

Nadejda Kostadinova
Sofia, Bulgaria

cherry blossoms
heavy with raindrops…
widowhood

Natalia Kuznetsova
Moscow, Russia

cherry blossoms
the children playing
hide and seek

Vibeke Laier
Randers, Denmark

full moon
a cherry blossom
on the sunroof

Gregory Piko
Canberra, Australia

sakura moon
the time he takes
to forget me

Richa Sharma
Ghaziabad, India

cherry blossoms…
handfuls of petals
in the beggar’s hand

Ali Znaidi
Redeyef, Tunisia

Youth

Youth
Sakura Awards

a crane swoops
from side to side
blossoms drift

Aveline Forsyth, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

at the park
cherry blossoms
blowing over the goalpost.

Annabel Kelly, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

I sneeze twice
but can’t look away
cherry blossoms

Ella McLaren-Kennedy, Age 11
Vancouver, Canada

new hammock
a spider web stops the fall
of cherry petals

Anamaria Olaru, Age 13
Botoșani, Romania

dark stormy night
cherry blossoms in the wind
leading my way home

Lucy Penney, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

Youth
Honourable Mentions

gust of wind
cherry petals
mask my teddy bear

Sebastian Ciobica, Age 9
Botoşani, Romania

A fawn
with his coat of cherry blossoms
wanders under the full moon

Tom Dennis, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

early morning
I follow the blossoms
to the mosque

Chole Evans, Age 11
Christchurch, New Zealand

in a dark street
a white kitten
plays with cherry blossoms

Olivia Fry, Age 10
Christchurch, New Zealand

morning
blossoms walk me
to school

Isabelle Harrison, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

After a concert
blossoms blow
into a clear lake

William Johnson, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

early morning
cherry blossoms
first at the temple

Celina Kuang, Age 9
Christchurch, New Zealand

After prayers
cherry blossoms skim
the temple pond

Henry Palmer, Age 8
Christchurch, New Zealand

birdbath
cherry blossom rain
speckling the moon

Karina Panainte, Age 13
Botoşani, Romania

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