19th ANNUAL
HAIKU CONTEST

HAIKU CONTEST WINNERS - 2009

THEME: Ame/Rain

Haiku Contest Page

English Language Division

Adults Category

1st Place:

Sam Martone – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Swelling clouds, the curves

of your body in darkness,

your whispers, the rain.

2nd Place:

Rose Marie Stutts – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

savory soup

beside the warm fire

rain thrums outside

3rd Place:

Angela Poston-Kornegay – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The smell of new life

springing forth in bright colors

filling fresh air.

Grades 7-12 Category

1st Place:
Patricia MgBodile – Birmingham, Alabama
Splashing together,
In the wet rainy weather,
My rain boots and I.

2nd Place:
Alisha Branch – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A girl was crying
she was looking at the rain
That sad girl was me

3rd Place:

Jordan Shaw – Brookwood, Alabama

Five thousand voices

silenced by icy black rain-

football has begun

Grades 4-6 Category

1st Place:
Will Kornegay – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Sticking out my tongue
waiting between the droplets
to catch the right one.

2nd Place:

Kathryn Rutledge – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

A raindrop fall as

slowly as finding a four

leaf clover in spring

3rd Place:

Jesus Garcia – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

I live in a drought

Waiting for raindrops from the sky

Trying to survive

Grades 1-3 Category

1st Place:
Rebekah McCray – Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A horse splashes,
frolicking in puddles
Just like me today

2nd Place:

Gracie Phillips – Birmingham, Alabama

Fast as a red jet

Talking to the black asphalt

Pounding on the ground

3rd Place:

Ian Bunker – Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Rain falls all around

And falls on my tongue and head

I put a hat on

Adult Category

First Place: 
Yuriko Ago – Narashino, Japan
Asadori no
na no ne beni sasu
kokuu kana

Spring shower
shines on the pink roots of the
morning's cropped greens.

Second Place:
Teramoto Toshitane– Chibashi, Japan
Tsuyuake ya
Kabuki-za no ura
kokui hosu

Rainy season has ended!
Black robes are aired in the sun
at the back of Kabuki-za Theater.

Third Place:
Yasuda Yasutoshi – Sakura, Japan
Shôbu-da ya
ame agaritaru
komurasaki

An iris paddy field shines
deep purple,
right after the rain has stopped.

Grades 7-12 Category

First Place:
Ogawa Ryôichi – Narashino, Japan
Kiu furu ya
inochi no ibuki
hitahita to

Rain has finally come:

it laps the dried ground

as if it were the very breath of life.

Second Place:
Shiozaki Junpei – Narashino, Japan
Sora o saki
tenchi o tsukamu
yoko-shigure

A slanting winter rain rips

the sky and grabs

hold of heaven and earth.

Grades 4-6 Category

First Place:
Uoji Ayari – Narashino, Japan
Isogi-ashi
ieji mo tôi
fuyu no ame

Under winter rain,

I am walking fast;

yet, home is still a long way to go.

Second Place:
Nakajima Keichi – Narashino, Japan
Kaerimichi
yûdachi de saku
kasa no hana

An evening shower suddenly opens

flowers of umbrellas

held by children returning home from school.

Grades 1-3 Category

First Place:
Sakamoto Ken – Narashino, Japan
Ha no ue ni
shizuku no kagami
tsuyu no asa

In the morning of a rainy day,

drops form mirrors

on tree leaves.

Second Place:
Yuminami Eito – Narashino, Japan
Fuyu no ame
suzume yorisori
dan o toru

Under winter rain,

sparrows gather together

to warm themselves.