1st Prize

3rd Prize

origami fans
National Geographic’s
recycled pages
Alison Woolpert

tea kettle’s faint hissjust before the whistle blows—
winter seclusion
Lynda Zwinger

A spark of imagery is created by two
dissimilar things in a haiku. In this haiku thetwo dissident elements, namely the fan andNational Geographic, both are concrete
objects. They collide sparking imagery, andwhat is more, they also fuse into
one existence. Thus, we are exposed to thesuperb fusion of the two. When using thefan, the printed text and pictures sway inan elegant way. Along with the coolness, italso evokes memories from places. A uniqueand dramatic emotion rises from this simple
haiku of just two things combined. (Yuzo)

I am impressed by the sharp ear of the author
who captured this moment of a faint hissfrom a whistle-blowing kettle just before it
begins to beep. A crisp tension shows theheavy gray sky, the silence filling the house,
and a chill in the cups. Brewing tea for apartner and reading books on both ends of acozy sofa can be one of the privileges of
winter seclusion when we seem to haveabundant time. Dr. Arima’s haiku master,Yamaguchi Seison, wrote "Reading atrandom/writing at random/winter seclusion”
Seison, too, must have sipped green tea while
he read and wrote. (Emiko)

2nd Prize
crazy quilt blanket
where the yellow stitches end
mom's old yarns begin
Marilyn Ashbaugh
A crazy quilt is an irregular quilt with arandom pattern of stitches. Where the yellow
stitches end, they turn into stitches of mom's
old yarn. Perhaps they are unraveled fromfamily sweaters. I can picture the motherstitching with a group of her close friends as
they gathered and chatted in her kitchen. The
quilted blanket has many nostalgic fabrics
and memories sewn into it, and it wraps theauthor warmly throughout the winter. Thishaiku shows the warmth of the author's eyes.
(Emiko)3rd Prize
grandmother's fingers
soothing a tear from my cheekthe smell of fresh mint
Marcia Burton
The credit for this haiku goes to the focus onfingers. These fingers soothing tears picked
mint leaves a while ago. The basis of haiku is
to fold a variety of emotions and imagination
into one concrete moment as a contact point
between the human world and the naturalworld. This haiku effectively embodies this byfocusing on fingers. Also, emotionally andphysically, the mint underpins this decisive
moment, as mint has been cherished for its
fresh scent soothing our spirits through its

use for years in mint tea. Mint functions
precisely as a lively kigo here. (Yuzo)
Honorable Mentions
under the blanket
we disappear just until
our laughter explodes
Roger Abe
first ride to a dancein my boyfriend’s old blue Fordsmell of gardenia
Kathy Goldbachsquirrels hiding nuts—
thinking up yet anotherinternet password
Lisa Anne Johnson
Small boy on a swing
finding the perfect balance
between earth and sky
Shelli Jankowski-Smith
faint creak of a swing
fading away in the dark
all mother’s stories
Marietta McGregor
winter seclusion—as the weeks drag on, I learn
where the cat finds sun
Linda Papanicolaou
those three steps backward
to set the swing in motion . . .
story of my life
Susan Polizzotto
pushing my daughter
her shadow on the swing set
like a second child
Clark Strandshe survived The War
grandma still hides her gold coins
wrapped in a blanket
Neal Whitman
the smell of moth balls—
I find in Momma’s attic
my baby blanket
Neal Whitman
Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi Haiku Contest
The Annual Tokutomi Haiku Contest of the Yuki
Teikei Haiku Society (YTHS) is named for Mr.
Kiyoshi and Mrs. Kiyoko Tokutomi, bilingual
speakers of English and Japanese. They founded
the Society in 1975 to foster writing haiku in
English along traditional Japanese guidelines. YTHSstudies (but is not limited to) this form. TheTokutomi Haiku Contest is the longest-lived
contest in the West that requires contest entries
to follow this traditional form.
Contest Guidelines
This contest is for English-language haiku written
in the traditional form of three lines using a 5-7-5syllabic pattern. Each poem is required to containone (and only one) season word (kigo) from thefollowing list chosen for this year’s contest:
New Year: first visitor
Spring: mint, swing, hummingbird
Summer: gardenia, fan, lotus
Autumn: squirrel hides nuts, morning glory, redleaves
Winter: blanket, winter seclusion, old diary
Contest Judges 2022

Emiko Miyashita (1954- ), a Japanese haiku
poet, resides in Tokyo. She has been a regularcommentator for Geppo’s "Dojin's Corner,”the quarterly journal of YTHS, since 2014. She

is a member of Haiku Canada, a council to theHaiku International Association, an executive
director of the English-Speaking Union ofJapan, and a director of the JAL Foundation.
She became a dojin of YTHS in 2022.

Yuki Teikei
Haiku Society
Announces

Yuzo Ono (1968- ), a Japanese haiku poet andcritic, lives in Kawasaki. He was educated at
the University of Tokyo and the Royal Collegeof Art (UK). He won the Modern Haiku
Association Award for Criticism, and the New
Talent Award (honorable mention),respectively. The anthology “Haiku Poets
Born in the Post-war Era” (Mainichi
Newspaper Press) chose him as one of 109
leading contemporary haiku poets of Japan.
Artistkris moon kondo is a long-time friend andmember of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. In
1992, she met Kiyoko Tokutomi, who in 2000
stayed with her in her mountain home inJapan.
kris’s artwork inspired by our 2022 kigo ispresented here.

Winners of theK iyoshi and K iyoko Tokutom i2022 Haiku Contest