We had many entries for our haiku poetry competition, and all were very impressive indeed. The judges met over afternoon tea and spent a really long time going through each entry with a fine-tooth comb. We read them all out loud several times!
The winning entry is by Marie Law of Truro. It is called “Ornamental Grasses.”
plumes on narrow leaves
swaying gently in the breeze
soothe the troubled soul
Apart from following the structural requirements – three lines with five syllables in the first, seven in the second and five in the third – the judges were taken by the hint of a rhyme – “leaves – breeze,” the swaying rhythm, and the fact that all the syllables are spoken at the front of the mouth resulting in a soft sound – there are no “k’s” or “g’s” in the back of the throat for instance. This reflects the gentle message of the poem.
Overall, the haiku starts with a presentation of a picture of the softly swaying plumes of grass and then, in the last line, the image flows beyond the visual and transforms into a profound message of calm, comfort and peace.
Beautiful!
We also had three honourable mentions:
Gary Blackwood
My thumbs are not green.
My eyes, however, may be
Viewing your garden.
Keltie MacKeen-Smith
Lilacs by Nan’s house
The scent lulls me there again
Memories of her.
Vive Anderson
cedar waxwings will
steal my elderberries
and I’ll allow it
We also had eight submissions from students at the Tatamagouche Regional Academy, grades three and four. We suspect there are future poets and artist here!
Thank you all who took part in our little competition. We certainly appreciated all your work, and we enjoyed sharing your creativity!
Your judges:
Magi Nams: botanist, author, gardener
Jennifer Langille: master gardener, writer
Peter Martyn: retired English teacher, author, journalist
Elizabeth Spence: retired prof. of language and literature, gardener, writer
Linda Little: retired lecturer in English; author.
March 2025
One Response
Thank you to our wonderful judges! This was a fun competition.
Loved the contributions from the kiddos, too 🙂