Haiku and Tanka Contest

For those of you who do not know what a Haiku and Tanka is, both are forms of Japanese poetry, but don't worry you are allowed to write them in english as well.

Haiku is a short 3-line verse poem. The 1st line must have 5 syllables, the 2nd must have 7, and the 3rd must also have 5.

Haiku example:

Soft pink perfection
You come to me in the spring
How I await you


Now Tanka is similar to Haiku except instead of a 5-7-5 pattern, it's a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern. So there's basically 2 more lines for those of you who need just a few extra lines to fully complete your idea.

Tanka example:

He dreamt of walking
The dream was always out there
Just a simple dream
Calling him to walk again
In his heart he knew he would



Prizes

1st 600 points

2nd 400 points

3rd 200 points


Deadline

The deadline is June 15th.
To submit your entry just post it here or PM it to me.

Rules

First and foremost, you must follow the rules of the type of poem you decide to write. Count your syllables carefully, because if you submit your Haiku or Tanka and it broke it's own rules, then it's not going to win. But you are allowed to change the poem as long as it's before the deadline. And I have recently been told that it is apparently a rule to write your Haiku with a nature or season kind of theme. Yeah I didn't know that...*is embarassed* ANYWAYS.
The other rules are that your poem contains no swearing or inappropriate content etc etc...



Hope you guys have fun, I can't wait to read your poems!


Submissions Closed

Do you want us to submit one of each, or just a haiku or tanka unless we so desire to write one of each?

Do you want us to submit by posting it on here?

What about Haiku have to have nature or a season word? Things to Consider About Haiku
=O Are you going to require a turn?

TELL ME MORE =D

@Aley
Choose to write either one Haiku poem or one Tanka poem. Post it here. If you do decide to write a Haiku, you can write either one you want. Honestly, I was not aware that it was a rule to have your Haiku strictly themed to nature and season. I did research on Haiku and I discovered no mention to this rule. I've actually read a published book with Haikus that do not follow that rule lol.
But I guess nature and season both really cover a variation of subjects, so poets aren't to limited.
Thank you for making me aware of this.
I will now add it as a rule.

I'm submitting a haiku! Sending it through PM!

Awesome @Evander

Hello!

I have sent in a Haiku via PM.

Cheers,
LadyOkra

If you'd like some more information, here's a website that covers that rule. http://shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html

And this one does it too.
https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/haiku

When I was first introduced to Haiku, I was told that Haiku must have several things atop their syllable requirements. These included season words [our approximation of them anyway. Japanese has a class of words where they use special words to describe things with greater connotation and it doesn't really translate to English that well], a turn [or a juxtaposition between two halves of the poem], and a feeling of momentary endlessness [just capturing a single moment in time, no periods in other words].

Things to Consider About Haiku

If it doesn't have a nature word, it's technically a Senryu since that's the catchall category for non-nature haiku structured poems.

Just some more information ^^ The key thing is to focus on a moment in nature.

Thank you very much Aley! I am now going to be properly educated in the art of haiku.

I’m going to submit a haiku! Sending it through PM.

Here's my haiku submission!

Spoiler

(author's note - the plural of "haiku" is "haiku" so that's why there's not an 's' at the end of the first line. And in my mind 'breathing' is close enough to 'nature' so hopefully that satisfies that rule. Thanks for hosting this contest!)

I can't write haiku
I lack the will power to
fold truth in two breaths

Congratulations to the winners!

snowmonkey9, thank you so much for hosting this contest! It's great to see stuff like this around the site.

This was a great contest Snowmonkey! Big congrats to the other winners! <3 Your poems are lovely.

Thanks for hosting this lovely contest @snowmonkey9. Congratulations to all the other winners!