Welcome to the third haiku contest!

Wow—third! Who ever thought this would have become a thing. If you've missed them, I encourage you to go read the entries in the first and second contests. They were all pretty great.

The theme for this week was provided by @damianjayclay. When I asked for ideas on Discord, he immediately provided this one, as if he had just been saving it for such an occasion! The theme is I Saw From My Window.

Take that theme and run with it. Give me a great haiku using it. If you are thinking of a season reference too, we are in that transition period between winter and spring so any words that refer to late winter or early spring would fit.

Haiku Contest Rules

(please read carefully)

1. Upvote and Resteem this post.

2. Write a haiku.

   • Post it in the comments to this post
   • Make your own post with the haiku and a link to this post

3. You may include a title or a headnote. A headnote is a short bit of text that sets the scene for the haiku. Some haiku poets use them (Basho and Shiki did) and some don't. You may also include a photo if you want.

4. No syllable requirement, just keep it short. Aim for one breath. You can read my thoughts on syllable counts in English haiku here.

   • Nor does it have to be three lines. See my thoughts here.

5. In addition to the theme for this contest, it should have some kind of reference to nature and have a juxtaposition of images. I write should not must. If you think your haiku is strong enough to do without, go for it. I am not stuck in tradition and I welcome new creative ideas.

6. Consider this quote from Jack Kerouac:

   [A] Haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture and yet be as airy and graceful as a Vivaldi Pastorella.

7. Have at it!

8. (Psst—If you are stuck for ideas, go read some of the translated haiku in my Haiku of Japan series. Here is the latest with links to previous ones at the end, or follow the haiku tag here on Steemit)

I encourage you to tell your friends on Discord or steemit chat. The more people we can get involved here, the more fun we can have. The first contest had 23 entries and the second contest had 18. Let's see if we can beat both of those numbers!

EDIT: I have received two questions (actually one was from last week) about 1) a double haiku and 2) a mini-renga, a 3 line poem followed by a 2 line poem (this wouldn't be a tanka, by the way). The second question would kind of fall under #4 above, but just to specify: I am going to allow both.

Sample

Here is a haiku I used in the article referenced above.

evening
snow beating down
my son is snoring

You can see I give a nod to the season, and there is also a shift in the action as we move from the scene (lines 1 and 2) to my son.

Another Sample

This one, a classic from Buson:

on the temple bell
sleeping
a butterfly

You can read more about that haiku here.

An American Haiku Sample

And here is one of my favorites from Jack Kerouac:

No telegram today
only more leaves
fell.

Close Date and Prizes

Contest will go for 7 days, so that means the final day you can submit is next Tuesday the 6th (Japan time).

Special thanks to @techslut who donated 10 SBD for use in this contest. With her contribution, the prizes will be:

• 5 SBD for first place
• 3.5 SBD for second place
• 2 SBD for third place
• 2 SBD in the pot for an honorable mentions or two

I will be the sole judge.

Have fun!

❦

If you enjoyed this post, please like and resteem. Also be sure to follow me to see more from Japan everyday.

I post one photo everyday, as well as a haiku and as time allows, videos, more Japanese history, and so on. Let me know if there is anything about Japan you would like to know more about or would like to see.

Who is David?
	David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time.