haiku my photo challenge

I am happy and proud to tell you all that I was judged the 1st place winner in the haiga contest "haiku my photo challenge" held by Chrissi Villa on her blog Blossom rain. Angelo Ancheta and my dear friend Alee Imperial Albano were the other two winners. Kirsten Kliff blind-judged the contest and wrote a beautiful commentary on my poem.

Here is the haiga followed by the commentary by Kirsten Kliff.

Judge's Comments:

Thank you to all the entrants for sharing your haiku with me, and my thanks also to Chrissi, for inviting me to judge her Haiku My Photo Challenge. The three prizewinners are all haiku that stood up to multiple readings and continued to stand out from the crowd. I judged without knowledge of the authors of each haiku and without having previously seen the photo. And first prize goes to:

leafdance

rippling the sky...

sometimes, I think of you

This haiku stood out for me from the first read through. I find so much to enjoy about it, every line and word choice works: alone as a haiku, and then together with the photo as a haiga. It takes me into the photo as well as transporting me to another place, moving me somewhere deeper. I fell for “leafdance” – what a beautiful image! It breathes new life into the leaves, gives them their spirit back. A few of the haiku entered played with the reflection of the sky on water. This poet achieved the effect flawlessly in line two with “rippling the sky”. The image created is not intrusive or forced: it sounds so natural that the “leafdance” would be “rippling the sky”, whether reflected on the water or not. The pause brought about from the ellipses gives the reader a little extra time than just the line break alone to delight in this experience. Then line three moves the reader along, with that addition of “sometimes” speaking volumes. The mystery, the 'other', is created by this final line and yet the journey for the reader, coupled with the photo too, has only just begun. Stunning work!

If you would want to read the rest of the commentary, know more about this contest or would like to participate in the next one, don't fail to check out Chrissi Villa's blog Blossom rain.

Before I end, thank you Kirsten for your lovely comments. And thank you Chrissi Villa for this wonderful contest... it was fun! I am already looking forward to the next contest.