all that's been happening

Christine Villa's 2nd HMPC (Haiku My Photo Challenge) results were out this week and to my delight, I found myself among the winners once again, along with Rick Daddario (1st place) and Kirsten Kliff (3rd place). This was especially gratifying as till the last moment, i was not sure i could participate at all and also because this was done in the format of a kukai contest, that is, the winners were selected by the participants' votes. All credit goes to Chrissi, of course, for holding such contests successfully time and again. Huge thanks to you, Chrissi!

Here is my 2nd place winning haiku .

lilac dusk~
a song we are yet
to sing

Yon can read all the winning entries and everything else about this contest here on Christine Villa's blog, Blossom rain.


The Heron's Nest September issue and A Hundred Gourds issue 1.4 are out too with great stuff as always and I am happy to be a part of them with one poem in THN and three in AHG.

On Mann library daily haiku, the featured poet this month is Yu Chang and he is absolutely unmissable!So in case you've forgotten to take a peek in there lately, do so today!

Finally i am sure many of you are already participating in Rick Daddario's 30 days of haiga bash... (i wish i could, too), if not you could find out all about it here.

Last but not the least, Aubrie Cox is having another lovely doodle prompt contest on the theme of the sea and/or thieves on her blog Yay Words, the last date for which is today. Another fun contest i absolutely hated to miss. But I hope you haven't!

June 2012 Shiki kukai

I've talked here before about how I've been participating in and struggling with the monthly shiki kukai contests without ever topping it once! The last one in July was another sorry tale that I'd rather not talk about at all, but in June I came pretty close to it, I was placed second in both the formats with a mere 2 or 3 points separating me from the winner.And I was mighty pleased with it, in fact so pleased that I don't know how i managed to stay so long without bragging about it here. Shows what age does to you. So here are my two second -placed entries.

In the kigo section, the kigo was "ice cream", so no wonder I could write something that was well-received.

ice cream
on the patio-
strawberry moon

In the free format section, the prompt was, "day moon".

undecided
whether to leave or linger-
day moon

Hope you will like them too.

Haiga ( for 30 days of haiga)

Rick Daddario is having the 30 Days of Haiga bash on his blog 19 planets Art Blog just like last year in which I had participated. I would have loved nothing better than to do so this year too but have been incapacitated with circumstances beyond my control.On the other hand, I feel so wistful reading and looking at all the entries of the other participants and the ones Rick himself has been doing (which are awesome) that i thought i would post at least one haiga as a token participation for Rick's blog.So here is the one I did for September 7, the prompt word was "grandmother memories".

afternoon quiet-
she opens
her trinket box

August NaHaiWriMo - final week

Whew! That was some week! Some month! Cara Holman started the week with a gentle prompt, but after that it was an uphill struggle for me. I don't know if they were really so hard or it was just me who found them so, because of my nagging health problems which won't let me focus on anything, but anyway, I am happy that I stuck it through and here are my poems for the final week.

August 25 - " summertime childhood memory" - Cara Holman

raising caterpillars
until one day
the blue moth

August 26 - "time" - Jessica Tremblay

faint heartbeats-
the old clock
ticking away

August 27 - "beatles song" - Johannes S.H.Bjerg

This one was particularly difficult for me, not being well-acquainted with the beatles' songs. But everybody else enjoyed it hugely.

let it out
and let it in,
Hey Jude, begin-
the movements you need
for your frozen shoulder



blue moon-
two of us sunday driving,
not arriving...

August 28 - "wishes/dreams" - Pamela Cooper

blowing
on an eyelash-
the path of a wish

August 29 - "health care" - Dave Serjeant

This one was closer home.

all the pills
by my bedside-
who needs a moon?

August 30 - "fence" - Terri Hale French

first light-
a shoe stuck
in the barbed wire fence


fence gate-
where she waited for us
to come home

August 31 - "moon viewing" - Alex Benedict

blue dusk-
she lifts her veil a little
to view the moon

So that's how the month ends. And looking back, it seems I have been writing mostly about moons throughout the month!

For the month of September, Johannes Bjerg is providing the prompts and going by the first few days' prompts , this month is going to be such an awesome one!I would have loved to participate this month as well if i could, but something tells me perhaps it's time to step back for a while ...