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The Shiki Monthly Kukai

April 2009 Kukai

Here are the results for the April 2009 Kukai, wherein our Kigo subject was "April Fools" and our Free Format subject was "Fence/Wall".

Congratulations to Carol Raisfeld, winner of our Kigo section and to Francine Banwarth, winner of our Free Format section!

Those who were given less than three points and who requested anonymity in such a case are so noted.

(214 = 12) would indicate that the poem above received two 3-point votes, one 2-point vote, and four 1-point votes.

Voters comments are in italics below the respective poems.

April 2009 Results
Kigo Theme: April Fools	Free Format Theme: Fence/Wall
First Place – Twenty-seven Points April Fools sending the kids to buy elbow grease Carol Raisfeld (1,6,12) = 27 pts Of all the practical-joke haiku, this one best tickled my own funny bone. Second Place – Twenty-five Points april fools the sting of a prank decades old Roberta Beary (3,5,6) = 25 pts Third Place – Twenty-four Points April Fools the lake ice still looks safe Edward (2,4,10) = 24 pts Fourth Place – Seventeen Points April Fools teenagers twitter under the cherry tree Harvey Jenkins (0,3,11) = 17 pts Love the way modern life sneaks in here with a pun. Fifth Place – Fourteen Points sonny’s tomcat gives birth to kittens April fools Gautam Nadkarni (1,4,3) = 14 pts Sixth Place – Thirteen Points April Fools caught by the forsythia my new umbrella j blain (1,2,6) = 13 pts Seventh Place – Twelve Points April Fools storm clouds blackening the sky drop only their scent Tom Genovese (2,2,2) = 12 pts april fools in our squabble the skylark passed by sheila windsor (1,3,3) = 12 pts Eighth Place – Eleven Points April Fools — I peek at my retirement portfolio Paul David Mena (0,2,7) = 11 pts the crow's flight a little sideways April Fool Joyce Clement (1,1,6) = 11 pts The crow as jester is perfect here! April Fools . . . my best umbrella full of holes Bill Pauly (0,5,1) = 11 pts a sudden kiss as we walk in the rain April Fools ARW (0,4,3) = 11 pts Ninth Place – Ten Points April fools day the baby learns lemon juice Jon Baldwin (1,3,1) = 10 pts may I help you? an April fool answers the store’s parrot Susan Constable (0,3,4) = 10 pts vibrating the spider's web a leaf stem- April Fools Leslie Montgomery (0,2,6) = 10 pts Tenth Place – Nine Points april fool a cuckoo smuggles in the summer _kala (0,2,5) = 9 pts April Fools morning a patient in the mirror practices a smile Dorota Pyra (0,1,7) = 9 pts Eleventh Place – Eight Points falling for the pick-up line an april fool tom painting (0,3,2) = 8 pts April Fools, a whispered promise to leave his wife Laurene Post (0,2,4) = 8 pts Twelfth Place – Seven Points April Fools — a foot of snow on the parked cars Patrick M. Pilarski (0,2,3) = 7 pts robin's song an April Fool awakens with a smile Audrey Downey (0,2,3) = 7 pts April fool the lilacs covered with frost Earl Keener (0,2,3) = 7 pts April Fools — opening day fish stories bigger and bigger Catherine J.S. Lee (0,2,3) = 7 pts April Fool's Day an urchin in the playground calls me father Jacek M. (0,1,5) = 7 pts Thirteenth Place – Six Points the cobra moth folds its wings April Fools! Garry Eaton (1,1,1) = 6 pts dazzling sunshine in cherry bloom showers April fools Keith A. Simmonds (0,3,0) = 6 pts April Fools, he asks again "will you marry me?" Bre (0,2,2) = 6 pts April Fool’s gale... cherry-petal pink whitecaps on the Potomac Janice Hornburg (0,2,2) = 6 pts New spring same old truth I'm still the April Fool Tina (0,2,2) = 6 pts april fools the dog growls at me polona (0,1,4) = 6 pts clear sky we set out without raincoats April Fools Elaine Riddell (0,1,4) = 6 pts Fourteenth Place – Five Points April fool — my friend borrows money never to return ~ Lilian Otieno (1,0,2) = 5 pts April Fools the computer worm that wasn't Bruce Ross (0,2,1) = 5 pts April Fools — the coroner's corpse snickering aom (tim) (0,2,1) = 5 pts Silk flowers in daffodil leaves April Fools gourdman (0,1,3) = 5 pts frost on two lips… April Fool’s A. Bodhi (0,1,3) = 5 pts April Fools the hare trying to recolour Hermione (0,1,3) = 5 pts April Fools . . . his shadow makes its move Francine Banwarth (0,1,3) = 5 pts April Fool's Canada Geese on the lawn with a decoy andrea (0,1,3) = 5 pts Fifteenth Place – Four Points April Fools — bat making a blind date to a mole Virginia Popescu (1,0,1) = 4 pts first to sign for tango lessons such old April Fools Barbara Snow (0,1,2) = 4 pts April Fools Day she tells him she thinks she's pregnant Carmel Lively Westerman (0,1,2) = 4 pts breakfast outside with the robins April Fools Beth Powell (0,1,2) = 4 pts Sixteenth Place – Three Points being dated by another man... April fool Patrick Wafula (1,0,0) = 3 pts leader has fulfilled his assurance — april fool Sunil Uniyal (0,1,1) = 3 pts April's first gust swirls white — the blown plum shakes Don Holt (1,0,0) = 3 pts told that Jesus had arrived at Mount Kenya — April fool ~ Nelius Wangari (1,0,0) = 3 pts snowflakes dot the shovel’s dust April Fools Ann Schwader (1,0,0) = 3 pts April Fool’s Day he proposes marriage Carolyn Coit Dancy (0,1,1) = 3 pts April fool — a fake invitation for lunch ~ Peter Nguribu (0,1,1) = 3 pts the fifteenth post office, long lines of April fools Frederick Gier (0,1,1) = 3 pts April fools an empty whiskey bottle under her bed Elena Naskova (0,0,3) = 3 pts laughing old monk re-enlightened as aprils fool Jon Espen Vassbotn (0,0,3) = 3 pts April Fools my grandma was too heavy for the trampoline selwyn (0,0,3) = 3 pts local zoo — Mr. Lion receives calls from April Fools Origa (0,0,3) = 3 pts Participants’ General Comments: How few were those who read or followed the instructions about the subject line. After reading all of these, I concluded that having a term like "april fool" for a kigo doesn't work very well. Some of the submissions lack the full kigo (#37, 90,92) or don’t use it as required (#22). The kigo seems to have baffled our poets. So many variations (and not so varied as all that) on a few themes. I'm not excluding myself from this judgment, but I decided not to submit in this category. As it turned out the poem I submitted was turned in with slight variations by 8 of us. Ooops. Cliche, cliche. Very entertaining!	First Place – Twenty-six Points garden wall — enough moon to go around Francine Banwarth (2,5,10) = 26 pts Elegant in its simplicity! Second Place – Twenty Points picket fence she repaints his dream each spring Terra Martin (2,4,6) = 20 pts Third Place – Eighteen Points between the fog and the fence daffodils Kate Creighton (1,3,9) = 18 pts The problem with perfection in haiku is that it's very hard to talk about. But the consonance here is beautifully controlled, and the splash of bright color introduced by the daffodils brings the poem to a refreshing and satisfying finish. I like the simplicity of this one; also that, for me at least, it illustrates a feeling of finding a bit of gladness between anxiety and limitation. Wish there was a good way to format it pictographically; it would sort of break up the one-sentence effect: between fog and fence daffodils Fourth Place – Seventeen Points rickety fence held together by jasmine Andre Surridge (0,6,5) = 17 pts Fifth Place – Sixteen Points checkpoint ... fireflies, back and forth through the fence Carol Raisfeld (1,2,9) = 16 pts Sixth Place – Fourteen Points No fence — Just an open gate helge t. (1,3,5) = 14 pts This says so much in so few words. It's the one that makes me stop and think, and stop and think again. stone wall the glimmer of snail trail crossing over polona (1,3,5) = 14 pts Origami- the shadow of a butterfly flickering on the wall Vasile Moldovan (1,3,5) = 14 pts I find the uncertain relationship between the two parts of this intriguing. The poem does not leave me satisfied, but, in this case, that's not a bad thing. dark horizon... a sea eagle climbing a wall of wind Li Ree (0,5,4) = 14 pts Seventh Place – Thirteen Points graveyard wall — on the street side cherry blossoms Gautam Nadkarni (0,3,7) = 13 pts Eighth Place – Twelve Points monastery wall a monk strolls the quiet side tom painting (0,3,6) = 12 pts Simple and effective. moonlit prison the clematis quietly climbs over the wall Tore Sverredal (0,3,6) = 12 pts Ninth Place – Eleven Points old fence apricot blossoms fall on both sides Ella Wagemakers (1,2,4) = 11 pts Simple, effective and a nice twist on “the grass is always greener on the other side.” a row of sparrows white-washing the picket fence Terri French (1,2,4) = 11 pts Interesting though perhaps a little…ah, earth (which certainly never stopped the Japanese masters. border town a tumbleweed escapes over a rusty fence Garry Eaton (0,4,3) = 11 pts a neighborhood of high fences — the scent of lilac Bill Kenney (0,2,7) = 11 pts Tenth Place – Ten Points across the grass and up the wall a swallow's shadow Paul Hodder (0,3,4) = 10 pts seawall thoughts drifting along Roberta Beary (0,1,8) = 10 pts An effective juxtaposition. Eleventh Place – Nine Points new neighbor he adds another row to the wall Ben Gieske (1,2,2) = 9 pts memorial wall echoes of soldiers dying Don Baird (1,2,2) = 9 pts Poignant and thought-provoking. Twelfth Place – Eight Points neighborhood gossip another patch of couch grass creeps under the fence Susan Constable (0,3,2) = 8 pts spring moss — a hole in the wall between us Nelson (0,2,4) = 8 pts old stone fence deep in the woods — a trace of snow Joyce Clement (0,2,4) = 8 pts dry-stone walls... the signature of ancestors across the valley Dejan Pavlinovic (0,1,6) = 8 pts The use of 'signature' and the link between L1&3 make this special. Thirteenth Place – Seven Points barbed wire fence the cows have all summer to find its weakness Harvey Jenkins (0,2,3) = 7 pts library wall ... I leave a pseudonym Helen Buckingham (0,0,7) = 7 pts Fourteenth Place – Six Points chain link fence — a hog nose snake weaving himself in Barbara Campitelli (0,2,2) = 6 pts April morning — dew hangs on the barbed wire fence ~ Malombe Johnson (0,1,4) = 6 pts coming home a row of schoolboys on the orchard wall Terry O'Connor (0,1,4) = 6 pts Fifteenth Place – Five Points anniversary — flowers for the sea wall aom (tim) (1,0,2) = 5 pts morning glories flying off the fence — two butterflies! Tomislav (1,0,2) = 5 pts I think the kire would work better, placed after glories in Line 1 roofless house — walls between the tree and its apples Gosia Zamorska (0,2,1) = 5 pts longer, the rains shorter the fence Barbara Snow (0,1,3) = 5 pts spring cleaning he throws his voice over the fence Mary Davila (0,1,3) = 5 pts Sixteenth Place – Four Points beyond the fence ranks of gravestones dad among them if (0,2,0) = 4 pts link by link the snow peas climb the fence headed for the sun jeff hanson (0,2,0) = 4 pts cooky-baking the wall between us crumbles Ellen Compton (0,1,2) = 4 pts old battlefield... rooted in the crumbling wall a bleeding heart Janice Hornburg (0,0,4) = 4 pts grandma's last photo strings hold the hollyhocks against the fence Carmel Lively Westerman (0,0,4) = 4 pts prisoners from morning till evening — the school fence ~ Lucy Nyambura (0,0,4) = 4 pts Effective in the way it mirrors how some kids feel. I was (and had) one. wind gust — the rusty fence hooks a white shirt Caleb David Mutua (0,0,4) = 4 pts lowing calf the moon is caught in the barbed wire fence Earl Keener (0,0,4) = 4 pts Seventeenth Place – Three Points behind the fence… the two sways settle down separated Rita Odeh (1,0,0) = 3 pts posts with barbed wire now and then still above the snow Horst Ludwig (0,1,1) = 3 pts moonlit night... illicit lovers sharing a kiss over the fence Patrick Wafula (0,1,1) = 3 pts a drip of coffee blurring the silky napkin cat - behind the fence oana posnaies (0,1,1) = 3 pts Graveyard — high wall separating the quick from the dead Virginia Popescu (0,1,1) = 3 pts new neighbors a straight line of foliage where the fence was j blain (0,1,1) = 3 pts lizards sheltering under the block wall — hot afternoon ~ Abraham Muuo (0,1,1) = 3 pts hot afternoon — a green lizard peeps through cracks on a rusty wall ~ Otinga (0,1,1) = 3 pts realtor’s office with the image of a door painted on the wall ARW (0,1,1) = 3 pts open sky the sun climbs over the privacy fence Beth Powell (0,1,1) = 3 pts knotted rope behind the sea wall memories of winter Patrick M. Pilarski (0,0,3) = 3 pts split-rail fence — a billy goat and the greener grass Carolyn Coit Dancy (0,0,3) = 3 pts pile of bricks in the shadows Berlin Wall Susan Sanchez-Barnett (0,0,3) = 3 pts more stones to add to the pasture wall spring thaw Catherine J.S. Lee (0,0,3) = 3 pts Participants’ General Comments: While kigo section left something to be desired (for my taste at least), free format section offered quite a few strong haiku, which made the decision much more difficult. On a different day I might have decided differently. Other points given back. I've only done that once before (comment on free format votes)

Thank you for participating in the April 2008 Kukai! We will be posting the May Call for Submissions on Monday, May 5th. See you then!

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Robert Bauer, Secretary
Gary Warner, Web Host

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