The ukiaHaiku Committee is putting out a call for submissions for its 14th Annual ukiaHaiku Festival. The postmark deadline for entries is March 11, 2016. The winning writers will share their haiku with the community at the ukiaHaiku Festival on Sunday, April 24, 2016 at the SPACE Theater in Ukiah.
Don’t grok poetry? It’s just not your cup of tea? Consider haiku. In the realm of poetry, haiku poems are the very essence of simplicity, elegance, and - paradoxically — depth. A haiku poem causes a vivid image or experience to arise in the reader within the context of three brief lines (short, long, short), or more traditionally, 17 syllables in the pattern of 5-7-5.
Take for example:
Stop to contemplate
As meditators half-assed
Revisit the past
Submission forms can be picked up at the Ukiah Branch Library, Grace Hudson Museum, or online at ukiaHaiku.org. The website also lists the various contest categories and the guidelines. Nine categories, two in Spanish, are reserved for poets from Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, and Sonoma counties with divisions by age and topic. The Jane Reichhold International Prize category is open to poets from around the world and offers cash prizes. Website visitors can also read haiku winners from past years, and get information on composing haiku. For further details feel free to contact Cathy Monroe at 485-8249 or cathymonroe@gmail.com
No fee for entry. So what are you waiting for? Compose your haiku. Poetry happens. Put your heart and mind to it. March 11th looms.
--Stan Janiak
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