With the right presentation, as Mark Twain taught us, we can sometimes entice an entire line of volunteers to whitewash a fence. Happily, on this sticky summer day, we didn’t have to work very hard to get haiku poet and teacher Tom Painting to cover this blank space with his poetry. Indeed, add the adrenalin rush of competition — here, the monthly “kukai” (peered review poetry contest) from the Shiki Monthly Kukai folk at Haiku World — and Tom Painting becomes even more prolific and eloquent.
So, please sit back in the shade and enjoy Tom’s contributions to the Shiki Monthly Kukai from April through July of 2006. [At the foot of this post, you’ll find the kukai topics related to each haiku. You can see the work of other contestants in the Shiki Kukai Archives.]
rooftop garden
she collects the rain
in saucepans
humid night
the ice cream vendor
pulls back her hair
Fort Niagara
a wren sizes up
a knothole
turtle…
I too wish to think
outside the box
long day
the lover’s share a pull
of saltwater taffy
day’s end
a bunch of daisies
in his bait pail
skipping stones
I learn the meaning
of release
bordering
the road not taken
wildflowers
– by Tom Painting
“rooftop garden” 2nd Place, July 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Kigo: “Watering the Garden”
“humid night” 2nd Place, June 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Kigo: Humid
“Fort Niagara” 8th place, July 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Free Form: bird
“turtle” 6th Place, June 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Free Form: turtle
“long day” 7th Place, May 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Kigo: long day
“day’s end” 2nd Place, May 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Free Form: bucket/pail
“skipping stones” 4th Place, April 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Free Form: rock/stone
“bordering” 3rd Place, April 2006 Shiki Monthly Kukai-Kigo: wildflowers
love these!
Comment by Shane — July 27, 2006 @ 10:51 pm