2025 New Year's Haiku Contest

Koi below the ice

Frozen until spring arrives

Suspended in time

Bending thin young trunks,
Hopes of perfection some day!
Will I get to see?

One more:

Aphids, spidermites,
Mealybugs - I hate them all,
Let them rot in hell!

Didn’t win lotto
Not gifted in poetry
Maybe win scissors

Revolutionize

Oversimplification

Botanically


*does this count?

I see a dead tree
I see pain and tortured trees
Milton Chang's garden

RJG2 said:

It is twenty out.
Wait, no, it is sixty now.
Aaaand twenty again...

Click to expand...

It was twenty out.
Tonight will be eight, woohoo!
Tarp over maples.

seedlings now, promise

contorted trees tomorrow

foliage twisted

Iowa winter

Possibly a broken rib

Slipping on the ice

amcoffeegirl said:

Revolutionize

Oversimplification

Botanically


*does this count?

Click to expand...

An edit for this one:

Revolutionize
Oversimplification
Make it short and sweet!

with trembling grasp
purchase found at the cliffs edge
I fall like the leaves

Tiny tree in pot
Forgot to water, it's dead
New year, new mistake

Covid test today
The paxlovid tastes like ass
We won't be deterred.

As seedling unfurls
Chlorophyll's green hue ascends
Nature's lofty dream

down, the red leaf falls
passing seasons, turning wheel
these years of my life

a beginning is an end
each one is like the other

The haiku was developed from a form of Japanese poetry called tanka, meaning "short song" which was an single line of 31 syllables. Overtime a five line structure was developed with a syllable count by line, of 5-7-5-7-7. The first three lines were called hokku and in time became the haiku.

My best friends father owned the first bonsai tree I ever saw. The first set of Shinto deities carved from ivory I ever saw, He brought these back from Japan where he studied karate for two years in the 1960's, he wasn't with all that "war shit" . He showed me many firsts... The Tao... makiwara board... meditation.

He also taught that life is a series of deaths and rebirths, the opening and closing of doors. He passed through a door a few years ago... I don't miss him because I know I'll see him again. I do however honor him and love him...

Thank you Ty. I'll meet you on the further shore .

Fallen leaves on earth
Wind chills the December air
Winter settles in

This trunk lacks movement

No nebari to speak of

Perfect Christmas tree!