Haiku Society of America
Merit Book Awards for 1981
for books published in 1978-1980
Alfred Marks (chairman)
Sydell Rosenberg, and Lilli Tanzer
judges
First Place
Raymond Roseliep. Sailing Bones. Rook Press, Ruffsdale, Pennsylvania, 1978.
in the stream
stones making half
the musictheir small talk
after marriage
the wild strawberries
Second Place
Bernard Lionel Einbond. The Coming Indoors and Other Poems. Charles E. Tuttle, Rutland, Vermont, 1979.
The white of her neck
as she lifts her hair for me
to undo her dress.The coming indoors
on a wintry afternoon;
the breath of a child.
Third Place
Virginia Brady Young. Shedding the River. privately published, 1978.During a downpour
the frog’s eyes
— open.Pulling the plow
backward:
the smell of earth.
Honorable Mention
Gary Hotham. Against the Linoleum. Yiqralo Press, Laurel, Maryland, 1979.
night comes —
picking up your shoes
still warmwild geese —
the clouds too low
to see them
Honorable Mention
George Swede. Wingbeats. Juniper Press, La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1979.
Rain falling
the lily pad
froglessThe open mouths
of my two sons — soundless
above the waves
Honorable Mention
Proxade Davis. Scrub Pine. Zephyr Instant Printing, Hyannis, Massachusetts, 1980.
standing in the marsh
a deer listens
winter evening nowempty beach
a sand pail upside down
September
Honorable Mention
Geraldine C. Little. Separation: Seasons in Space. Sparrow Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1979.
Spring comes late here. I don’t mind. I had no wish to rush it. Now that it is here, I think I have never seen spring before. We must need contrasts really to see contrasts. . . .
the small shadow
of a single buttercup
reshaped by windThe woodpecker’s click
then an unknown bird talking
somewhere. Stranger here, too?
Honorable Mention - Translation
Gary L. Ebersole and Hideko Yamaga. The Elm Erupts: Selections from the works of Horiguchi Seimin. privately published, 1977.
White silver smoke . . .
the elm erupts.A nighthawk cries . . .
my friends’ shoes flash white
in the night woods