Haiku Society of America Renku Awards
in Memorial of Bernard Lionel Einbond
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HSA Renku Awards for 2011
Merrill Ann Gonzales and Paul Miller
judges
Grand Prize
Twelfth Night
Diana Webb, Leatherhead, England
Frank Williams, London, England
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Twelfth Night
(a nijuin renku)
twelfth night
glitter returned
to the frosted trees
Diana
from the torn refuse bag
remains of a goose
Frank
nursery rhyme tunes
again and again
weave through his work
Diana
ringing through the pub
‘one hundred and eighty’
Frank
full moon circle dance
half the way round
and then the other
Diana
clusters of toadstools
line the low bank
Frank
halloween,
phantom boats
glide down the stream
Diana
in the chamber of horrors
you propose we live in sin
Frank
a bridal gown
from the charity shop
you’re joking
Diana
for uncle’s birthday
an exploding cigar
Frank
dad and the kids
spend the afternoon
combing the beach
Frank
moon viewing obscured
by a sudden storm
Diana
an unknown noise
sends a rabbit dashing
across the meadow
Frank
who owns a stopwatch
for the race against time?
Diana
your name
on the gravestone
now worn away
Frank
christening mugs
along the mantelpiece
Diana
her brand new
designer umbrella
patterned with drops
Diana
frog spawn covers
our little pond
Frank
white gleam
among the wood chips
cherry petal
Diana
the dawn chorus
starts whilst dreaming
Frank
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The Haiku Society of America sposors this annual award for renku of 36, 20, or 12 stanzas.
See the contest guidelines for the HSA Renku Awards.
For more information about the goals of this contest, download a copy of the HSA Renku Contest Committee Report (pdf) published in Frogpod XIII:2 (May 1990).
Awards by year:
| 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
xxxx judges commentary:
Grand Prize - Twelfth Night
Judging renku is different from judging other kinds of poetry. The judges must take into consideration not only the poetic value of each link, but also, and often more importantly, how the members of the group interact with each other across links, in addition to how they do or don’t (usually with good reason) follow the format’s many traditions and rules.
This year’s submissions were interesting and exciting in all those ways, and included both traditional and contemporary formats that included many delightful links. We would like to thank all the participants for the opportunity to read their work.
While the winning renku is a fairly traditional Nijuin, that was not the reason we chose it. We felt a strong, playful rapport between the poets, started nicely in the hokku and wakiku, and then carried throughout the remainder of the verses. There were a good variety of voices and tones, some nice seasonal runs, and a pleasant expanse of topics. After careful examination and discussion of all the submissions we have decided to award the First Prize to "Twelfth Night" by Frank Williams and Diana Webb. Our congratulations to the winners!
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