2011 Contest Results

The winners of the 2011 Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi Contest were announced at the annual autumn Yuki Teikei Haiku Retreat at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California. Sakuo Nakamura of Tokyo, Japan painted the haiga above for the winning haiku.

First prize and $100 went to Billie Dee of San Diego, California for her poem:

the familiar cough
of the neighbor’s old Chevy
winter solitude

Second prize and $50 went to J. Zimmerman of Santa Cruz, California for her haiku:

munitions worker
staggering home from the pub—

dark billowing cloud

Third prize ($25) was a tie between Elaine Whitman of Pacific Grove, California and Billie Dee of San Diego, California:

persimmon fabric
folded in tissue paper
Mother’s kimono

finding her letter
in his old leather jacket
winter solitude

First honorable mentions went to Roberta Beary of Bethesda, MD, Earl R. Keener of Bethany, WV, Joseph Robello of Novato, CA, and Richard St. Clair of Cambridge, MA.

Second honorable mentions went to Roberta Beary, joan iversen goswell of (2 haiku) of Valencia, PA, Billie Dee (2 haiku), Neal Whitman, and Desiree McMurry of Franklin,MO.

The judges were Toru Kiuchi, a haiku poet, editor, and professor of English at Nihon University in Chibo, Japan, and kris moon, the regional director for Japan of the International Academy of Poetry Therapy and founder of Chestnut Cottage in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.