Mini Writing Contest #2 — July 9 to July 13
Hey everyone, welcome back for week 2 of the Word Out Mini Writing Contest.
Are you ready to get writing?
This week, we will be doing everything related to haikus. So what exactly is a haiku?
A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that's been around for over four hundred years, and has only three lines of text. The first line has 5 syllables, the middle line has 7 syllables, and the final line has 5 syllables. Traditionally, haikus were written about nature, often capturing a specific moment.
For this contest, however, I am opening up the playing field to you. Feel free to write and submit some haikus about anything you want, like your family, pets, vacations — anything at all. You can also submit more than one haiku per entry, but no more than 5 at once.
Here's an example that I really like:
Nature
Brown leaves, curled and dried.
Acorns; straw; and rich, brown dirt.
I should clean my room.
(from If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems written by Brian P. Cleary and illustrated by Andy Rowland)
Please keep in mind the following contest rules:
1. You have to live in Toronto to win this contest.
2. You have to provide a valid e-mail address so we can contact you if you win a prize (see privacy statement for more info)
3. Your entry must be submitted by Monday at 11:59pm to be considered to win.
4. Winners will be announced the following Tuesday.
Happy writing!
Your name, your e-mail address, the books you read and your thoughts about them are your personal information. Why do we need your personal information here? Well, we want to publish your reviews, and we need your name and e-mail address to help administer the contest. The Public Libraries Act is the law that lets us do this. We'll be protecting your privacy every step of the way, but if you have any questions about how we're going to do that, you can contact TPL's Privacy & Records Management Officer, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON, M4W 2G8, 416-395-5658 or by e-mail at gnettlefold@torontopubliclibrary.ca
27 thoughts on “Mini Writing Contest #2 — July 9 to July 13”
What is the prize?
Can we submit a set of haikus (that go together), or should we post just one per person? 🙂
Entry One:
Close that computer
Make some tea and get a cookie
Now start reading a book.
Entry two:
How many syllables
will fit into this poem
before im out of
Entry three:
Everything is white
All is frozen. Cold air spreads
Please close the freezer.
In case someone didn’t understand the second one, it’s “before I’m out of [space]”
I love haiku! I have studied many of them. Better go dig up my notebook full of them!
1. “Pine Tree”
Fresh mint scent surrounds it,
Overturned dirt in its place
Where it use to be.
2. “Shooting Star”
Don’t you look away–
Just watch me for a moment:
You won’t see me twice.
3. “Children”
Short attention span.
They think they don’t understand,
Secretly, they do.
4. “Broken Cable Lines”
Face red, voices rise
But don’t worry; it’s just failed
Communication.
1. “Snow Hare”
Master of Disguise
White fur to protect itself
In the brisk Tundra
2.” Summer”
The smell fills the air
Sizzles and sears are heard well
At the Barbecue
3. School
Kids to teens suffer
Ten months or so to escape
And enjoy Summer
The smell of blood
All that remains
Wishing to unsee
I make the mistkae
I am redeemable if
I try to fix it
You see, but do not
You deny but that does not
Change what is the truth
“Be giving,” they said
You agree, wholeheartedly
Just don’t touch my food
At night
I am kind of scared
I think there’s a monster here
but I have to pee
“In the morning after your memorial”
I.
Clouds in the slow light—
their damp weight heavy under
our tender eyelids.
II.
We think we hear you
whispering something sweet through
our cotton pillows.
III.
Teach me how to find
my way into unlikely
tenderness of clouds.
Beautiful weather
Hot and sunny forever
Time to go inside
1.
Waiting to be found,
it lay on the forest ground
a stranded cookie.
2.
A herd was coming
they ran as fast as they could
the kids at my school
Water flows below
with the mist spraying my face
I know it’s my time
“Nostalgia”
Akin to harsh rain,
The longing for what has passed
Is pleasure and pain.
“Rose”
Pressed between pages,
This rose carries love and is
Worth more than before.
“Ambivalent”
This heart and these hands,
Would just love to strangle you,
But embrace you, too.
“Pin the tail on the donkey”
So many children
Have tried to put my tail on
No one gets it right
“Monster”
Under here, I’m safe;
Beneath covers they can’t reach
Of course -everyone knows that.
“Test”
Eyes shift left and right,
My pencil remains static,
I should have studied.
Obscure, soft as silk,
freely flying in the wind —
it’s mom’s first white hair.
“Palestine”
Speak for Palestine!
Raise your voice. Stop the violence.
Help free Palestine.
1) What matters is not
if the chicken or egg came
first– for Germans did.
***Reference to 2014 FIFA World Cup***
2) Haha, it’s your loss;
sixteen syllables are not
enough to tell jokes.
***If you didn’t get the joke: a haiku has SEVENteen syllables.***
3) It killed the cat, and
it got away with murder:
CURIOSITY.
4) Flawed and unadorned,
but beautiful like the moon,
is a mother’s face.
5) Bittersweet, yet sweet,
tempting and satisfying
the taste of revenge.
5) Bittersweet, yet sweet,
tempting and satisfying:
the taste of revenge.
(Forgot the colon sorry)
When are the winners announced
Thanks for all of your great haiku entries.
It was a pleasure reading through them. 🙂
I’m happy to announce that this week’s Mini-Writing Contest book prize winners are SmileyFace and Ann.
Congratulations!
Sorry for not posting this last week…
The winners of Mini-Writing Contest #2 are: SmileyFace and Ann.
Congratulations!