THF Monthly Kukai, 2025

THF Monthly Kukai - May 2025

theme: white

In May there were 183 submissions from thirty countries across five continents.
Ninety-four voters casting ballots determined the following results.

Honorable Mention 

receding wave

the whiteness 

of her breast scar 

— Hifsa Ashraf 

The juxtaposition of the wave and the breast scar is stunning and works on many levels. In the curved shape of both. In the gradual fade of white after a wave breaks and in the way a scar fades over time. But most movingly, when we consider the enormity of a wave's power, we have some idea of the magnitude of impact that scar has had on the person. Beautifully done.

Comments by Beverly Acuff Momoi is THF Monthly Kukai Commentator.

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-june-2025/#comment-165363

THF Monthly Kukai, 2024

mossy headstone
the anonymity
of a war veteran

Honourable Mention in THF Monthly Kukai - July 2024

THF Monthly Kuaki, 2023

Results of the last Month’s THF Kukai, January 2024

theme: festival

In December there were 141 submissions from twenty-six countries across five continents.
Seventy-five voters casting ballots determined the following results.


Third Prize 

 end of the festival 

a young janitor gathers 

fallen stars 

 — Hifsa Ashraf (43 points - 5; 1; 4; 1; 0)

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Results of Last Month’s THF Kukai -December 2023

theme: giving thanks

In November there were 149 submissions from twenty-seven countries across five continents.
Seventy-one voters casting ballots determined the following results.


Second Prize 

 ceasefire — 

across the border 

a double rainbow 

 — Hifsa Ashraf (51 points - 5; 3; 2; 3; 2)

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-december-2023/

The Haiku Foundation Monthly Kukai, 2022

hat-trick of haiku :) 

Monthly Kukai, July  

Honorable Mention 

evening heat . . . 

mom holds my hands 

one last time

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Monthly Kukai, June

Second Prize 

back to school . . . 

a refugee child’s eyes 

fill with sunshine 

— Hifsa Ashraf (51 points - 6; 0; 4; 4; 1) 

There is an inherent and powerful “hook” (albeit experienced more strongly by some readers than by others) in the very mention of a child or children in haiku. With this comes the hazard that it is almost too easy to engage the reader’s sympathetic response without really delivering anything notable or specific. This poem has the merit of reminding us how the majority of children, in any culture, thrive on companionship and mental stimulus, just as much –– if not so obviously –– as a secure home and caring family.

In June there were 155 submissions from twenty-seven countries across five continents.

One hundred ten voters casting ballots determined the following results.

theme: sunshine

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-july-2022/

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Monthly Kukai, May 

Second Prize

wildflowers — 

the life we live 

without excuses 

 — Hifsa Ashraf (51 points - 3; 3; 6; 2; 2) 

 This haiku stands apart from the others in so far as the word blossoms has been sidestepped. It is at the same time the most enigmatic of them all. I do not know how to interpret “the life we live/without excuses”. I do know that idea pulls me in, and that I will return to ponder its meaning more than once, if not many times. Its meaning for me, that is.

theme: blossoms

In May there were 153 submissions from twenty-three countries across five continents.
Ninety-nine voters casting ballots determined the following results.

https://thehaikufoundation.org/thf-monthly-kukai-june-2022/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thf-monthly-kukai-june-2022