the sky shifts
and a silent scream
escapes my lips

this silence
sounds in their ears
loud as the bang

thick summer heat
the whir of our fan
echoes in the hall

slowly I fall asleep
to the lullaby,
of his breathing

Corinne Cullina

the sky shifts
and a silent scream
escapes my lips

slowly I fall asleep
to the lullaby,
of his breathing

top quarter champion =

slowly I fall asleep
to the lullaby,
of his breathing

top half champion =

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

bottom quarter champion =

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

the silence
after the screams
speaks louder

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

orphan

huddled in the tent
afraid
coyote in the distance

shots echo
louder
than the screams

the silence
after the screams
speaks louder

top half champion =

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

grand champion =

dusk meadow
boldly colored
by crickets

bottom half champion =

hungover
on Sunday morning—
awakened by church bells

late August silence
snip-snip of scissors
on construction paper

Melanie McLay

blinding sunrays
meling ice cream—
then splat   on the sidewalk

just as the lightning
reveals too much
sirens

snatching me from sleep
the frantic wail
of the tornado siren

Stephanie Dietrich

blinding sunrays
meling ice cream—
then   splat   on the sidewalk

snatching me from sleep
the frantic wail
of the tornado siren

top quarter champion =

snatching me from sleep
the frantic wail
of the tornado siren

bottom half champion =

hungover
on Sunday morning—
awakened by church bells

bottom quarter champion =

hungover
on Sunday morning—
awakened by church bells

hungover
on Sunday morning—
awakened by church bells

only our voices touch
caressing whispering secrets
writing another song

hungover
on Sunday morning—
awakened by church bells

Liz Ciaccio

glass shards cut
the air   as
the bottle crashes
into the bar

only our voices touch
caressing whispering secrets
writing another song

Jamie Devitt

pentatonic hums
under whispered words:
Sakura, Sakura

late August silence
snip-snip of scissors
on construction paper

blinding sunrays
melting ice cream
then splat on the sidewalk

the sky shifts
and a silent scream
escapes my lips

this silence
sounds in their ears
loud as the bang

I liked these haiku together because of the seasonal element they each provoked. In the first, the month of August is mentioned, which is the height of summer. In the second, the seasonal element is the ice cream and the sidewalk, along with the sunrays. The second is very detailed in terms of summer imagery. The sound elements of both haiku are unique. The first involves the sound the scissors make as they are being used; the silence mentioned in the first line allows the reader to imagine hearing only the scissors. The sounds of silence and scissors work together to create the sound element. In the second haiku, the ice cream is the obvious sound element. However, the other details imply sound. For example, the sidewalk mentioned provokes the sound of walking on a sidewalk. The sunrays reminds me of a pool area and I think of splashing sounds. Pat Steadman

I really like the use of silence as a sound in both of these haiku. They both do a great job of depicting how much more powerful silence can be than sound in some cases. It's interesting that both of these haiku are not only about silence, but they are also very abstract. I'm not sure I even understand what the first one is about or is trying to say, but it's very artistic and, for some reason, quite haunting. The second haiku, I think, shows the moment after a gun has been fired and maybe even the ringing in the ears is part of the silence. Both are very good haiku, but I like the first one more because of the eery sense of not knowing what exactly is going on. Brian R.

thick summer heat
the whir of our fan
echoes in the hall

Slowly I fall asleep
To the lullaby,
of his breathing

This pair was one of the first to catch my eye as being two similar haiku, not in form or even that much in content, but in a very distinct feeling. First of all, the convention of both the near-onomatopoeic word choices (I say near- because while whir and breathing aren’t real onomatopoeias, the wh and th syllables produce an almost airy, breathy sound that very much resembles the whir of a fan or the rhythmic pant of someone breathing). Also, these sounds are very similar in that they are common noises that everyone has heard at least once, and they are both white noises, in that although we hear them, consciously we don’t really perceive the sound. Because of this and my experiences with white noise (I can’t sleep without some kind of constant sound in the background – the box fan at home and the hum of the mini-refrigerator luckily works for me here at school) the haiku are given a very soothing feel, which compliments the imagery well – the cooling breeze of a fan on a hot summer day, and the calming intimacy of a nap in the arms of a loved one. Both were done well, but I can’t ignore the representation of the cadence of someone’s breathing being so soothing that it is referred to as a lullaby. Brian B