New Year's Eve & New Year's Day Double Kukai

Promoting gloabal friendship, the WHC New Year's Eve & New Year's Day Double Kukai was well-attended by enthusiastic haijin across the world, with over 550 postings and over 600 haiku poems. It was the first attempt of its kind and judging from many comments by the participants and observers it seems to have proved to be a truly world-wide simultaneous kukai. Congratulations and thanks must go first and foremost to all the participants who appreciated the aims of the Kukai and joined in the celebration of literally global friendship through haiku at the festive time of the new century and Millennium. As participating in, and enjoying, this unusual Kukai was its main purpose, I am glad to witness that people seem to have done just that, and in a big way at that!

Susumu Takiguchi (Mr)
Chairman, The World Haiku Club (World Haiku Festival 2000)

Judge: Susumu Takiguchi

Winners:

FIRST PLACE

Christopher Herold  

beach of pebbles
the chosen one skips
into a new year

SECOND PLACE

Susannah Getty  

sweeping needles
out the back door --
the old year passes

THIRD PLACE

Pardee Gunter

year's end
a pine branch releases
its snow

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Janice M. Bostok  

aging with the year
my vision for the future
blurred

DeVar Dahl

new year's day
a chinook wind melts
last year's snow

pmbrady

New Year's morning  
a new blade
in my old razor


Susannah Getty

last year's shoes
criss-cross the pavement --
a new millenium

timothy Russell

a new year . . .
refilling the salt
& pepper shakers

John Stuart  

A year in my life
Snapped shut between the pages
Of a photo album

Billie Wilson

a new year dawning--
magpies startle our eyes
with their bright wings