2021 Tokutomi Memorial Contest Results
Contest Results Announced by the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society
by Kathabela Wilson, 2021 Contest Chair
The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society announces the winners of the 2021 Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi Haiku Contest.
The judge for the 2021 contest was Emiko Miyashita. Yuki Teikei is deeply indebted to her for so graciously sharing her time and expertise.
- Emiko Miyashita (1954- ), a Japanese haiku poet, has attended the Haiku Retreat of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society (YTHS) at Asilomar, on and off, since 2000. On her first visit she read from her translation of Love Haiku: Masajo Suzuki’s Lifetime of Love. She is a judge for the monthly haiku contest organized by the English-Speaking Union of Japan, writes a column for the Haiku International Association, and conducts thirty kukai a year. She enjoys commenting on haiku for “Dojin’s Corner” in Geppo, the quarterly journal of YTHS. She is a member of Haiku Canada, a director of the Japan Airlines (JAL) Foundation which has organized the World Children’s Haiku Contest since 1990, and a grandmother of three little girls.
In addition to the three prize-winning haiku, ten equally-ranked haiku were chosen by the judge for Honorable Mention.
1st Place:
dad’s flattened penny
key chained to a rabbit’s foot
Perseids shower
~ Marilyn Ashbaugh
2nd Place:
fresh wisteria
takes over the entire fence
she forgets her mask
~ Lynn Halley Algood
3rd Place:
bush warbler singing—
my mother’s old yellow dress
with white polka dots
~ Susan Polizzotto
An Honorable Mention was awarded to each of the following people:
Marilyn Ashbaugh, Billie Dee, Marilyn Gehant, Linda Papanicolaou, Clysta Seney, Susan Spooner, Clark Strand, Debbie Strange (2), Genevieve Wynand.
Congratulations to all these poets and great gratitude to the judge.
The illustrated brochure of all the haiku and the judges’ comments on the winners may be viewed by clicking on the brochure image at the top of this page, and/or downloaded here.