There was no prize announced, and no timeline for entering, but since we’re about a week out from our next Haiku-ption contest, I thought we better determine a winner from contest #1. This, you’ll remember, was the inspirational prompt:
And these were the entries:
1.
We talk of baseball
Jones, perched on his stool, and I,
Elbow deep in cow
2.
Go to school, dad said.
Or you’ll end up sweeping streets.
(I’d kill for that now)
3.
Damnit, where is it?
Why did I not remove my
Fraternity ring?!
4.
Some don’t like pipe smoke
Sometimes, I clamp my pipe tight
Pipe smoke beats some smells
5.
I still hate my job
My resume says it all
Cow proctology
6.
In college I bragged,
"Yessir, I'll get tail. You'll see!
I'll even get paid!"
7.
Shit in a Shovel
And an uncomfortable cow
All in a day's work
8.
Mid America
Cow Anus in Black and White
Privacy Foregone
9.
Two men and a cow.
Both rest their limbs on a stool.
Earl drew the short straw.
10.
-"It'll never work."
--"They said that about the mule."
-"You're an idiot!"
11.
This is why pigs say:
All men are enemies, all
animals comrades.
The results were intriguing, to say the least. Some entries were descriptive (1), some historically researched (10), some evocative of extreme bad luck (2,3,5,9). Some treated the obvious subject lightly (4) and some made a farce of it (6). Some were thematically true to the art of haiku, with separate, short glimpses that painted a full picture (7,8). But when I look at them all together, there’s really one clear winner that emerges for me: Entry #11.
First of all, it was the only haiku to take the animal’s point of view. So, kudos for that. But what’s more, the author even managed to quote George Orwell’s Animal Farm almost verbatim- taking us full circle back to literature. An impressive effort.
Which are your favorites?
