A Robert Lee Vladimir Devide Haiku Award LibrAsia

April 15, 2016

The Grand Prize Winner, Runners Up, Commended Entries and the Guest Judge selection of the sixth IAFOR Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award were announced by Dr. A. Robert Lee at The Asian Conference on Literature, Librarianship & Archival Science 2016 in Kobe, Japan on April 8, 2016. An impressive 680 haiku poets from 60 different countries submitted to this year’s award.

Suraja Roychowdhury of the United States was selected as the Grand Prize Winner by Judge of the award, His Excellency Dr. Drago Štambuk, as well as by Guest Judge, Alan Summers, for his selection based on the theme of “Justice”.


 

Grand Prize Winner

 

sunny afternoon
a shadow
on the mammogram

Suraja Roychowdhury, United States

 


 

Runners Up

 

instead of moonlight
the bank commercial
at my window

Davor Marinković, Serbia

 

flowing river…
the spot where I poured
his ashes

Sandip Chauhan, United States

 

a morning’s labor
knead bread is awake
under tea towel

Harvey Jenkins, Canada

 

old house
a baby’s shoe
in the corner

Zlatka Timenova, Portugal

 

full moon –
foreign worker in streetlight
reading a letter

Saw Kee Wah, Malaysia

 

fresh grave
a thief took three roses
for a wedding

Ivanov, Belgium

 

spring afternoon
my hammock fills
with me

Rosa Clement, Brazil

 

snowflakes drift down
some melt on a hare’s nose
others survive

Juha Nikki, Finland

 

every step we take
we lurch against gravity –
walking miracles

Helen May Williams, United Kingdom

 

printed paper
thrown into the fire
black characters are gleaming

Nataša Ilić, Croatia

 


 

Commended

 

two snails
rightly divide
the grape leaf

Vitali Khomin, Ukraine

 

hum
of bees –
the om

Lynn Tara Austin, New Zealand

 

dishes left
too many days
geckos in my sink

Gregory Lance Skala, Canada

 

ripe summer
a small waterfall spins
a single yellow leaf

Dubravko Korbus, Croatia

 

on a cold doorknob
I feel loneliness
behind the walls

Nina Kovačić, Croatia

 

start of spring…
the sky cracked
on the pond ice

Vladimir Šuk, Croatia

 

new moon…
I don’t recognize my shadow
after the first chemo

Maya Lyubenova, Bulgaria

 

black-and-white photo –
my father
younger than I

Pham Minh-Triêt, France

 

I read carefully
the moles on your skin –
Braille letters

Diana Teneva, Bulgaria

 

planned city –
roads run straight to the hospital
and to the graveyard

Ajaya Mahala, India

 

night at the morgue
a fourth isn’t here
to play bridge

Azi Kuder, Poland

 

summer has ceased…
twig of a weeping willow
catching a straw

Jasminka Predojević, Croatia

 

winter night
fleece lined slippers
still hold his shape

Lysa Collins, Canada

 

time of visit –
the old lady in her armchair
waits for nobody

Joëlle Ginoux-Duvivier, France

 

morning raga
a loud yawn
before it ends

Aparna Pathak, India

 

library silence –
her bite into
a Granny Smith

Gérard Krebs, Finland

 

stargazing…
first knock in
my moonlit womb

Ramesh Anand, India

 

poetic justice…
the antelope jumps
over the moon

Mohammad Azim Khan, Pakistan

 

all souls day
after the mom’s hard work
a sparkling clean grave

John Tiong Chung Hoo, Malaysia

 

laundromat
her red socks dancing
in the suds

Ruth Powell, Canada

 

a holy service
in front of the tv set
a woman praying

Željko Funda, Croatia

 

new year’s eve
the attic mice nibbling on
my resolutions

Ljubomir Radovančević, Croatia

 


 

Guest Judge Selection: “Justice”

 

1st Choice

 

sunny afternoon
a shadow
on the mammogram

Suraja Roychowdhury, United States

 

2nd Choice

 

first snow
the red hat
of a refugee

Skaidrite Stelze, United States

 

3rd Choice

 

after therapy the same war

Lamart Cooper, United States

 

4th Choice

 

hallowed ground
so many ringtones
among the stones

Earl R. Keener, United States

 

5th Choice

 

war-torn city
all the coffin makers
working overtime

Barbara A. Taylor, Australia