For almost two years, The Denver Post’s $25 Haiku Contest has challenged writers to come up with three- line poetry on a variety of topics. In honor of the 100th week of the contest, we asked that “Denver Post Haiku” be the first or third line of the poem. This week, we’re awarding two prizes, the first to 10-year-old Evan Latimer of Colorado Springs, who wrote:
Denver Post haiku
Mom forces me to listen
Tuesday’s agony.
We got a chuckle out of that one, but thought Ellen Kushar of Centennial caught both the essence of haiku and our contest’s intent in writing:
Concise words evoke
poignantly profound feelings
Denver Post haiku
Read more haiku at . You also can go to to have The Haiku Guy, our avatar of verse, read aloud to you. If you’ve got something to say in a 5-7-5 poetry form, enter a one-stanza haiku at lifestyle@denverpost.com or file it at . Don’t forget to include your name and hometown. Our favorite wins a $25 gift certificate to the Tattered Cover Book Store.
This week’s topic: good-byes
The deadline is midnight Thursday. Good luck, and start writing.
To commemorate 100 weeks of haiku, here are a few of our favorite haikus from the past two years:
Kathleen Kaufmann of Aurora on fireworks:
Night sky all aglow
Waterfall raining colors
Take my breath away.
Jane Morton of Colorado Springs on Colorado:
Rugged peaks pierce sky
Nation’s backbone splits the state
divides the waters.
Pat Vaillancourt on candy corn:
Rich sugar harvest
Pumpkin colored pyramids
Autumn’s candy crop
Catherine Hook of Trinidad on office parties:
Stockings hung, no care,
Thongs in the paper shredder
Pink slips tomorrow.
Constance Gelvin of Colorado Springs on winter sky:
Birds fly in a “V”
Against a gunmetal sky
Leaving winter cold.
Andrea Z. Hill of Denver on memorials:
White rows in the grass
Like stone flowers multiply
Dad is sleeping here.
Tracy Wolhgenant of Denver on summer heat:
My car is a kiln
I use oven mitts to steer
Arriving red-faced.
Vickie Hartnett of Loveland, on the summer Olympics:
For five small circles
A lifetime of training
One moment to shine.
Nick Green of Arvada, on green chile:
Verde angel sleeps
Attacked with knives, awakens
Lashes back with fire
