A couple of weeks ago we decided to hold a contest in which people wrote haikus (typically poems of three lines, 17 syllables in three lines of 5, 7, and 5) about what’s going on in the world today. We were overwhelmed at the response and decided that we should post the submissions before we chose winners.
Originally we were only going to have one winner, but we were so moved by the submissions, we’ve expanded it to more than one. We’ll decide as we go through them. Four winners will get a paperback copy of Haunted Futures, with stories by Warren Ellis, Tricia Sulliavan, Jeff Noon, John Reppion, SL Huang, Alex Acks, Felicity Shoulders and more. One winner will be offered a chance to be featured in our upcoming anthology, The King in Orange.
We will announce the winners on Monday, 29th May, but for now, here they are in all their glory.
| MANIFEST People scream in streets Leaders hobnob with elites Unbelievable by Ginger Roberts | VOICES Collective voices Cacophony of anger We are still alive by Alexander Patterson | DOMESTICALLY MINDED Robots have taken hospitals hostage and home is still what scares me. by Zebulon Huset |
| SAD VOICE Always a silent Woman, I learned late to speak Of hidden abuse. by Mary C. Johansen | CACTI SUPER BLOOM After the flood birds hiss; the flock fractures new lines: cacti super bloom. by K Fujiwara | THE TRUTH ABOUT EXTRATERRESTRIALS 'Believe in Aliens, If found us amongst the galaxy I'd hide from earth too.' by Taylor Roth |
| MAY 2017 cicada nymphs shed the audacity of hope sheer numbers survive by Ruth Dowe | ALTERNATE FACTS Hate holds the office. Alternate facts deceive us. Peace is at an end. by Dean Moyer | JACK KIRBY WAS JEWISH Hate is trending, so Captain America gets rewritten fascist. by Megan J. Hesse |
| LILY sea brings back to shore boy bloated like closed lily life never unfurled by Samuel Son | ON ELECTING A BOMB FOR A PRESIEDENT A specter appears, Casting the shadow of war. Prepare to be ash. by Dudgrick Bevins | FAME Embarrassed Ashamed If you want to have a say I guess you need Fame by CoCo Lemery |
| HAIKU FOR IMPEACHMENT The word: Obstruction your pride smells like dry kindling not just smoke. Fire. by Wyatt Bond | Small talk-- rain hums, glazes streets flows off, fills grates. by Brody Hughes | Greed multiplies like black mould along damp windows, a utopia. by Jennie Byrne |
| WINTER ORANGES Winter has fallen Orange Nazis rejoice now Pray Summer comes soon by Nik May | FRUSTRATION oh god what happened i am so sick of these times please just let them end by Phoebe Zeitler | BEYOND All land and sea shores Great energies and spirits Fall prostrate to love by Phindiwe Cindy Nkosi |
| STAGNANCY A puppet laying sleepily distraught at life; death, please come closer. by Raul Meza | PARALLAX unforgettable times of plenty, times of want gratitude, regret by Mick Ó Seasnáin | noncontiguous even our vastest star-infested oceans now just thick wet borders by Anita Lo |
| ON THE IMMIGRATIONS OF PEOPLE Rags and no riches A clay-brick wall Teary eyes make lakes by Noah Hale | FINAL EXAM ON MY BROTHER'S SKIN Week before finals "He looked like he had a gun" Buried with cap & gown by Erin Jamieson | CHECKMATE Empty stomach aches, Pawn in political games, Go rest easy sweet child. by Elizabeth Daniel |
| MADMEN HAIKU Monsters rule our world. How can I calm my spirit? Time for a haiku. by Dana Wagner | PURPOSE We no longer know our reasons for this war or what our purpose is. by Rachel Smith |
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| SECURITY PATCH Security patch. I'm updating my world view; Progress bar is stuck. by Illes Terjek | TOO MUCH AT ONCE Overwhelming like a messy room. Where should I even start to clean? by Tatiana Nunez-Powell | IF ONLY WE COULD CHANGE OUR COLORS As we are, rivals. Never will we overcome. Sealing our ruin. by Brandy Smith |
| MOTHER RUSSIA We live in Russia Even in America Putin, pass the borscht by Jeanette Quick | IN TIME In time there will be A high cathedral window Capturing sorrow. by Jennie MacDonald | HAIKU chicken caesar flat four dollars with grad discount I eat it alone by Connor Fitzpatrick |
| END OF THE BLUE SKY Blue sky is turning Cloudy with our ignorance Rain will burn our eyes by Angela McEntee | SILENT SOLDIER Chilled beneath the skin - Colorless waves, gasping breaths. Guns go off! Now watch. by Jessica Briseno-Robinson | LIES, LIES, LIES Irrefutable Lies, damn lies, and statistics How to know what's true? by Merlin Love |
| HAIKU Twenty-teens: growing pains, angst, blemish of the soul. That’s it—we’re grounded. by Rachel Voss | MORE More than more, we need Generation Generous More than more, we want by Kasey Ryman | my black father didn't expect the taste of gunpowder before he left home. by Kavya Malhotra |
| AMERICAN DREAMS American dreams are crushed by reality, unforgivingly. by Ashley Freeman | THAT IS OUR TODAY My neighbor I fear He could be Muslim, Trans, Left That is our today by Dakota Hensley | AMERICA Purity must grow -- Cocooned. Nurtured. Fermented. Old Barrel, thrown out. by Krishna Patel |
| NEOPOPULIST Darkness enters in. Both sides fighting each other. These are dangerous times. by Christopher Moore | 3 AM Worlds sleep the same same Not one new shade of white... yet... I should..... Eureka!!! by Sneha Chatterjee | IF If I could only Learn to not want to see things To leave the lights off. by Billy Malanga |
| LASH within your lashes I discovered dreams of time had opened for me. by Benjamin Hager | REALITY The joyful moment captured on live film, nowhere to hide or escape by Warren Jones | TIMELESS I read this book once. It was like reading my life. Yes, from spring to spring. by Sheila M. Gagne |
| AT LEAST Ashes gently drift Earth doomed by divers follies But not her emails by Michael Hope | Gerrymandering and voter suppression made an orange fool king. by Mahan Ellison | MATH CLASS Ninth circle of hell Has a secret alias Trigonometry by Eve Taft |
| MOMENTS Adonis roses lightning and rain are pretty its dawning with dreams by Paweł Markiewicz | JOURNAL Ink bleeds through the page. Pen scratching, brain pondering. Feelings become words. by Alice Zhang | OUR GREEN AND SELFISH LAND No more refugees? You may get less. They've got nothing! Shame on you Britain by Dan Fuller |
| A HAIKU GESUNDHEIT! Rivers run their course Cherry blossom bears no fruit Still singing, we die by Max Bantleman | A damp tomb darkens, Engulfing shadow flows, This time before twilight. by Mathew Sanders | FLOWERS: FREEZE/FRAMES Words cut –frost/mist shades bearing winds eyes glare shard glass. In veins ancestors. by Jose Trejo Maya |
| ALTERNATIVE FACTS The marketplace of Ideas fails when the far right Sells quack medicine. by Jesse Sauer | COPPER ROOFS, GOLDEN COINS Copper roofs gleaming– New houses, you are ugly! Fresh paint is vulgar! by Ethen Brouder | I opened the window and a moth flew in attracted by the light and not me by Yuki Miyoshi |
| Haiku for the terrible things in Boston, April 2013 by Anne Andersen Sequester in place, We may or may not be safe. What is safety now? Jesus, keep us safe, Use your infrared night scope Look under our beds. How can a sweet boy, I have a sweet boy myself, do such bad things? Is compassion wrong? Such mixed feelings for this boy Who did these bad things. The hunt is over, We found the boy in a boat. A lost bloody boy. How to understand, We are all in the same boat No one sails alone. Use this sad time, Show us how to reach out and Touch those around us. Stay my hand, our hands, Give us the heart to forgive In spite of our fear. | ||
