The Heron's Nest

Readers' Choice Awards

for Poems Published in The Heron's Nest Volume 15 (2013)

Eighty-eight readers of The Heron's Nest have provided us with their selections of the best poems we published during 2013. We published 490 poems in Volume 15. Of these, 344 received at least one reader nomination. Ten points were awarded for a first place nomination, nine for second, and so on.

Here are the top poems and poets as identified by these Readers' Choice Awards:

Grand Prize:

Haiku of the year (12 nominations, totaling 98 points)

First Runner-up

(9 nominations, totaling 68 points)

Second Runner-up

(9 nominations, totaling 65 points)

Third Runner-up

(9 nominations, totaling 59 points)

Other Popular Haiku

58 points: "desert stars" — Tom Painting — March
57 points: "so many stars the burden..." — Bob Lucky — June
56 points: "the oars at rest" — Dan Schwerin — December
51 points: "calloused hands" — Robert Witmer — December
50 points: "drifting fog" — Michele L Harvey — September
46 points: "cemetery gate" — John McManus — June
45 points: "spring wind" — Francine Banwarth — June
45 points: "it is" — Alice Frampton — September
45 points: "an old reed song" — Michael McClintock — September
45 points: "it's all" — H. Gene Murtha — December
44 points: "the leaves" — Robert Michael Drouilhet — March
44 points: "lost in the woods" — Chad Lee Robinson — March
41 points: "crossing the bridge . . ." - frances angela — September
41 points: "altar flowers" — Dan Schwerin — June
40 points: "writing cursive" — Yu Chang — June

Popular Poets

This category represents the total number of points awarded to each poet for their entire body of work in Volume 15.

GRAND PRIZE

Sandra Simpson: Poet of the year (24 nominations, naming 5 of 5 poems published in Volume 15 = 161 points)

First Runner-up

Christopher Herold: (21 nominations, naming 5 of 5 poems published = 123 points)

Second Runner-up

Michele L. Harvey: (19 nominations, naming 6 of 6 poems published = 111 points)

Third Runner-up (Tie)

Francine Banwarth: (19 nominations, 6 of 6 poems = 105 points)

Michael McClintock: (17 nominations, 4 of 5 poems = 105 points)

Other Popular Poets

Lorin Ford (4 of 4 poems, totaling 102 points)
Chad Lee Robinson (4 of 4 poems, totaling 100 points)
Dan Schwerin (2 of 3 poems, totaling 97 points)
Bob Lucky (3 of 4 poems, totaling 94 points)
Yu Chang (6 of 7 poems, totaling 93 points)
Carolyn Hall (3 of 5 poems, totaling 92 points)
Burnell Lippy (4 of 6 poems, totaling 87 points)
John Barlow (5 of 7 poems, totaling 80 points)
Ron C. Moss (4 of 6 poems, totaling 70 points)
Peter Newton (1 of 1 poem, totaling 68 points)
Robert Witmer (3 of 3 poems, totaling 68 points)
John McManus (2 of 3 poems, totaling 65 points)
LeRoy Gorman (6 of 6 poems, totaling 64 points)
Alice Frampton (4 of 4 poems, totaling 61 points)

We congratulate the poets honored in this year's Readers' Choice Awards and offer our sincere and deepest gratitude to the readers who devoted the time, effort, and discernment to the nomination process.

The Selection Process

Here is how the selection process works:

1. Revisit the 2013 issues of The Heron's Nest.
2. List your ten favorite poems, numbered 1(for most favorite) through 10; with first line, name of poet, issue in which the poem appears (March, June, September, or December). Should you feel inspired to write comments about any or all of your selections, we would love to see those and may include some of them in the annual print edition.
3. At any time between December 1, 2013 and January 15, 2014, send your listing to John Stevenson, Managing Editor, at ithacan@earthlink.net
4. Check back here on February 14, 2014 for a report on the top poems selected by yourself and other readers of The Heron's Nest.
5. Order a copy of The Heron's Nest, Volume 15 (2013) for a full report on the Readers' Choice Awards!

The First Annual Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards (2013)

The following is the report of the judge for this inaugural holding of the Peggy Willis Haiku Awards contest. In future years, we hope to surprise contestants with the announcement of the contest judge but, in this first year, many will have anticipated that there could be no better choice than The Heron's Nest founding editor, Christopher Herold. We provided him with poems only, no names or locations of poets, shortly after the June 1 submission deadline. There were 1,518 poems submitted this year, by 341 poets. We thank everyone for these offerings.

John Stevenson
Managing Editor

Introductory Preamble

I was delighted to learn that The Heron's Nest has hatched the plan to institute an annual haiku contest in commemoration of Peggy Willis Lyles. It is an honor richly deserved, for Peggy was an outstanding poet whose work dates back to the years when English language haiku first began to gain a serious foothold in the West. She was also a superb editor, having a well-developed gift for getting to the heart of discussions that were often complex and, on occasion, vigorously disputed. She always handled such consultations insightfully, making her points with concision and yet with great sensitivity. In short, she was a wise and gentle soul.

Although pleased that The Heron's Nest staff invited me to judge the first Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award, I admit that my brain balked when I learned that "excellence" was the sole criteria for assessing the submitted work. Feelings of inadequacy, gratitude, paralysis, pride, doubt, and resolve struggled for the upper hand. I had to hike into the hills and find a place to sit still for a while in order to sort it all out. A flat rock in the middle of the fast-moving Quilcene River proved perfect. The roar of the rapids calmed me, making it easier to think rationally.

"Excellence." That's in the mind of the reader isn't it? Over the years, so many talented poets and academicians have battled over which combinations of haiku criteria result in the most resonant poems, which taboos should be upheld, and which discarded. Naturally, the consensus is in constant flux. My own estimation of what constitutes haiku excellence is evolving as well. I feel as strongly now about some facets of the craft as I did way back when, others not so strongly. In any case, my emotions sorted themselves out by the river—gratitude and resolve coming to the fore.

While sitting there on that rock, I also felt inspired to go home and reread To Hear the Rain, the outstanding collection of haiku penned by the person for whom this contest is a tribute. After all, it seemed only fitting that, if I was to uphold the high standards set by my late friend and former co-editor, I must reacquaint myself with her style and esthetic sensibilities.

I also felt emboldened by remembering The Heron's Nest byline I penned so many years ago when Alex Benedict and I founded the journal: "Where tradition and innovation meet and compliment each other." Yes, indeed. That statement of intent helped me maintain focus throughout the selection process as well.

So, with gratitude, I now thank the current staff of The Heron's Nest for having provided me this opportunity to delve wholeheartedly into haiku submitted to the Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award. I was very much impressed by how many of the poems compelled me to return to them again and again, making final selections a real challenge. Even so, I feel happily satisfied with the decisions I finally made. I hope you are as delighted by these poems as I am.

—Christopher Herold
July 3, 2013

On the heels of yet another ripple of unrest spread by folks on the fringe—that the end of the world is imminent—this poet plucks a dandelion sphere and performs the time-honored tradition of blowing it apart, presumably while making a wish. Did the poet wish (or pray) for a planetary reprieve? Or does he or she wish that the aforementioned fringe element would stop ranting and use their energy to seek out competent counseling?

In any case, the poet has made a connection between the dandelion globe at its moment of deconstruction and the envisioned fate of our planet as espoused by doomsayers. The result is a marvelous haiku.

While visualizing this particular dandelion's end, I recognized what actually took place: a most positive event. Those are seeds that the poet has scattered with a breath—the promise of new life—well, yes, of more dandelions. It's up to you whether or not to consider such a dissemination uplifting.

So, whether we choose to believe it is our planet or simply a dandelion that has reached its point of destruction, this poem can and should be deemed auspicious ... a new beginning ... what every ending is after all.

A wonderfully ironic and playful haiku with some disturbing undertones and a splash of sarcasm—all born aloft in a beautiful image. (Can you imagine this description on the label of a bottle of dandelion wine?)

Now truly, this is your quintessential "one-breath-poem."

This poem doesn't need commentary. After all, don't most of us stick our necks out at the first sign of spring?

I would like to state up front, however, that I worried that my choice might be suspected of bias in that the late Peggy Willis Lyles, for whom this award is a memorial, penned a marvelous haiku about turtles. Moreover, said poem was used as a highlight in the announcement of this contest. Well, the truth is that "spring fever" became a favorite despite that worry. In other words, it not only had to be "excellent," it had to overcome a disadvantage the other poems didn't have: my concern about bias. It occurs to me that the poet who chose to submit this haiku may have done so to honor Peggy. If so, then I am even happier for my decision.

Having said all of this, I now find myself unable to resist a little of the commentary that this haiku doesn't need.

It is succinct—no wasted words. The poet gives expression to a subjective phenomenon that is universal in nature (spring fever) by connecting it to objective imagery (the turtle's action). This poem trembles with exuberance, the essence of spring. I find the creative wording of the final line irresistible. The rhythm is effective, too: not the traditional short/long/short, but a double beat repeated twice, serving to emphasize the emotional content. And visually, the words on the page are pleasing to the eye.

I bow to the poet for making it safe and rewarding to stretch out our necks.

Three words, none of which presents a specific image, and we find ourselves in the midst of an easily envisioned scene of beauty.

The profusion of fall colors compensates the poet for some troubling matter. We are given no clue as to what that matter is, but it shouldn't be difficult to supply our own predicament, for we all have our problems. It's a universal fact of life.

The question is: when a complication arises, can we do as this poet has done? Can we let go of our troubles, if but for a short while, and appreciate the world "nevertheless," with wonderment?

Cherry blossoms: one of the most popular themes in all the realms of haikai, a vast majority of which pay homage to the ephemeral beauty of the flowers while still on their trees or in the process of falling from them. Once fallen, however, ephemeral quickly translates into a mess. They get blown or tracked into our homes and must be swept up for days if not weeks.

I love the image of the maid shaking free the mopped up blossoms, allowing them to flutter down one last time.

It's true that she could be simply shaking dust from the mop at a time when the blossoms are still at their peak, or falling (along with dust), but I derive the most reading pleasure from my former envisioning of this poet's experience.

I'm on my way to what I imagine is Point B. I'm nearly there, just one step away when Ma Nature, a smirk on her face, playfully makes her point with a powerful gust of wind from behind. She causes me to overstep my intended goal, and thereby makes me aware of the momentum I've created by pursuing a fixation.

The poem does not necessarily indicate actually walking to a particular place. More likely, it indicates a circumstance in which the poet feels no longer completely in control—perhaps a romantic or a business relationship. Quite conceivably, the loss of control (or perhaps lapse of good judgment) is then connected to, or perhaps blamed on the exhilarating nature of the season—spring wind!

When at last the poet finds the courage to share some thing that he or she has withheld, it is already too late. The person for whom this information or sentiment would have mattered has either gone elsewhere or has passed away. The poet's inner struggle: worry over withholding something of importance, is replaced with regret. The regret is intensified by what would normally be a cause for joyousness: the giving way of winter to spring. A no-nonsense haiku shared in a few well-chosen words to which most of us, I'm sure, can relate.

It's been explained to the curious child that the cicada sprouted wings and left its shell behind. Perhaps this parent has told the boy that, like the cicada, he, too, will one day sprout wings and find his own way in life. And perhaps that information was just a tad too much for someone of such a tender age.

But isn't this true for the rest of us as well? We are older and presumably wiser, but it is never easy to ponder the final shedding of our own skins.

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2013 Illustration Contest Winners

The Heron's Nest announces, with pleasure, the work selected in this year's 2013 illustration contest. We were happily overwhelmed with hundreds of beautiful images from which to choose. The following will be featured in The Heron's Nest, Volume 15 (2013) (annual print edition shipped out in April of 2014):

Congratulations to these artists and our deep thanks to all who sent us their work. We wish we could have used much more of it.

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