Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Winners of the Shamu Haiku Contest!

Clearly, you people consider the ocean a solemn place. For the first time in any of my haiku contests — nay, for the first time in any of my contests, period — the number of serious entries outnumbered the humorous. After all, the ocean is dark and mysterious... much like the criteria by which I judged your haiku.

Thanks to everyone who entered! Your fantastic submissions made it tough to settle on the winners. I wish I could give awards to you all, but alas, that's not in the rules. I checked.

So, despair not if your entry doesn't get highlighted below; it barely missed the cut. And if you haven't done so already, make sure to check out all the entries.

Honorable Mention

Dan Yungk waited until one minute past the deadline before posting a comment. It's written all in one line and has nothing to do with the ocean. So why does he get a mention? Because I always reward cleverness. (Just not necessarily with gift cards.)
Every single year, I plan to participate, then run out of time...
Marian Allen, as soon as you posted this question, the answer was always going to be one. Yours.
How many entries
Will use the words, "I think we
Need a bigger boat"?
This one of Tara Tyler R's gets the nod (barely over her "Poles baited") because every time I read it I hear my 2-year-old son's pronunciation of barracuda. (That's what he calls the salad tongs.)
A lurking monster,
hidden in coral...attacks!
Boss barracuda!
Matthew MacNish had me at "cthulhu."
Dagon in the depths
la Cthulhu f'taghn
shadows of the past
J. Grace Penningon swayed me with the force of her imagery.
anemones sway
but not from force of current
back and forth alone
And this one from Juliet Lauser is beautiful, even though I must admit I'm not entirely sure what the tiger represents. (I think I've got it, but who knows.)
That tiger curls round
Two thirds of earth so we play
With his velvet toes.

First Place - Humorous

Matt Pelletier, take a bow. Just don't do it near the bow of the boat...
Frigid salty depths
Waist deep... OHGODWHATWASTHAT!?!?
NOPE NOPE NOPE. NOPE NOPE!!!

First Place - Traditional

And Li takes the crown with this entry, titled "Pearls."
life's irritations
transformed by patient bivalves
jewelry from torment

And that does it for this year's contest. Thanks again to all who entered, stopped by, retweeted, shared, mocked, etc. Matt and Li, please send me a note so I'll have your email addresses and can get you the Amazon gift cards.

And before you leave,
Here's a haiku just for you.
(It's not very good.)

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations to the winners.
    And that last one is why I didn't enter...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nonsense! You didn't enter because you were chicken... when you needed to be chicken of the sea.

      Delete
  2. dammit! I missed it again!
    But i don't think i would have been able to outshine those awesome entries

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For someone who recently got a two-book deal, you don't have much confidence in your writing... :)

      Delete
  3. Wow, thanks Nate!!! I'm honored and humbled. (And if I were an oyster, I'd be drowning in pearls by now.) Thanks for running a fun contest!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Li! You know what, I'm glad you're not a drowning oyster. For one thing, you probably wouldn't type quite as well...

      Delete
  4. Congratulations,
    winners! And this comment might
    as well be haiku.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jonathan!
      (This response to your comment
      is also haiku.)

      Delete
    2. Grammatically, is
      it correct to use "haiku"
      as an adjective?

      Delete
    3. None of us has yet,
      But, I think, why the hell not?
      'Twould be so haiku.

      Delete
  5. awesome news to win!
    trying to control all the
    excitement! thank you!

    ReplyDelete