Between July 2015 and October 2015, a total of 244 haiku and 49 tanka were submitted by 89 authors for this selection. The deadline for entries was October 15, 2015. I anonymized these texts before the selection began. The jury consisted of Ruth Guggenmos-Walter, Heinz Schneemann and Frank Dietrich. The members of the selection group did not submit their own texts.
All selected texts - 50 haiku and 7 tanka - are published in the order of the scores.
"A haiku / a tanka that appeals to me particularly" - this is the motto for each jury member to choose up to three texts (still anonymized), to present and comment here.
The next deadline for the Haiku / Tanka selection
is January 15th, 2016!
Each participant can submit up to five texts - but only three of them are haiku.
With the submission, the author gives his consent for a possible publication http://www.zugetextet.com/.
Each member of the DHG has the option of naming a haiku from a submission, which, if the jury disregards it, is to be published on a separate member's page in SUMMER GRASS. The following applies to all submissions: They must never have been published anywhere, neither in print media nor in digital media.
Please send the submissions in the mail body (no attached files) to: auswahlen@deutschehaikugesellschaft.de
Since the jury should consist of changing participants, I would like to cordially invite all interested DHG members to participate as a jury member in upcoming selection rounds. It's fun and you learn a lot.
Petra Klingl
A haiku / tanka that particularly appeals to me
Aleppo -
the eyes of the ruin
and that of the childrenHorst Oliver Buchholz
I was immediately captivated by my eyes. At first it was big, lively eyes that stuck in old walls and moved and looked like in a fantastic film. But of course in Haiku the “ruins” do not only mean the irretrievably lost monuments, but also the destroyed houses. And the still-looking children's eyes, that's a worn picture - but that's why it's no less true. The eyes stay.
And indirectly there are the eyes of the beholder.
I think it's right that the current events around us are also reflected in a haiku and tanka selection.
What fascinates me most about this haiku is that it does something very difficult. Again and again I get a certain feeling in front of the screen.
This feeling of putting “wordlessness” into words - here it worked.
Commented by Ruth Guggenmos-Walter
Early stage. The folds
he takes the pillow with him
in the dayBoris Semrov
A very plastic haiku. The folds of the pillow become his own. And while the former are quickly smoothed out again, he takes the latter "into the day". A very successful haiku on the tiredness of getting up early and its effects on the rest of the day. Coffee doesn't help either. Only a restful night's sleep can make up for this lack of sleep, and it is the pillow that (apparently) is responsible for its wrinkles that will ultimately free it from them.
Saturday nights
alone with you in front of the TV -
a time in the
I started panties
to buy in packs of 3Tony Bohle
A relationship tanka that is very similar in content and form to that of Tony Böhle - and a very successful one at that. While it is not per se objectionable to spend a Saturday evening in front of the television, the word "alone" indicates the beginning isolation of the lyrical ego, while "alone with you" suggests an emotional contradiction. In addition, it is not a single Saturday evening, but "Saturday evenings" (plural). This behavior has become a ritual. Since watching TV is a very passive activity that is not conducive to communication, these first two lines say a lot about the relationship.
In the last three lines we learn the reaction of the lyrical self to this increasingly unsatisfactory relationship situation: he (or she) started to buy underpants "in packs of 3". This is cheaper, but it becomes obvious that the speaker is no longer trying to look attractive to the other person. In a sense, he renounces his erotic charisma - a kind of erotic defeatism. And that is the real strength of this poem: Without even mentioning the topic of sexuality in one word, the oppressive impression arises that this couple doesn't do much sexually either.
Commented by Frank Dietrich
Discussing what a haiku, or even a good haiku, is can be tiring, but it won't stop. This reflects the specialty of these little language miracles. A haiku as such does not actually exist in the strict sense. A haiku happens when it reaches the viewer and unfolds in him. Seen in this way, haiku is not the text itself, but a communication event that is conveyed through the text. The heading for this section “A haiku that appeals to me in particular” takes up this important aspect.
What particularly appeals to me personally and what I expect from a - in my understanding - good haiku is this revelation of the special in everyday life, which gives me a new insight into relationships that I have never seen before. I am very well aware that this has to do with myself and changes me - a big but correct word.
With this in mind, I would like to highlight the following haiku from the submissions that particularly appealed to me:
Drive to Salzburg
from the train window
Look at noise barriersTraude Veran
Immediately a tension becomes visible: Salzburg is something special, is worth more than a trip, is a pearl among the cities and a magnet for many tourists. Already when the place name is mentioned, images, ideas and thoughts are awakened and immediately linked to corresponding memories or expectations. This way, the trip to Salzburg becomes an inner event of convergence and attunement. I pause after the first line and insert a dash or a comma while reading, because then I come across something completely different, unexpected: In my inner process of approaching, I suddenly encounter noise barriers when I look out of the train window. Not the fortress, not the cathedral, not the mountains, not the Salzach, not Mozart, but banal noise barriers that restrict the expectant view. How disappointing! As a tourist, I am suddenly barred.
Does that make me impatient, maybe even annoying? It is not said, but it sounds all the more obvious as an unspoken option.
So that's what I have to look at in my approach. My eyes don't just come across unexpected barriers. It is directed back to myself - and this opens up another level of viewing for me. I arrive in a reality of experience that is different than I had imagined from my perspective of expectation. Do I remain in a tourist self-limitation or am I ready to change perspectives in order to get to know and understand Salzburg today from the perspective of its inhabitants?
And finally: What may well remain below the threshold of consciousness on a short trip of this kind becomes all the more urgent on longer trips or even the life trip as a whole.
It is always about perception of how our expectations and our experiences fit together. And it is also about how we view the inevitable tensions between the two. For me, the last word is like an invitation to see haiku happening here.
Commented by Heinz Schneemann
The selection
15 points were achieved
When it fell
the very last leaf
nobody watchedMatthew Stark
13 points
Caféhaus noise
falls off your shoulders
the silence of the snowElisabeth Weber Strobel
13 points
The cry of the crow
at the end of the night -
Lost dreamRoland Strauss
13 points
Autumn storm
I open the capsule
a corn poppy blossomDiana Michel Erne
13 points
There at the garden gate
where we said goodbye
lip-red poppiesHorst Oliver Buchholz
13 points
autumn colors
how colorful
all our plansChristopher Blumentrath
13 points
repressed questions
grayed with me
the evening skyBirgit Schaldach Helmlechner
13 points
mild summer night
only the moon and me -
in a shirt of yoursElisabeth Weber Strobel
13 points
Weather pain
Grandfather knocks three times
to the barometerFriedrich winemaker
12 points
the koto listen
my eyes looking
after the melodyBrigitte ten Brink
12 points
Moonlight -
our unasked questions
Carry homeKlemens Antusch
12 points
Unknown flower
ich nehme
her fragrance withChrista Beau
12 points
representations
the desire for an old stitch
to scratchGabi Hartman
12 points
winter sun
where the light goes
still blinded meGerd Borner
11 points
huge hole
without filling -
coal mineJoachim Thiede
11 points
fleeting flirt -
like summer rain
on hot asphaltBrigitte ten Brink
11 points
Early stage.
The folds of the pillow
he takes with him into the dayBoris Semrov
11 points
the last roses -
she is swinging the scarf
over the shoulderGisela Farenholtz
11 points
petals
in the summer wind ...
SchmetterlingeFriedrich winemaker
11 points
Blood moon
the long wait
on a poemSimone K Busch
11 points
colorful fishing trawlers -
we will anchor this fall
closer to the shoreEva Limbach
11 points
On fog wings
darkness sticks
on my shoulders.Beate Conrad
11 points
night watch
the soft ringing
of her teaspoonEleanor Nickolay
11 points
Full moon
in the clear sea
spawn the fishZorka Cordasevic
11 points
driven off ...
shaken by the storm
he empty nestHeike Gericke
10 points
Melanosis -
from the potatoes
she peels her eyesHeike Gericke
10 points
freshly caught
the morning glitters
in the spider's webAnne Holtz
10 points
on the bridge
calls on both sides
der BachAngelica Holweger
10 points
On the San'ya Canal
the weeping willows again
as Buson saw her.Horst Ludwig
10 points
stormy sea -
crawl into the warmth
a milk dishRamona Left
10 points
Opening
the strangeness
of the dressMartina Heinish
10 points
The winds are blowing
the homeless tears
over the earth.Hildegard Pranckel
9 points
Persian night
under countless stars
Keep silentMatthew Stark
9 points
birthday party
in the wind
drives a birch leafHelga Stania
9 points
at the edge of the forest
in the autumn sun
my haiku fliesNorbert Kraas
9 points
cosmic rose -
between the temples
the roar of his wordsRamona Left
9 points
Old town
Sunday sounds from the cathedral
through the alleysBrigitte ten Brink
9 points
thunderstorms Dunst
suddenly alone
in the summit descentTaiki Haijin
9 points
still broken
his German, yes
in the chant of the dialectKlaus-Dieter Wirth
8 points
Visit to mother
only goodbye
she recognizes meBoris Semrov
8 points
cormorants
on the rock
air her priestly robeMargareta Hihn
8 points
Aleppo -
the eyes of the ruins
and that of the childrenHorst Oliver Buchholz
8 points
alone in a crowded street
the passengers
worldwide on the movePeter Wissmann
8 points
Plain in the wind
A tear
turns awayClaudius Gottstein
8 points
Autumn forest.
His foot faltered
in front of the beechnutsGisela Farenholtz
8 points
school enrollment
Tschilpen on this day
the sparrows louderHelga Stania
8 points
wedding day
caresses his hand
the dogEleanor Nickolay
8 points
September wind
En passant your red
Stroke the apple cheeksRoland Strauss
8 points
the perfect
shaped melons
on the fruit shelf, I look at them
with resentmentTony Bohle
13 points
Saturday nights
alone with you in front of the TV -
a time in the
I started panties
to buy in packs of 3Tony Bohle
11 points
In the drizzle
on the bark
now clearly the lichensshe pulls the hood
down even deeperTaiki Haijin
11 points
Tombstone after tombstone
eternity curved
from gravity
in the evening I follow
home to my shadowDietmar Tauchner
11 points
Apartment dissolution
packed in boxes
MemoriesThe apron on the hook
with pale flowersMargareta Hihn
10 points
War tremors -
that overtake you
the others
where the tree
bends the wayGerd Borner
9 points
i - heat sluggish
and gravity bound
the garden lounger
infinitely light above me
a blackbird songBrigitte ten Brink
8 points