A total of 223 haiku from 78 authors and 42 tanka from 26 authors were submitted for this selection.

The deadline for submissions was April 15, 2018. These texts were anonymized by me before the selection began.

Each member of the DHG has the option of naming a submission that should be published on the member's own page if the jury disregards it.

Only previously unpublished texts can be submitted (also applies to publications in blogs, forums, social media and workshops etc.). No simultaneous submissions please!

Please preferably enter the haiku / tanka yourself in the online form on the DHG website:

deutschehaikugesellschaft.de/haiku-und-tanka-die-wahl/

Otherwise by email to: auswahlen@deutschehaikugesellschaft.de

The next submission deadline for the Haiku / Tanka selection is July 15, 2018.

Each participant can submit up to five texts - three of which are haiku. With the submission, the author gives his consent for a possible publication in the DHG Agenda 2019 as well http://www.zugetextet.com/

Haiku selection from HTA

The jury consisted of Thomas Berger, Reinhard Dellbrügge and Anke Holtz. The members of the selection group did not submit their own texts.

All selected texts - 51 haiku - are published in alphabetical order of the authors' names. Up to a maximum of two haiku per author are recorded.

"A haiku that particularly appeals to me" - this is the motto for each jury member to select up to three texts (still anonymized), to present and comment on them here.

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.

Eleanor Nickolay

A haiku that particularly appeals to me

Aphrodite -
the warm skin
of marble

Gerd Borner

A three-liner, just a few words, and yet more that attracts attention. There is talk of an Olympic goddess - in the 21st century! Also of a sympathetic power: Aphrodite, who, according to ancient ideas, holds her protective hand over lovers, especially over the wedding night, which stands for seductive charm as well as for reproduction. Because the Greeks saw the generation of offspring in connection with the fertility of the earth, Aphrodite was generally regarded as the goddess of vegetation, of the blossoming life.

The first word of haiku is so lively, so rich in associations. And the second line continues with a winning streak: warm skin - a pleasant feeling arises when reading. Slowly, so enjoyably reading, the question arises how this may be connected: first the ancient goddess, now the warmth of skin. Oh yes, of course: the pulsating happening between people and in nature in the broadest sense, over which Aphrodite watches.

But now line three: she speaks of marble, of crystalline rock. This is a surprising contrast: the warm skin of the marble. Again the short poem involves the readers and invites them to play with their imaginations. Which marble? Perhaps a sculpture that represents Aphrodite? Where would you find it: in Greece, in the Louvre or in a German museum? Furthermore: How did the rock become warm - through sun rays, through touch, through museum air? Finally, the skin of the marble: does marble have a skin? I think that's wonderful: the contrast also includes a harmonious combination of the inanimate and the animate, of carbonate rock and sensation.

In all of this, this haiku breathes the freedom of poetry, the joy of creativity.

Selected and commented by Thomas Berger

Church ruin
the vault
the sky

Frank Dietrich

A haiku that is characterized by its conciseness and atmospheric density. It describes no process, no situation, but gives the outline of a picture.

The first line of the haiku introduces the starting object: a church ruin. The second line focuses on her vault. The surprise effect of the third line is that this vault turns out to be no longer there because it has long been replaced by the sky.

According to the logic of the picture, the outer walls of the nave will for the most part still exist and tower, because without walls, neither a missing building ceiling nor its substitute would make sense. Here we encounter a motif that corresponds entirely to the romantic aesthetics of a Caspar David Friedrich. Perhaps the haiku refers to an impressive medieval ruin that stands freely in the landscape? Or rather an urban church that was destroyed in the last world war and was not rebuilt?

Be that as it may, the image conveyed by our haiku immediately releases a wealth of supplementary images, associations and questions: What story or stories does the church ruin point to? Can it be understood as a symbol that stands for the fragility and transience of human endeavors? For the rise and decline of cultures or especially Christianity? Does it stand for a summary or a forecast?

Before the thoughts about the content of the haiku become speculative, it should be carefully examined again.

The emphasis is on the words "vault" and "sky", the latter being the key word, the focus. The sky that takes the place of the church roof may be a full, even more than full substitute for this. The vault of heaven as the actual roof that transcends all roofs - this “spiritual” interpretation seems to me the closest starting point for further thoughts inspired by the reverberation of this haiku.

Selected and commented by Reinhard Dellbrügge

excavations
under the pavement
lies the beach

Birgit Heid

Memories arise in me from those evenings on the beach when the youth hadn't even started. Sitting around a campfire, filled with a boundless sense of freedom. Barefoot in the sand, we dreamed and planned a life in which everything was possible.

Today, after a few layers of living, I often long for a beach. If I started digging, uncovering, clearing away all the carefully laid paving stones, it would be back, the beach.

This haiku, and the memories unearthed with it, will accompany me for a while. For me that is also a successful haiku.

Selected and commented by Anke Holtz

The selection

Between two drops
a moment of silence
listen

Ellen Althaus-Rojas

a child's photo
it still hangs on the handle
the old spring cord

Sylvia Bacher

curtain wash
the morning sky
without hanging

Sylvia Bacher

at the lecture
walks across the floor
a sunbeam

Christa Beau

Easter March
the old
with drooping shoulders

Martin Berner

After singing the hallelujah
a big
Stille

Lidvina Bilgerig

in the attic -
between the shellac records
Mother's buzz

Gerd Borner

Aphrodite -
the warm skin
of marble

Gerd Borner

Echo
the mountain preserves
no secret

Stefanie Bucifal

growth rings
... the felled tree
speaks to me about life

Horst Oliver Buchholz

Woolen mice in the closet,
the toddler is happy about
his new toy.

Renate Buddensiek

Danube source
the little one chuckles
his mother of it

Bernadette Duncan

Church ruin
the vault
the sky

Frank Dietrich

twilight
the quick shadows of flight
of bats

Hildegard Dohrendorf

Boarding
In the eyes
tears

Hans-Jürgen Goehrung

Under the ice
the carp
listens

Gregor Graf

morning walk
the blackbird escapes
to the saving hedge

Carola Groch

Flea market,
die Vergangenheit
catches up with me

Wolfgang founder

I think
no appointments today
so I am

Wolfgang founder

Resurrection -
the nun stokes in the monastery
the Easter fire

Erika Hanning

looking for the way
in the early fog
sings the shakuhachi

Claus Hansson

Nordic pebbles -
her quiet song
on the wave hem

Claus Hansson

winter Warmers
still chained the chairs
in the street cafe

Gabriele Hartman

strokes
the asymmetry
of her smile

Gabriele Hartman

excavations
under the pavement
lies the beach

Birgit Heid

Fishing on the stream
a pasture cools
their branches

Martina Heinish

iron infusion
She takes something light
To read with

Deborah Karl Brandt

In the Wieskirche,
a Japanese kneels down -
to take pictures.

Manfred Karlinger

weather changes
the two old sisters
argue again

Silvia Kempen

Your looks
from the treadmill
the countryside

Petra Klingl

courtship song
Pigeons on the railing
in the balancing act

Matteo dear

new smile lines -
I carefully polish
my makeup mirror

Eva Limbach

glistening light
the pounding of silence
behind the lids

Ramona Left

Farewell
envelop me
in its fragrance

Ramona Left

woven
in the dandelion wreath
dropouts dreams

Ruth Caroline Mieger

ready for demolition -
the thrush in the garden
broods again

Eleanor Nickolay

first swallow -
he promises me
eine reise

Eleanor Nickolay

the call of the wings
a pulling crane
between me and the world

Wolfgang Roedig

Bergsturz
a look at the stones
between us

Sebastian Salie

thunderstorm rumble
a bumblebee is hiding
in the snapdragon

Elisabeth Sofia slept

in city Park
at the foot of the fountain
a cormorant takes a shower

Theo Schmich

Lego Batman
flies from the tower
the grandson dreams

Helga Schulz Blank

on the barn wall
two shadows embrace each other -
spring evening

Angelica Seithe

after long rain -
the furrows of the fields
full of sunset glow

Angelica Seithe

Cloud
as a little dragon
blown

Hildegund Sell

microplastics -
the grief
a whale nut

Helga Stania

on bright day
strewn with stars -
the forest floor

Brigitte ten Brink

Frühlingsboten
new varieties at the window
of the ice cream parlor

Friedrich winemaker

Heavy fog
Grazing cattle
in nothing

Klaus-Dieter Wirth

HTA tanka selection

Tony Böhle and Silvia Kempen chose a tanka.

"A tanka that appeals to me particularly" - texts are presented and commented on under this motto.

A tanka that particularly appeals to me

the girlfriend stretched out
I feel like he has
all wild horses
der Erde
tamed at once

Frank Dietrich

A tanka like the one above belongs to the group that polarize, which causes enthusiasm or shakes of the head the first time you read it. The author lets us share his world of thoughts with a very humorous and serious note.

With the situation that one of the partners is stretched out, one or the other has already had to make acquaintance. What is surprising here, however, is the distant, almost admirable contemplation (to me it is as if he / all wild horses / the earth / tamed all at once) of what happened. There is something disturbing about this presentation for the reader. Distance and amazement instead of anger and grief over the relaxed girlfriend? In addition, formulated in this lightly flowing tone that gallops easily. It seems the lyrical I see a kind of sporting competition here, which is characteristic of the character of the broken relationship.

The unusual metaphor is impressive: the comparison of the past not only with a wild, stubborn horse, but all wild horses on earth! The look at the friend, who now seems to have found her horse whisperer, is funny and also takes a critical look at the author himself, who probably did not understand how to tame his better half or did not seriously try. She was just too impetuous and strong for him. The phrase “relax” also has something to do with a horse carriage.

Selected and commented by Tony Böhle