Between May and July 2012, a total of 271 haiku and 23 tanka were submitted by 68 authors for this selection. The deadline for entries was July 20, 2012. Each participant could send up to 5 haiku or tanka.
These works were anonymized by Claudia Brefeld, who also had the overall coordination, before the selection began. The jury consisted of Jean-Claude Lin, Matthias Korn and Werner Theis. The members of the selection group did not submit their own texts.
All selected works (17 haiku and 2 tanka) are listed below alphabetically by author's name - up to max. three works per author.
“A haiku / a tanka that appeals to me in particular” - under this motto, every jury member has the opportunity to choose a work (still anonymized), present it here and comment on it.
Claudia Brefeld
A haiku that particularly appeals to me
Selected and commented by Jean-Claude Lin:
dusk
the sewing girl spits
the needles out
How liberating it is to be able to let go after a day of concentrated work! The mouth is free again to talk, eat, kiss! It is a very sensual haiku, but it also expresses relaxation, liberation. You can literally feel your lips free from the pressure of the needles. And from the point of view of the new, I suspect that with this haiku we actually have a completely new picture.
The second haiku that I would like to highlight is this:
Autumn crocus.
The eyes wide open
of the old mold.
I voted for its inclusion right away, but without considering anything that could be the most crucial. At first I only have the juxtaposition of Herbstzeitlose (as the flower of death) and (dead, characterized by the wide open eyes) old mold. But how about when the autumn timeless was first seen in the wide-open eyes of the white horse! Isn't that a great picture for this moment of death?
Third, I would like to mention a haiku that I initially did not find suitable for the selection:
after stumbling:
the reproachful look
on the stone
It seemed much too obvious to me, ordinary, even meaningless. But how about if the stumbling person notices the reproachful look at him and is just startled because he stumbled over a memorial stone for a deported Jew and wanted to scold that stone, but otherwise, theoretically !, fully confirms its existence? So there is a stronger element of surprise in this haiku!
With such haiku, you can be happy that this little art is also cultivated in this country. It can also reveal great or meaningful things.
Selected and commented by Matthias Korn:
Touchdown
your head
on my shoulder
That one moment ... hold your breath ... then ... touch down, the first contact with the ground, the ball that reaches the end zone ... exhale ... redeem ... free ...
It is the first thing that comes to my mind when reading the haiku.
Touchdown - unusual for a Haiku start, I think. Is it about American football? Touchdown, it only takes a second to pronounce this word and I can feel the tension easing while I am speaking, I hear the reporter in the stadium, whose voice rises from astonishment to enthusiasm and cracks.
Touchdown - maybe it means touching down, the moment when the wheels of the airplane touch the runway, as can be read in the German translation, when the relief flows through the body, a sigh escapes, the clenched hands loosen.
Touchdown.
Then the break. The gesture sketched by the author in the following lines touches me. I get the opportunity to combine my own experiences with haiku, the feeling of trust, security, knowing, being one.
The second of the touchdown stretches as if in slow motion, the contact is made, it tingles in the stomach, the protagonists have found each other, "The End" is slowly faded in on the screen. A still shot.
I no longer find out how things are going with both of them. Is it the start of something special? That opens up more spaces for me, creates associations, and resonates.
I want to hold on to him for a moment ...
Selected and commented by Werner Theis:
Evening sky -
the farmer crumbles
a handful of earth
For a natural haiku, and this is one with almost archaic images, the exact description of what the haijin sees is elementary. Everything that is not necessary for the display must be left out. This retreating behind what is seen is downright constituent for a successful haiku. Furthermore, it is essential to leave space. The viewer must be given the opportunity to take in the picture and then complete it. This works wonderfully here, because the picture is rounded, that is, it leaves room for interpretation and contemplation. That's how I imagine a decent haiku. I enjoyed reading and commenting on this text.
Football fever
Dad eats chocolate bars
for the sticker album
Here we have a completely different text that is strictly speaking not a haiku, but rather a senryū. Nowadays, there is no longer a strict distinction between these two varieties of the Japanese short poem, which may be due to the fact that haiku poetry has long ceased to be a purely Japanese matter. As the father of two soccer-crazy daughters, yes, fortunately that is different today than when you had to have a son to be able to discuss heated debates about national team games extensively.
The sticker album is part of a European or World Cup. And of course, the son and daughter would like the album to be complete. Then Papa has to sacrifice himself. The text manages to bring all of this almost playfully into the traditional 5-7-5 form. The indent after the first verse creates together and in conflict with the two subsequent verses the entire picture, which tells a whole story with a humorous wink, i.e. creates the space for your own paver counting, for tracking your own experiences, for commenting and letting yourself go ,
The selection
"Hello Josefin"
the radio turned up
in the rose garden.
"Venus Transit"
in front of the sun
fly three ducks.
Gardening -
under the foliage the rain
of yesterday
Firefly -
his hesitation at home
at the light switch
Football fever
Dad eats chocolate bars
for the sticker album
freckles
again he miscounts ...
Midsummer Night -
the distant sound in the rain
a fiddle
Autumn crocus.
The eyes wide open
of the old mold.
Evening sky -
the farmer crumbles
a handful of earth
Touchdown
your head
on my shoulder
after stumbling:
the reproachful look
on the stone
Beer garden -
the sky
always bluer
the dirt road
lined with birch trees
in a whisper
dusk
the sewing girl spits
the needles out
autumn wind
I leaf through
in my favorite book
charter flight
the smile of the stewardess
Duty Free
After the office day
the blackbird meeting
listen in the garden
You cherry trees
from Fukushima,
blooms for the fifty,
that are still there
and see you!
Found
in the hidden place
wallflowers
in the shimmering light
the child with the watering can
