The Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku and Senryu Competition for USA School Grades 7-12 - Children - youngsters - young adults- teenagers

The Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial  Haiku and Senryu Competition for Grades 7-12 (USA)
Ages 12 years to 18 years old
Deadline: In hand by March 25, 2018.
Eligibility: Any student in grades 7 through 12 enrolled in school as of September 2017 may enter.

THE NICHOLAS A. VIRGILIO MEMORIAL HAIKU AND SENRYU COMPETITION 
FOR GRADES 7-12

Founded by the Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ, and sponsored by the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association in memory of Nicholas A. Virgilio, a charter member of the Haiku Society of America, who died in 1989. The Haiku Society of America co-sponsors the contest, provides judges, and publishes the results in Frogpond journal and on the Haiku Society of America (HSA) Website.

FULL DETAILS are available 
at the Haiku Society of America website:
http://www.hsa-haiku.org/virgilioawards/Virgilio-contest-guidelines.htm

Useful guidelines for teachers are on the web link above.

Also you can simply scroll down to previous winners all on one webpage:
http://www.hsa-haiku.org/virgilioawards/virgilio.htm

Frogpond is the HSA journal and is a high-quality publication for adults and young persons, and a great publishing credit for any of your students to appear:
http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/index.html


Nick Virgilio Haiku Association 
https://www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org
https://www.nickvirgiliohaiku.org/contest

"As lead tutor of Call of the Page, President, United Haiku and Tanka Society, and a Japan Times award-winning writer, I highly recommend this competition to all teachers involved in grades 7-12 in the USA."

Alan Summers
President, United Haiku and Tanka Society
co-founder, Call of the Page
https://www.callofthepage.org

crows, corvids, the caretakers of the world, and other crow haiku

lightning tree crow©Alan Summers 2016

crow haiku by Alan Summers

secret garden

a clue to everything

lies with the crows

Publication Credit: 

Mainichi Shimbun (Japan) Thursday  July 7th 2016

fresh breeze mixing up the crows with T-shirts

semi-published

intermittent rain I shed another crow 

Publication Credits: Frogpond autumn 2013 issue (36:3)

mist haze-

a crow cleans its beak

on a rooftop aerial

Publications credits: Azami 38 (Japan 1996)

senko incense-

twig-carrying crows

after the floods

Publication Credit: Scope vol. 60 no. 3 (FAWQ  magazine April 2014)

floating snowflakes -

the triple caw of a crow

within the tree

Publications credits: Mainichi Shimbun (Japan, 2008)

slow-drifting clouds

out of the lebanon cedar

a discussion of crows

Publication Credit: 

the Icebox inbox – 33 (Hail Haiku Group, Japan, October 2014)

powdered snow -

a crow’s eyes above

the no parking sign

Award credit: 

Joint Winner, Haiku International Association 10th Anniversary Haiku Contest 1999

Publications credits: The Mie Times, Japan (1999); Haiku International magazine (Japan 1999); Watermark: A Poet’s Notebook - Crows (2004); The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012); Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)

night crows

the haystacks lose

their moonlight

Publication Credit:   Wild Plum 1:1 (Spring & Summer 2015)

Anthology Credits:     

Behind the Tree Line (2015 haiku anthology) ed. Gabriel Sawicki
Haiku 2016 ed. Scott Metz & Lee Gurga

Modern Haiku Press, 2016

100 notable haiku from 2015 selected by the editors of the award-winning

anthologies: http://www.modernhaiku.org/mhbooks/Haiku2016.html

dark news

the comfort

of crows

Publication Credit: tinywords 15.1 (March 31st 2015)

The story behind the story:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/dark-news-story-of-crows-and-how-simple.html 

nouvelles sombres

le réconfort

des corneilles

French trans. Serge Tome

invisible crow

the lebanon tree utters

a call of three caws

Award Credit: 

Honourable Mention, Only One Kagoshima Tree Haiku Contest (Japan 2015)

wheat fields…

some of the crows change

their colours

Publication Credit: Blithe Spirit 26.1 (March 2016)

Anthology credit: EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2016 Foodcrop Haiku 

crow-flecked
the jack of all moons 

rising rising 

Publication Credit: Scope Vol 62 No 1 (The magazine of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Qld) Inc February 2016)

petrichor
a scent of leaves 

in the crow call 

Publication Credit: Scope Vol 62 No 1 (The magazine of the Fellowship of Australian Writers (Qld) Inc February 2016)

petrichor:

noun: The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

moonlighting crows in other colors

Publication Credit: Frogpond (39:1) Winter Issue

With Words student MW (USA) said:

“Crows, the original shape shifters.  Masters of illusion.  The crow wears many faces but I have never thought about a change in color - brilliant!"

With Words student MW (USA) said:
" 'moonlighting' is perfect, but one of the strongest words in the poem is "other"- I just feel it...You are a poet of poets!”

day moon

a crow slices

half of it

Publication credit:

moongarlic issue 5 November 2015

“Your haiku (etc) are the most diverse of any poet I have ever read - from classical to ultra-modern - your work feels both universal and new - you push the boundaries…” 

Paraphrased from a longer piece by With Words student MW (published poet).

lightning crow©Alan Summers 2016

Poetry Journal cover art, and Alan Summers haiku shortlisted for the Museum of Haiku Literature Award, British Haiku Society, Blithe Spirit; and appearances in Haiku Society of America journal Frogpond, Asahi Shimbun, and Presence magazine

It's a wonderful experience for a poet to be published in journals that produce both fine editing, selection of poems,  and striking cover art.

Aubrie Cox is the new incoming editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America, starting with vol. 39 : 1 Winter issue 2016 (printed Spring 2016).  

She suggested poets take a snapshot of the magazine in various surroundings.  What better than when two iconic British icons are involved!  That of bluebells, and a robin.


It was only fitting that today, when I received my copy of Frogpond, where my crow haiku was published, that another bird, a robin, came visiting.  The European Robin is a Winter/Christmas image in the U.K. and other parts of Europe.   

The robin haiku is unpublished, produced in honour of Frogpond being visited by this most friendly and iconic of birds in Britain.

Bluebells and Frogpond.

Such superb artwork for the cover of Frogpond by Christopher Patchel, that comes even more alive in outdoor photographs that I am reminded of this haiku in another publication, that of Presence magazine:

Presence magazine cover art and design by Ian Turner.

Another example of fine cover artwork is by Andrew Brown for the British Haiku Society journal Blithe Spirit.

An incredible delight and surprise was the fact that I was shortlisted for the Museum of Haiku Literature Award by esteemed artist/poet Debbie Strange via the British Haiku Society journal Blithe Spirit (Editor Dave Serjeant):

Commentary by Debbie Strange:

I am also honoured to be published by the Asahi Shimbun of Japan:

The haikai journals with web links:

Frogpond is the Haiku Society of America's journal edited by Aubrie Cox with Assistant Editor Jim Warner, artwork by Christopher Patchel: 

http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/aboutfrogpond.html

Presence is the U.K.'s largest independent journal of haiku literature with fine editors:

http://haikupresence.org/contribute

http://haikupresence.org/home

http://haiku-presence.50webs.com/guide/subscribe.html#_=_

Blithe Spirit is the journal of the British Haiku Society:

http://britishhaikusociety.org.uk/journal/

http://britishhaikusociety.org.uk/membership-new/

Asahi Shimbun, Japan, has a regular haiku column in English edited by David McMurray since April 1995, first for the Asahi Evening News: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/

More about one line haiku:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/all-those-red-apples-travelling.html

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/alan-summers-one-line-haiku-in-premier.html

Robinsong:

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/modern-haiku-alan-summers-robinsong.html

How Robins Became the Birds of Christmas

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/tetrapod-zoology/how-robins-became-the-birds-of-christmas/

A selection of haiku about rain by Alan Summers (rain haiku)

a selection of haiku about rain

by Alan Summers

rain-soaked wind

the weather-worn notice

peels back more

Alan Summers

Award credit:  Judges’ favorites

Selected Haiku 

6th annual Golden Haiku Competition (The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District, Washington DC, USA) 2019

fairy wasps they exist the tension of rain 

on rain on rain 

Alan Summers

Glint ePamphlet collection by Alan Summers

Proletaria   politics philosophy phenomena  (February 2020)

https://proletaria730964817.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/glint.pdf

the undersong of the light falling rain

Alan Summers

Half A Rainbow 

Haiku Nook: An Anthology ed. Jacob Salzer & The Nook Editorial Staff (2020)

Dedicated to Rachel Sutcliffe (1977-2019) 

https://jsalzer.wixsite.com/halfarainbowhaiku

I start to rain

and into falling leaves

my childhood

Alan Summers

Troutswirl - The Haiku Foundation - 

A Sense of Place: HIKING TRAIL – sight ed. KJMunro

Anthology credit: 

All the Way Home: Aging in Haiku (2019) 

ed. Robert Epstein

Middle Island Press (18 Oct. 2019)

ISBN-10: 173412542 ISBN-13: 978-1734125429

https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Way-Home-Aging-Haiku/dp/173412542X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=All+the+Way+Home%3A+Aging+in+Haiku&qid=1572366673&sr=8-1 

mosaic rain:

the cul de sac

of shadow

after Sylvia Plath

Alan Summers

Human/Kind Journal issue 1.6 (June 2019)

IT’S THE SMALL THINGS . . . haibun monobun

https://www.humankindjournal.org/contrib_alan_summers/issue-16-alan-summers

Collaborative collection:

The Comfort of Crows 

Hifsa Ashraf and Alan Summers 

(Velvet Dusk Publishing, December 2019)

https://tinyurl.com/ComfortOfCrows

nighthawks...

the sodium streets

sizzle in its rain

after Hopper

Alan Summers

Publication Credit: Weird Laburnum (September 2019)

From The After Party haiku sequence

https://weirdlaburnum.wordpress.com/2019/09/15/the-after-party/

ekphrastic haiku

backend rain…

a pair of canvas boots

framed by the door

Note: backend = autumn rain (North of England)

Alan Summers

Publication credit: Weird Laburnum ed. Michael O’Brien (August 2019)

From the haibun: Van Gogh’s combat fatigues

https://weirdlaburnum.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/van-goghs-combat-fatigues/

Published on the morning of the last day of the Tate Britain Van Gogh and British Painters exhibition

THE EY EXHIBITION VAN GOGH AND BRITAIN 27 MARCH – 11 AUGUST 2019: 

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/ey-exhibition-van-gogh-and-britain

sidewalk waltz

the aroma of rain

and coffee

Alan Summers

The Haiku Foundation: A Sense of Place: CITY SIDEWALK – smell 

ed. KJMunro (December 2018)

lone crow

rain crosses

the moon

Alan Summers

ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK (Japan)

ed. David McMurray (June 2018)

night train
each window carries
its own little rain

Alan Summers
Brass Bell: a haiku journal (September 2017)

the scent of rain

birdsong stretches

as far as Mars

Alan Summers

Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum Selected Haiku Collection (Japan 2017)

Feature:

#AtoZBlogChallenge on Poetry Roundabout and Liz Brownlee 

A TO Z BLOG CHALLENGE 2018 S is for Haiku Poet Alan Summers, #AtoZChallenge #ZtoA 

the rain

almost a friend

this funeral 

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Azami #28 (Japan 1995); Snapshots 4 (1998); First Australian online Anthology (October 1999): Blithe Spirit article On minimalism and other things  DJ Peel Vol 9 No.3 (1999); tempslibre (2001); Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S.A. Poet of the Month (October 2001); The Omnibus Anthology, haiku and senryu  (Hub Editions Hub Haiku series 2001); Hidden (British Haiku Society Anthology 2002); The New Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2002); First Australian Haiku Anthology (2003); Birmingham Words Magazine Issue 3 (Autumn 2004); seven magazine feature: “Three lines of simple beauty”  (2006); tempslibre (2010); Blogging Along Tobacco Road: Alan Summers - Three Questions (2010); Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002 , Part 2  (Akita International Haiku Network 2010);  The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change (Modern English Tanka Press 2012); THFhaiku app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (2011); The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012)

Award credit:

Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, (Snapshot Press 1998)

Joint 9^th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)

long hard rain my compass your true north

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Frogpond 36.1 • 2013

this small ache and all the rain too robinsong

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Modern Haiku vol. 44.1 winter/spring 2013

cabbage butterflies—
a man with an umbrella
when there's no rain


Alan Summers
Publication Credits:  Under the Basho Vol 1.1 Autumn 2013

early morning rain

the sound between

the sound

Alan Summers

Publication Credits: Asahi Shimbun (Japan 2013)

Cloud kigo

a light rain patters across

your nightingale floors

Alan Summers

Publication Credits: Asahi Shimbun (Japan 2013)

“In search of the ultimate season word to associate with clouds, Alan Summers observes how “rain writes its own story across floorboards that sing like a bird.”

David McMurray is professor of intercultural studies at The International University of Kagoshima where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students who research haiku. He is a correspondent school teacher of Haiku in English for the Asahi Culture Center in Tokyo.

the scent of rain-
I stretch the truth
into clouds

Alan Summers

Publication Credits: Blithe Spirit 23.2. 2013







blue sky rain
the sunshine leaks
from pavements

from White Dust Ghosts – a series of haiku poems by Alan Summers

Alan Summers
Publication Credits:  (Tribe issue 22,  2013)


 

lullaby of rain

another pinch of saffron

in the pumpkin soup

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Heron’s Nest (Volume XIV, Number 4 2012 December 2012); The Haiku Calendar 2014 (Snapshot Press, 2013)
Anthology: "The Vast Sky, An International Anthology of Contemporary Haiku"
after a quote from Sekito Kisen, "The vast sky is not hindered by the floating clouds." (2013)

Anthology credits:
naad anunaad: an anthology of contemporary international haiku ed. Shloka Shankar, Sanjuktaa Asopa, Kala Ramesh (India, 2016): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Naad-Anunaad-Kala-Ramesh/dp/9385665332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1532036995&sr=8-1&keywords=naad+anunaad

The Wonder Code ed. Scott Mason (2017) ISBN 978-0-692-93035-9 Girasole Press

Chappaqua NY

http://thewondercode.com

Award Credits: 
Editors' Choices, Heron’s Nest (Volume XIV, Number 4: Dec. 2012)
Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2013

velum clouds–

through the small hours

this writing in rain

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Haiku Novine ISSN 1451-3889 (2012)

toy suns

the winter-dark rain

smashes the city

Alan Summers

Publication credits:

Blithe Spirit (vol 23 no. 4 November 2012)
Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012) ISBN-13: 9781479211043 / ISBN-10: 1479211044

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1479211044/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

rain on the river–

when does white become

its darkest colour

Alan Summers

Publication credits: Haiku News (Vol. 1 No. 38 2012)

drifting rain 

my hundred autumn rooms 

to be alone

Alan Summers

Publication Credits: Mainichi Shimbun (Japan 2012)
Award: Best of Mainichi 2012 (Japan 2013)

does fish-god know?

rain can fall

from clear blue skies

Alan Summers
Award credit: Winner of the Blithe Spirit Cover competition for issue 22/2  (John Parsons cover artwork Autumn 2012)
https://area17.blogspot.com/2012/08/ekphrastic-haiku-alan-summers-wins.html

Publication credits: Blithe Spirit (vol 22 no. 3 2012)
Anthology: Sea Bandits ed. Aubrie Cox (2012)
Collection: Does Fish-God Know  (Yet To Be Named Free Press 2012)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1479211044/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

the names of rain

a blackbird’s subsong

into dusk

Alan Summers

Publication credits: Haiku News Vol. 1 No. 35 (2012)

blackbird sub-song:

https://soundcloud.com/hvrlon/blackbird-sub-song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXVJrrG2gxc

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/forums/british-birds/63655-singing-blackbird.html 

hard-blue sky

the ghost touch of rain

on sloe-eyed horses

Alan Summers

Publication credits: Blithe Spirit (Vol 22 No. 3 2012)

rain on the river the jesus star shifting

Alan Summers

Publication credits: Janice M Bostok Haiku Prize 2012 Anthology Evening Breeze

bouncing rain
I force the hotel window
a little wider

Alan Summers

Publication credits:

Blithe Spirit March 2012; Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)

the drum of the rain ghosting bare hands 

Alan Summers
Publication Credits:  Under the Basho Vol 1.1 Autumn 2013

rain clouds
conversations shift around
the train carriage

Alan Summers

Publication credits: Mainichi Shimbun (Japan 2011)  

Award Credits: Honourable Mention Best of Mainichi 2011

this delicate rain
the petal makes a typo
of a gravestone date

Alan Summers

Publication credits: tinywords, haiku & other small poems ( 2011)

rain ceases

as I leave the sycamore...

one more kingfisher

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Blithe Spirit vol. 14 no. 4 (2004)

late september rain
cutting through the lane
and the mist

Alan Summers

Publication credits: in a heron’s eye  (Paper Wasp 2000)

the geraniums

flowering again

just before the rain

Note: Queensland (Australia) poem

Alan Summers
Publication credits: Potpourri Publications (USA 1994)
Collection: sundog, an australian year, (sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998)

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