Senior section: 290 haiku from 67 poets

a last year’s lambskin where mushrooms gather dusk

– Lorin Ford, Australia, First

train journey …
the young student next to me
reduces stars to graphs

– Beverley George,  Australia, Second

holding cover
the hare waits
for eye contact

– Simon Hanson, Australia, Third

Highly Commended:

nectarine moon the sky dark with fruit bats

– Cynthia Rowe, Australia

floating in calm air
too much light
for the engineer’s math

– Gary Hotham, US

sunrise
the yellowing wattles
lean a little

– Jan Dobb,  Australia

parsley bed
the stretched necks
of snails

– Beverley George,  Australia

Commended:

rolling fields
the vocabulary
of sheep

– Scott Mason, US
estuary dusk
a plover
mentions its name

– Tony Beyer, New Plymouth, NZ

first light
a piano sonata
under my breath

– Jennifer Sutherland, Australia

daisies
closed for the night –
I sing her a lullaby

– Claire Knight, UK

midsummer
a cicada husk
split open

– Quendryth Young, Australia

wind chimes the patter of unborn feet

– Norah Johnson, NZ

Best Local Haiku

evening calm –
duck’s wake
the width of the estuary

– Catherine Bullock, Waihi

Junior section

dewdrops
decorate a spider’s web
with diamonds

– Nadia Snegirev, Tauranga Girls’ College, First

Uretara Stream
Echoes along the river
Night is closing in

– Cassandra Sherriff, Katikati Primary School, Second

Ageing takes time
I grow more mature each day
           Cheddar Cheese

– Emily McCarthy, Tauranga Girls’ College, Third

Commended:

kicking the water
length after length
in the bath

– Tamera Baker, Omokoroa Point School

seaming on the wicket
inside edge
bails knocked off

– Holly Topp, Omokoroa Point School

intrepid explorer
living off dreams
concrete jungle

– Emily McCarthy, Tauranga Girls’ College