The Haiku Contest - Ashcan!

Walk to Edo, write haiku along the way, and win the contest to become a haiku master. Just ignore the spirits teasing you along the long road to the capital of Japan.

The Haiku Contest is inspired by the short story “The Firefly Beast” by Tony Pi from the fantasy anthology Sword and Sonnet, a short story anthology featuring battle poets (truly, all the stories in that book inspire me). What interested me most about this particular story was how a poem can change someone’s mind, decision, or path in life. Here, you are challenged to write poems in response to what you see, and imagine poetry as a vivid, life-altering encounter between speaker and listener, human and non-human, living and dead.

Enjoy recklessly.

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This game is untested. Feedback, questions, and comments are welcome. If you want to offer feedback privately, message me here.

Inspirations: 

• No. 43, Tsumagome, 1835-42 by Utagawa Hiroshige (cover image)
• Matsuo Basho’s life (1644-1694)
• the history of haiku, animism, mythology, and yokai
• the Tarot of Japanese Poetry
• Plum Tree Tavern: Haiku of Chiyo-ni
• The River of Heaven: The Haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki by Robet Aitken
• NaHaiWriMo: National Haiku Writing Month 2024

Thanks…

 … to Moti and Adele at the Argo Bookshop who sparked my love of haiku and Japan. To AE Prevost for telling me about Sword and Sonnet. To my brother, Matt, who learned to love haiku as well. To Haiku Canada for inspiring me regularly. 

To the students I was substituting for that one week in February 2024–I am so glad you loved my haiku lesson. This is for you.