Chicago Cicada Haiku Winners
Thank you to every one who entered the first Chicago Cicada Haiku contest. Entries came from Romania, Norway and throughout the USA. Some were titled, some asked questions, some rhymed. All were wonderfully original and in the rare, energetic spirit of 17-year cicadas.
Judges found it hard to select winners, which eventually led to a large number of honorable mention haiku.
Our first prize haiku poet will receive a Chicago Cicada t-shirt and three copies of the Chicago Cicada Chapbook; second prize will recive a Chicago Cicada t-shirt and two copies of the Chicago Cicada Chapbook; and third prize: Chicago Cicada t-shirt and one copy of the Chicago Cicada Chapbook.
All honorable mention poets will receive an electronic version of the Chicago Cicada Chapbook. All prizes will be sent before September 30.
Please read and enjoy these haiku and thank you again to the hundreds who entered and the thousands who read Chicago Cicada Haiku and Chicago Cicadas this summer. Stay tuned for more Cicada News to come.
FIRST PRIZE
sunflower shadows
the cicadas' drone
distracts the bee
-- Jenny Corpe
SECOND PRIZE
Ugly little bugs
Beautiful to each other
Cicada romance
-- Penny Roman
THIRD PRIZE
Water and whiskey
Summer cicadas rattle
The ice in my glass
-- Philip Ferris
HONORABLE MENTION
midwinter
clinging to the tree
three cicada shells
climbing the valley
cicada calls
patching grandma’s
rusty spouting
cicada calls
-- Sandra Simpson
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Uninvited guests
Littering, loitering pests
Find eternal rest!
-- Linda M. Hiser
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What the heck is that?
Seriously, what's that noise?
Cicadas! Again?!
-- Diana Bucko
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song of cicada –
everybody listening
under the full moon
late cicada –
the row of ant indifferently
going over him
at daybreak –
a perch snatching cicada
from the ready angle
-- Maria Tirenescu
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a glass of wine
the broods' buzz intoxicates
the night
fiery dawn
the nymph with red eyes
rises
-- Jenny Corpe
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Little cicada
Flies through the air with a song
Hear them on the wind
Darting through the air
Cicadas find each other
Future guaranteed
-- Penny Roman
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A buzz in the air
Cicadas sing happily
Looking for a love
Hello Cicada
Welcome back, its been a while
There's no time to waste
Hurry cicada
Try to find your one true love
Start a family
-- Rob Roman
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What are these strange bugs
Loud chirping all afternoon
Must be cicadas
The ground is covered
Strange loud new sounds fill the air
Cicadas are back
Looking for a mate
They sing their love songs all day
Welcome cicadas
-- Sue Conwell
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The wait is over
Cicadas sing songs of love
Watch out for the birds
Seventeen year wait
A short time to find a mate
Good luck cicada
A noise in the air
It sounds like nineteen ninety
Cicadas are back
-- Christopher Conwell
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What Are Cicadas?
What are Cicadas?
They have big cute bulging eyes
What's that buzz sound? Them?
Don't Leave
Summer they some out
Seventeen years they are hear
Can they not leave? please?!?!
What Cicadas Do
I see them in the spring
I hear them go buzz outside
I'm a cicada
-- Jen Soler
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Cicada Personals:
ISO SF
Cicada, I will love you
til the day I die.
-- Cliff Brown
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Green leaves veil buzzing
swarms of bugs with glassy eyes.
Cicadas emerge!
-- John W. Hayse
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Buzz buzz the cicada's song.
Crunch.
All is impermanent.
-- Edward the Bonobo
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here come the big bugs!
noisy crunchy cicadas
they taste good deep fried!
-- Edward Heller
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The Love Song of J. Alfred Cicada
(With Apologies to Mr. Eliot)
Wings beating, whirring
blender's blades: I do not think
that they will sing to me
Cicada Lazarus
(With Apologies to Ms. Plath)
I have done it again
once every 17
years I emerge
Sunday Morning Hangover
(With apologies to Mr. Stevens)
Sussuration of
cicadas and late coffee:
here I'm red-eyed, too
-- Pamela Johnson Parker
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They have claimed our town,
Corybantic cidadas.
My cat will eat them.
While we were sleeping,
The cicadas emerged
And blackened the sky.
Although quite creepy,
Cicadas mean us no harm.
They will be gone soon.
~Jamie Sciullo
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Tymbals are a-buzz
Cicadas all around me
Listen to their songs
-- Allison Lehnen
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An ancient forest
The sound of a thousand wings
Cicadas awake
-- Nils-Martin Haugen
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this ain't your ordinary grasshopper
may twenty-second
the cicadas are coming
this is bug city
Cicadas
remnants left on trees
molted exoskeleton
sing your summer song
Cicada Melody
the chir-rup, chir-rup
fills the summer evening air
gone just like you came
-- Lindsay Cochran
