Aaaaaalriiighty audience, tiiiiiime. Toooo. Juuuuuuuuuuuudge!
We had a decent amount of entries, though I hoped for even more, since the deadline was a week longer than usual periods. 2 weeks! I (tried to) fixed the deadline at the post after my last judging, but I guess whomever renamed the thread didn't catch that so....blame me for my careless mistake! XD
SO. Let's get things started.
Wood Award -- HahiHa
When night turns to day,
Dire darkness, blinding light;
Blessed twilight hour.
Very odd, yet special haiku concerning Morrowind's Azura! For those that don't know, Azura is the daedric prince(ess?) of twilight, and her ruling hours are Dawn and Dusk. We commonly associate Yin and Yang like light and dark, so Azura's theme fits snugly in here. I'm very iffy about the transition to the second verse, however. It just doesn't fit. You are describing the forces of light and darkness converging into one being, yet it doesn't merge well. However, the transition to the third verse seems fine. It is the cause (second line) to effect (third line) that makes the latter of the haiku strong in form. There was a small hiccup inside, but the rest was very satisfying.
Iron Award -- Endscape
together in zen
harmonious relation
yin and yang within.
Endscape is on the list for establishing the concepts of Yin and Yang--how they work together to achieve a stable neutrality so that nothing is too biased in one area. It is a great contribution to the theme, for it is one of half the haiku that actually erm.....relates to it. With this haiku, it describes that, with Yin and Yang together, you achieve the ultimate neutrality, and everything is in balance. When I fed this haiku through my mind over and over again, I kept thinking that these lines feel independent, yet I knew they worked together--they are dependent of each other. It had to have been because of the pausing in-between the verses. However, the structure is well-put together. Nothing seems out of place. Well done!
Gold Award (Merit winner) -- Kyouzou
Peace, Virtue, and Love
Residing in harmony
Anger, Hate, and War
With the power of light, there must always be the power of darkness. In order to know happiness, we must know evil. Kyouzou wins this award, because this haiku had a special flame in that the form was unique to the rest of the entries. Kyouzou listed some perspectives of each side of the alignment, like each were a specific essence of Yin and Yang. Where peace, virtue, and love fuels Light, Anger, Hate, and War fuels Darkness. Look closely: Light is on one side, and Darkness on the other. When they combine.... "residing in harmony"...Ultimate neutrality and balance in the middle! It was a very clever way of setting up the haiku, and it worked successfully. I thoroughly enjoyed this one--congratulations!
Honorable Mention -- KingLemon
Forever partners
obverse of each others coin
deciding our fates
I imagined Yin and Yang like a clock with one hand. As the hand turned toward the other side, the universe became lighter or darker. KingLemon described Ying and Yang like pure, raw opposites of each other as the prime counterpart. Light and Darkness spins around like a clock deciding the fates of those making decisions to provide more positive or negative alignment. An endless cycle, always judging, based on what the balance is, what state the world is in. The clock, once it is wound up again, turns once again, once the deciding fates called for more light. When the world calls for more light, the actions occurred make the clock turn in that direction and the clock is on the upper half. Maaaybe I am just rambling off. It gave me nice scenery, so that's probably what did it!
"Our" is two syllables, you ninny! That was such a great haiku that it would have been ranked, yet it did not fit the prerequisites of a haiku! Aww....
At any rate, congratulations Kyouzou! Go contact a mod (not Cenere!!) for your winning!
Now, for the next theme:
Theme -- Heart (page 284)
Entries Closed -- 2/17/11
Judging Begins -- 2/18/11
To get ready for the super special Valentine's Day, you are to create a haiku about Heart. Is there someone's heart you want, or is there someone you want to submit that has a lot of heart? Do you wish to describe Passion? Or do you wish to describe Piety? It is your choice this week folks!
And as they always say: Happy Haikuin'!
