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demand a recount
no way same person tallies
all those big numbers

CONGRATULATIONS PEGGY and "DK"

let's do it again...

Tyler, did you notify the winner or should I call her? Or maybe knock on her door, like Publisher's Clearing House?

Correction, comment above from Judge Suza.

(Sharon is one of the Humane Farming signature gatherers that I am working with. She was at Farmer's Market last Sunday. She had just e-mailed me two Comments to Post, as she had problems figuring out how to do it herself on her own computer.)

Hi Suza - yes the winners have been notified, and will receive their book in time for the holidays... Thanks all!

Peggy La Cerra

Stuffed the ballot box! But num-

ber ten was the best!

Writing haiku about the beauty of Ojai? What an effortless pleasure! I made it my daily prayer for a week. I appreciate all of the entries. Thank you, Tyler, judges, Arcadia Publishing!

With love, in peace,

Peggy

Peggy La Cerra sexiest scientist in Ojai-ku

Thanks Tyler, Mk, et al.

I am sitting with the idea of winning something where there are no other competitors. It's an odd sensation that almost goes back to the tree in the forest question.

I am appreciative that the contest got me to reflect on what makes Ojai great, filled my head with wonder and got my pen moving (so-to-speak). I am also happy about receiving the book :)

I am thinking about prose and curious why no one else wrote a 100-word entry?
In my reflection I wrote an Ode To Prose:

Lonely victory.
Haiku fever in ojai
Won-the only one.

Best,
DK aka Kate

for the last month i have been wondering what the word "haiku" actually means. not the form a haiku poem takes, but the word itself.
i met a japanese woman at esalen 2 weeks ago and after giving her the t-shirt off my back after she commented on it because i had decided that morning that i had become a bit complacent and attached to the compliments i had been receiving as a steady diet lately whenever i wore that shirt, and asked her "what haiku means", she then elaborated for 15 minutes on everything except what i really wanted to know and when i gently tried to guide her down the path i was looking for she took another 15 minutes going over similar ground speaking of the implicit understanding of haiku and i left shirtless and not much the wiser.

as far as Peggy placing win-place-show i find it supremely odd and a bit disturbing that there should be such "uniformity" among our judges. call me a sore non-winner.

Peggy- which is your favorite haiku (mine excluded, of course) and why?
please share with us the mind of a haiku-ist.

i guess whenever i see a pot i just can't help stirring it.

Kate- my thoughts on why no one else wrote a 100 word entry is if you can say it in 17 syllables, why say more?
also usually the more one says, the more one is likely to get into trouble...

sweet dreams all...

"i find it supremely odd and a bit disturbing that there should be such "uniformity" among our judges."

Not sure if "uniformity" among judges is the reason why three haikus by the same person came out on top after all the points were calculated. I only assigned points to one of the winners, even though I liked the others that won, and considered them. It's possible that other judges also only voted for one of the winning entries. (Maybe a math expert could calculate how this would work.)

The more I read and reread all 15 haikus, the more difficult it became to assign points to the three I liked best. The truth is, I liked them all. Each haiku had it's own unique charm and meaning. The more I read them, the more I appreciated each one. Assigning points felt very un-haiku-like.

Thank God I did not know who the authors were!

Rosy evening Sun

Soothes restless nestlings seeking

Mother Moon's return

Perhaps down the road, when other Ojaians have a chance to contribute, someone can compile all the haikus into a sweet little Ojai Haiku (Ojaiku or Ohaiku)booklet.

Oh! I just had a great idea. Some of them, like the one above, would fit beautifully inside one of Ojai's photo greeting cards. There is already a line of blank Ojai cards. Let's match up the haikus with Ojai nature photography.

Before Peggy answers which is her favorite and why, I'd like to get out ahead of her and explain why her entry number ten is the best!

We all stop to look.

Strata blushing rose, she knows

It is her moment

Perhaps not all readers are familiar with the term "strata"... it refers to the geological strata or layers of rock that actually form the bluff on which the pink moment occurs...

In this sweet little poem, the rock is blushing the color rose BECAUSE the people are watching her.... she KNOWS it IS her moment...

In this startling reversal, the whole valley comes alive... the people are watching the rock, and the rock is watching the people watch her.... thus, the observer becomes the observed.... and the valley itself is suffused with self-awareness..... which is the true, mystical, deepest, most sacred beauty of Ojai......

Thanks for all the comments (regardless of their tenor : ). I agree with Suza that each poem captured a facet of Ojai's personality. Ojai must have hundreds of talented folks who can write haiku, and only eight people submitted poems (a wonderful writer I know, Robert Shelor, was preparing for surgery when he learned of this contest, a factor that had to have helped me : ). It would be lovely to expand the pool of contributers, get a great collection together, print it and sell it locally as a benefit for the homeless or HELP of Ojai. Any volunteer collaborators to get that going?

With love, in peace,
Peggy

P.S. My favorite haiku of the seven I submitted was #9 - which didn't win, place or show (so if I had only entered one, chances are I wouldn't have won : ) [David. thanks for the lovely analysis of #10, and Raymond, I'm "blushing rose" : ) ]

Suza, your haiku is really lovely!

Love, peace, P.

P.S. Tyler, feel free to edit out the first of my near-duplicate entries (I thought I was in preview/edit mode).

A note to Peggy: I should have credited the author, "AMS," when I copied haiku #15 above. (It's not mine -- the judges could not enter.)

I thought it sounded familiar! AMS, it's really lovely! I'm loving Judith Vander's haiku as well - Ojai 'personifies' well : ) plc

little reviews for little poems.............

#1 - Moses Kravitz
the clock tower strikes
all souls turn to pink moment
it flashes inside

.............. nicely makes pink moment a subjective event....

#2 - Fred L. Fox
Night time in Ojai
Milky Way above valley
Blessed darkness here.

...............not sure that darkness best captures the beauty of ojai.... but it's a sweet image nevertheless......

#3 - Lanny Kaufer
moonrise paints ojai's
autumn oaks etheric green
as pink moment fades

..............very finely done.... a unified statement for unified effect.... makes us wonder what color is etheric green...... Honorable Mention.......

#4 - David Moody
Topa Topa dawn
hawk in eucalyptus tree
lone coyote song

............. a multi-layered approach.... background, foreground, and soundtrack.....makes us see ojai through eyes of the hawk......

#5 - Judith Vander
Ojai sunlit face
washed blue over the Topas,
blushes to kiss night

......... something is a little off in the syntax here, but the third line is quite lovely....

#6 - Peggy LaCerra
Summoned by the sun
sparkling on Lake Casitas,
I enter heaven

.......... nice start, but ends up feeling somewhat sentimental.....

#7 - Peggy LaCerra
Birds atop old oaks,
Singing so the world can hear,
"Come to Shangri-la!"

........... cute at best........

#8 - Peggy LaCerra
Gazing with the moon
on our sacred green valley
since your pink farewell

......... subject and object a little out of focus here....

#9 - Peggy LaCerra
Nascent life grew
into a fecund beauty
in this verdant nest

..........first line missing one syllable..... overall effect a bit on the abstract side.....

#10 - Peggy LaCerra
We all stop to look.
Strata blushing rose, she knows
It is her moment

....... strata is interesting choice of words.... rose/knows rhyme is powerful..... previous analysis seems valid...... Honorable Mention.....

#11 - Eric Thomasson
The Ojai! How quaint!
to see the rich and famous
play where poor folks ain't

..... very cute... nicely rhymed.... a little off-subject, though....

#12 - Eric Thomasson
Gentrification.
Is there anything else I
really need to say?

........ not really a serious effort.....

#13 - Peggy LaCerra
Snow on Pine Mountain,
She dons her fine crimson robe
As the Chief looks on

............ elegant structure.... sparkling image.... Honorable Mention......

#14 - Peggy LaCerra (dedicated to Stop The Trucks)
Behemoths quaking
this sacred space from now on?
Sky Coyote laughs!

........sky coyote reference rather obscure.......

#15 - AMS
Rosy evening Sun
Soothes restless nestlings seeking
Mother Moon's return

........... easily the most musical of all the entries..... altogether a lovely effect...... Honorable Mention........

Very nice kittykat! Thanks for chiming in.

KK, Thanks for pointing out that #9 is missing a syllable here. This haiku began it's nascent life reading "This nascent life . . ." and it lost a 'this' on the path somewhere. I'm afraid that even with the 'this' included, it requires some abstract ability ; )

Thanks everyone for the kind words about my Haiku and congratulations to Peggy on her winning entries. As Suza may or may not know, I mentioned when I submitted my poem that I have a matching photo of the moon over the Topa Topas at the Pink Moment, with birds silhouetted in the tops of the trees below. I would be delighted if it could be made into a postcard or included in a booklet. Mine also has a second meaning. The rosy glow represents the glowing terms with which our town is painted, and we are the restless nestlings that wish for the return of the unspoiled beauty of the land when the Chumash named this valley for the moon.

And congrats to DK too for being brave enough to enter the 100 words.

AMS thank you for the congrats :) much appreciated!!!