Record of Past Winners from 2002 2008

Past Winners of the James W. Hackett Award 2002 – 2009

2002 Winner

scattering at sea . . . the great blue heron glides through him Kathy Lippard Cobb (USA )

He has also chosen four haiku as Highly Commended (in alphabetical order):

beyond illusion the stone worn smooth in the stream Marian Olsen (USA)

in a pause when the wind dies the coo of a dove Marianne Bluger (Canada)

spring sun the cat visits the greenhouse through a broken pane Fred Schofield (UK)

the evening sky . . . I leave the curtains open a while longer Alison Williams (UK)

2003 Winners

James W Hackett has chosen two overall winning poems of equal merit:

lengthening shadow – night and the river above her eggs the hen’s heart dark and empty row boats beats against my arm full of mist

Beverley George (Australia) Ross Figgins (USA) and four Highly Commended haiku (in alphabetical order):

moonless night I borrow the light of snow Marjorie Buettner (USA)

over the mourners a flock of geese are calling on their journey north Trevor Christie (England)

plum blossoms spring sunshine lovers looking everywhere an old person now lives at each other in my body Jim Kacian (USA) Page 1 of 6 Ernest J Berry (NZ)

2004 Winner

in tonight’s woods a traveller at ease the cracking buds Mike Howell (USA)

The following fine poems are highly commended: dusk . . . honeysuckle late autumn hedgerow – and the blackbird’s song a bundle of sticks the tastiest blackberry slips between thoughts under the snow beyond reach

Jill Bennett (Scotland) Ian Daw (England) R M Atkinson (Scotland)

nettles hide unraveling back faded sweet wrappers – to the lost stitch – a rusty swing creaks autumn loneliness

Tamsin Reeves (England) Marjorie Buettner (USA)

2005 Winners

The two equal winning haiku for 2005 (with comments by J W Hackett) are:

winter festival deep mourning a village stray settles deeper still in the forest at the buskers feet dogwood in bloom

John Bird (Australia) Scott Mason (USA)

The following six poems are highly commended: news of a friend's death – turn of the tide returning sun – a sharp wind blows onshore for a while, a starfish clasping the glitter of snow where I sowed and the mist rolls in both sea and shore my father’s ashes

Trevor Christie (UK) Sheila K Barksdale (USA) Scott Mason (USA)

bounce bounce bounce glove compartment remembrance… over the winter fairway acorns picked up two seagulls arc together a couple of crows at mother’s funeral wheel apart

Michael Fessler (Japan) John Parsons (UK) Helen Buckingham (UK)

of 6 2006 Winners

(JH) (DC) derelict airfield scudding ahead of me forget-me-nots in with the autumn leaves the cracked concrete my hat

Malcolm Williams (UK) Doris Heitmeyer (USA)

Highly Commended: (JH) (DC)

garden shed moonlit church vestry a packet of carnations a hint of incense he would’ve planted in the flower vase Katrina Shepherd (UK) Malcolm Williams (UK)

end of autumn December finding only the antlers the grey pebble holds open of the old buck a cookery book Tony A. Thompson (USA) Ken Cockburn (UK)

quiet inlet trout splash a great blue heron stilled the river returns on its reflection to blackness Bruce Ross (USA) John Barlow (UK)

Also commended (in no order, but the first was chosen by both adjudicators): JH DC construction site somewhere among the girders wind chimes Doris Heitmeyer (USA)

deepening dusk mountain summit through the scent of burning leaves the wind I struggled against the caw of a crow dries my brow Vanessa Proctor (Australia) Scott Mason (USA)

far from shore into the pinks a bee lands on the sail on the washing line – fireweed seeds last summer day John Barlow (UK) Mara Mills (USA)

of 6 2007 Winners

JH DC polarized light – car door clunk the mixed melodies a shell of fresh snow of twilight birds. falls utterly away an’ya (US) Scott Mason (US) James Hackett’s choices: David Cobb’s choices: sunrise2007 –Highly Commended (in no particular order) backyard reverie a goose on the river calling the expanding cosmos to geese in the sky of watermelon seeds Scott Mason Martin Lucas (Eng)

windfall apples Summer at last – the softness cloud watching of the pony’s mouth Claire Knight on my back Vin Godier (Wales) my late dad’s effects – memorial – the startle when i find from her favourite vase his heavy belt hanabi the smell of fresh flowers Trevor Christie (Eng) The first is a captivating picture of someone at leisure to ‘see a world in a grain of sand.’ The second artfully leads us towards one expectation – that the apples are soft midges twist (which of course they are) – only to tell us that the pony’s in and out of sunlight mouth is even softer. the bittern’s neck And the third catches us unawares – we don’t realise the John Barlow (Eng) possible significance of that ‘dull’ (but ambiguous) word ‘effects’ until we have read the whole, possibly not once but several times: what ‘effect’ might that belt have had at her fingertip some time in the past, before it became an ‘effect’, to have follows the name of the brother such a strong effect once more when rediscovered? who didn’t return André Surridge (NZ) I would like to place 4 more haiku / senryu in the ‘ Commended’ category:

Normandy sunset— howling wind – a steeple quivers an autumn note within in the red-tinged bay the bamboo flute Kala Ramesh Scott Mason (US) (India)

old logging camp Arctic meltwater – wagon tracks disappear into wildflowers the white whales moulting Tony A Thompson in harmony Malcolm Williams (US) (Eng)

big city park, passersby queuing to nose a lilac Scott Mason (US)

of 6 family bible a wisp of my baby hair in Revelation Ernest J Berry (NZ) 2008 Winners

David Cobb’s Winner: James Hackett’s Winner: estuary fog – asparagus bed – a bell boomerangs I compost ashes from shore to shore from a decade of poems

Malcolm Williams (UK) Linda Jeanette Ward (USA)

Highly Commended Haiku

David Cobb’s choices:

Melting snowflakes – Still waiting the night watchman for the hungry whales – remains alone myriads of stars

Eduard Tara (Romania) Eduard Tara (Romania)

now he’s here folding clothes the coarse hair of the horse . . . I am here then not here – summered grasses winter’s first rain

John Barlow (UK) Marjorie Buettner (USA)

James Hackett’s choices:

no longer knowing beating the rain… every bend in the road . . . Dad lingers last quarter moon to smell the pinks

John Barlow (UK) Helen Buckingham (UK)

a tide line the gull shifts between its reflection and shadow

Natalia L Rudychev a.k.a. Liao (USA)

of 6 2009 Winners

James Hackett’s winner: Dee Evetts’ Winner

in the silence bee on a black key – before the dreaming I halt the metronome the warmth of a paw on my hand Malcolm Williams (UK) Claire Knight (UK)

A close second: no sign of puppy in the old dog’s eyes deep winter

Kathy Lippard Cobb (USA)

James Hackett’s highly commended: crossing the pause her book closed, mayflies – in the shouting she listens – writing their passion the cat takes my side the geese are returning on the stream

Richard Tindall (UK) Graham Duff (UK) Keith Heiberg (US)A

Dee Evetts’ highly commended:

neon buzz of the allnight crossroad cemetery kiosk . . . Roland Packer (Canada) attending to the taste of peppermint tea

John Bird (Australia) leaf storm she says something I don’t catch the heat… paul m. (USA) my wife down there lost in lotuses

Michael Fessler (Japan)