Haiku featured in poetry contest

Oregonians from all over the state, locals from around the corner, and out-of-state writers entered the recent Food & Farms Haiku Contest here in Sisters. Entries were handwritten or typed, dropped into the painted contest box at Paulina Springs Books, sent online via Submittable, or dreamed up by kids at Seed to Table education farm.

Each poem addressed the themes of food, farming, and harvest, connecting with the bright colors, smells, and tastes of the season. This issue we celebrate the adults from Sisters Country who won the contest.

All category winners were selected by judge Kim Stafford, poet laureate of the State of Oregon. The first-place winner in the Locals Only category is Willard Bartlett III of Camp Sherman. Keep an eye on upcoming issues of The Nugget for other categories.

Winning Haiku:

Locals Only category

First Place:

Each fall by Lost Lake

I suck a sweet plum, tuckered,

And taste your goodbye.

—Willard Bartlett III

Finalists:

Pulled pork sandwiches

Pickled pepperoncini

Not enough napkins

—Paul Bennett

the greenhouse bulging

with ripening tomatoes —

’coon tracks in the dust

—Nancy Bright

Huckleberry bush

Thought you would be gone by now

Happy purple smile

—Theresa Kempenich

Judge’s Statement:

It was a pleasure to visit the Sisters Farmers Market through the sensations delivered by the writers of these haiku. I enjoyed every one, just as I enjoy every color and shape and every proud gardener at the market.

In the difficult task of choosing winners and finalists, I looked for the strong image, resonant sensation, kinship connection to nature, and the stroke of surprise associated with the haiku form.

Gardeners, keep growing local food. Writers, keep growing poems.

— Kim Stafford, Oregon Poet Laureate