The Sole Survivor

Yes, the war is over. The battle to the death has come to a screeching halt; the winning gladiator spattered with blood… (okay, maybe I’m taking it a bit too far). But, as sad as it is to say, the Haiku Contest is finally closed. I just wanted to say that I appreciated all of your submissions, and if later on you come up with a winner of a Haiku, feel free to send it to me despite the fact that the contest is over. I love reading them, and although you may not get the tantalizing prize, at least you’ll get the satisfaction of getting a chuckle out of me. Which isn’t hard to do, but I appreciate it none-the-less. So now, what you’ve all been waiting for… the winning haiku!!! As promised, Here is the winning three lines... fifteen words… seventeen syllables… (If I was even remotely tech-savvy I would try to insert a synthesized drum roll here. But since I am not, rest assured that right now I am somewhere banging on my desk, or to my parent’s dismay, maybe even my dining room table.)

            The turf cuts me knees

            What a lovely day outside

            I wish we had grass.

            Although it was an extremely tough decision, this haiku stole the gold. Made the kill shot. Took the trophy. The author was left anonymous, and so I will forever wonder who sent me this delightful poem. (However, the ambiguity of it all adds to the appeal, I think). My favorite part is when the author uses “me” instead of the anticipated “my” in the first line. Whether a fortunate typo or some brilliant word choice, this made the poem made me think of a leprechaun clicking his heels together, like I was thrown into a world where the short man on the front of my Lucky Charms box invites me to come play soccer with he and the other cereal-eating, just-as-animated kids that I see every morning at the breakfast table. This made me think of some possible titles for the haiku, like A Leprechaun’s Dream of Frolicking in the Grass or At Least the Turf Don’t Come Up to Me Shoulders. However, as I am not the author of this poem, we all must be forever guessing. Excellent work Anonymous, please keep writing!