2011 Haiku Contest Winners!

Poetry Slam, Incorporated is proud to announce the winners of our first ever online haiku slam:

• 1st Place Prize Winner ($100): Keith A. Simmonds, UK
• 2nd Place Prize Winner ($50): Tawana Petty, MI
• 3rd Place Prize Winner ($25): GTZ, CA

Read the winning poems after the jump!

1st Place Winning Haiku:

cherry blooms blowing
in the morning sunshine...
two lovers embrace

By: Keith A. Simmonds, UK

2nd Place Winning Haiku:

John Deere is to lawns
What Dear John is to break-ups
Both seek greener grass

By: Tawana Petty, MI

3rd Place Winning Haiku;

Ask the panhandler
how he sets himself apart:
"I beg to differ."

By: GTZ, CA

About The Poets:

Keith A. Simmonds was born in Barbados and worked in Trinidad as a French teacher for many years. He loves writing haiku many of which appear in Mainichi Daily Haiku, World Haiku Review, Gean Tree Press, Simply Haiku, and Ito-En Oi Ocha

Tawana Petty aka Honeycomb has been writing poetry since 2nd grade. However, she began performing her poetry approximately 5 years ago. In that short time she has been featured at such prestigious events as the International Black Expo, the 175th Annual Emancipation Day Festival in Canada, the 2008 Literary Awards Gala at the Charles H. Wright Museum, the 2010 African World Festival and has opened for HBO/BET's Punany Poets just to name a few.

No information was available for our 3rd prize winner.