Every year the Emperor of Japan selects a theme for haiku poets.  For this contest the theme is "kishi" which translates in English to " shore, coast, or beach ".  Ibaraki, Minneapolis’s sister city in Japan, sponsors a haiku contest.  Southwest High School was notified that they placed with eight winners in the city wide contest this year.  That means we won all honors in 9th grade-12grade category this year.  A presentation of awards was held on Sunday, April 15th, 2011 from 2 p.m. at the Minneapolis Central Library downtown.   Please congratulate these talented students, Ms. Schiffman and Ms. Reilly  when you see them!

Haiku Contest Winners   2012

Category C (9^th – 12^th Grade)

1^st – Melissa Yang   Hear the dolphins cry   Their innocent eyes seeking   The stranger on the shore

2^nd – Elijah Fortson   Waves crash like kisses   The sea embraces the shore  

3^rd – Henry Aoki   Ocean sweeps the sand   It becomes a black canvas   My foot print paint it

4^th – Chloe McIntyre   The waves ebb and flow,   Washing against a girl’s feet,   Collecting seashells

5^th – Vincente Fernandez   The still horizon   As the waves begin to dance,   Kelp reaches the shore

6^th – Liam Kelsey   Waves pound on the shore   The pebbles take a beating   Storm on the ocean

7^th – Melissa Yang   Can’t you hear the waves,   The sound of many secrets,   Washing up on shore

Adult Category

2^nd – Gail Schiffman   Small pebbles of sand   Much bigger boulders on shore   Ocean kissing both

4^th – Gail Schiffman   Fishing boats on shore   Damaged by the tsunami   Life never the same

8^th – Dawn Reilly   I hear the pebbles   Knocking on the shore as the   Tide sweeps them away

9^th – Stuart Fritz   Nothing to compare  

9-12 grades Haiku 

1st Place:  Emily Brunmeier    Dipping down to drink  Willow tree beside a lake  Little leaves rejoice

2nd Place:  Roz Foreman   
Shadows of the leaves fall  On the path in front of me  Guiding me along 

3rd Place:  Griffin McEnery    Wind blows through the tree  The branches sway back and forth  The last leaf falls down

Honorable Mention:  

Najma Hassan   
The leaf falls slowly  Down on to the hard cold ground  Then the first flake falls



Nora Kane    
Leaves in the river  Float by making not a sound  Winter is coming



Abbie Thill    A soft breath of breeze  Golden leaves rattle, shake, fall  Fragile wind dancers

Amber Rose    Not making a sound  Then falling soft to the ground  Crinkle, crackle, crunch

Adult Haiku

2nd Place:  Megan Marsnik
   Leafless branches reach  Like grandma’s gnarled finger  Through blue to the white