Celebrate World Humanist Day with Our Haiku Contest Winners
Photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash TheHumanist.com is pleased to announce the winners of the fourth annual Haiku Contest, this year held in conjunction with World Humanist Day, June 21. Established in the 1980s, World Humanist Day is an opportunity for humanists around the world to celebrate the positive values of humanism and explore issues of concern to our movement. Learn more about World Humanist Day here.
The contest requested entries of haikus about humanism and humanist values. Submissions were required to be in the form of a haiku, a seemingly simple form of poetry in three lines: five syllables on line one, seven syllables on line two, and five syllables on line three.
We received eighty entries, and our judges chose ten of their favorites. A huge thank you to all of the poets who submitted their haikus. And another big thank you to our panel of judges: Peter Bjork, Nicole Carr, Anna Clay, Becca Ray, Isabella Russian, and Meredith Thompson.
The below haikus appear in alphabetical order by author name.
Life is far too short
To fight over differences
Why not love instead?
— Ben Bishop
skipping Sunday school
we learn more about our world
by being in it
— Tracy Davidson
We search for truth’s light,
Reason guides our heartfelt quest,
Compassion our joy.
— John Hodges
listen! the wind sings
in the language of flowers—
fragrant with freedom
— Monica Kakkar
skies of every hue
shared planetarium view—
underneath it all
— Monica Kakkar
Humanity breathes
When logic meets compassion
Humanity sees
— Kateland Kelly
Dandelion wish
A caring hand helps me rise
From weak knees to feet
— Richard L. Matta
I relish the day
All of us realize our link
To one another
— Julia Samsa
We fought, sat, stood, won.
Now we shriek, cry, bow heads, curse.
Lock arms. Stand fast. Fight.
— Sabrina ER Saunders
We are but stardust
within a cosmic sea and
all we have is now.
— Matthew Zlatunich