Modern Haiku

a black widow
tending her egg …
I hesitate

George Dorsty
Modern Haiku 42.1 (2011)

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We are pleased to announce the results from the 2026 Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award. Congratulations to the following poets:

First Place:

abandoned rails
goldenrod
passing through

Scott Mason


Second Place:

snowy night
stirring without touching
the teacup’s side

Alan S. Bridges


Third Place:

all that’s left
of the old farmhouse
brushstroke sky

Joshua St. Claire

Honorable Mention Awards (unranked)

soft october rain
some letters missing
from the marquee

Matthew Markworth


rotted rafters
fog curdles around
the owl’s call

Debbie Strange


cloud-scuttle in the children’s pond paper sailboats

Jo Balistreri


late hour
the drummer switches
to the brush

David Grayson


last frost—
the mailbox lid
comes free

Elliot Diamond

Results including the judge’s commentary will appear in the summer issue of Modern Haiku (to be mailed soon) and online at our website shortly.

Thank you to this year’s judge, Brad Bennett, our amazing contest coordinator Billie Wilson, and to everyone who participated!

opening flower …
so many visitors today
to be fed

Deborah Karl-Brandt
Modern Haiku 54.2 (2023)

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North Beach
hanging at Caffe Trieste
beat cops

Nathanael Tico
Modern Haiku 55.3 (2024)

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swift kiss
at the bus stop —
day moon

Ludmila Balabanova
Modern Haiku 45.3 (2014)

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spring evening —
wind touching her hair
before I do

Brent Olson
Modern Haiku 35.1 (2004)

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distant church bells
the muddy knees
of pastured cows

Michele L. Harvey
Modern Haiku 45.1 (2014)

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alone
on the counter
the duplicate key

Jeffrey Ferrara
Modern Haiku 48.3 (2017)

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Congratulations to all the Touchstone Award winners, in particular Farah Ali (haibun) and Peter Newton (haiku), both published in our pages. And our own Roberta Beary for her book’s Honorable Mention.

Details here:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/2025-touchstone-awards-for-individual-haibun-awarded-haibun-2/

https://thehaikufoundation.org/2025-touchstone-awards-for-individual-poems-awarded/

2025 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems — Awarded - The Haiku Foundation The best of the best poems published in 2025

spring honeymoon
not enough words
for green

Agnes Eva Savich
Haiku 21.2 (2025)

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