Scott Borque/KJZZ

These are some of the winning entries from the Arizona Matsuri haiku writing contest on display at the 2020 festival.

KJZZ's second-annual haiku writing contest comes to an end as we round out NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month).

The month of haiku activity is the brainchild of Sammamish, Washington writer Michael Dylan Welch.

We teamed up with The Show again for our contest and have been offering some spirited discussions about haiku on episodes of Word this month.

We lead this episode with a report from KJZZ’s Scott Borque. He stopped by the Arizona Matsuri in Phoenix on Feb. 23. The festival celebrates all things Japanese, including haiku.

Nicole Jenkins

Meg Howell-Haymaker is an English teacher as well as a speech and debate coach at Mountain View High School in Mesa.

In fact, as part of the festival, organizers also hold an haiku writing contest. Are you getting the idea? February is a popular month for the form.

Emma Sansone joins us to talk about some of the winners and her own love for haiku. She, Lyndsey Hoffman and Kolton Boothman judged over 1,000 poems submitted into one of six categories, including haiku 俳句 written in Japanese.

Also, Valley English, speech and debate teacher Meg Howell-Haymaker joins us to talk about teaching haiku in the classroom. Several of her students entered our haiku contest.

Finally, we reveal our winner.

It's Kayden Lockwood who is a middle school student in the Deer Valley Unified School District. 

Kayen's winning haiku is entitled "Arizona Weather / Nature"

The snakes are slithering,
the most beautiful sunsets,
wild cats hunting.

If you have a suggestion for a future show or a comment please send an email to [email protected].

Thanks for supporting public radio as well as the literary arts in the state and the region!