July Kigo Challenge

Kigo, or seasonal words, are a literary element commonly used in haiku, that allow the poet to instantly transport their reader to a time and place.

For July we challenged our poets to use the following kigo in their pieces: sun, breeze, and yellow. Below are the best submissions of both haiku and “One Breath” poetry.

---

Midnight breezes taunt,
tantalize and seduce us,
challenge our oneness

Tom Sterner — Thornton, Colorado, USA

---

church bells...
sunflowers bowing
in the breeze

Marion Poirier — Boston, USA

---

sunshower
a fragment of rainbow
in every drop

Ruth Holzer — Potomac Falls, Virginia, USA

---

tousled straw
the scarecrow’s lean
into the breeze

Joanna Ashwell — UK

---

street fair
he ties a yellow balloon
to the child's wrist

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams — Fairlawn, Ohio USA

---

a summer breeze
heavy
with the koel's song 

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy — Chennai, India

---

nude beach 
her thoughts bare
under the sun

Billy Antonio — Laoac, Philippines