Sometimes a photo haiku-caption context can get bloody. The competition can get fierce, leaving only two competitors, sweaty and panting, competing for the final trophy.
That’s a real photo haiku-caption death match!
During the last stream, we had our third photo haiku-caption challenge. (See the last ones here.)
Abbey and I had three photos that we’d taken in Japan. It was up to us and chat to caption them with the best haikus possible. After each photo we had a vote for which ones we liked best, and in the end we tallied the votes to find the winner. The winner would get a picture of their choice drawn by me or Abbey.
…although this competition’s winner had another challenge to overcome.
You can watch the challenge here or
scroll down to see some highlights.
Here’s the photos we captioned:
Photo #1: A, uh, welcoming toilet?
Here’s some of the haiku highlights for this photo:
Anyone who’s scared
Of Japan’s squatting toilets
Come to Nagano!
-Me
Sitting on the throne
Pondering life’s lessons, I learn
Bears don’t crap in the woods
-Abbey
I sit and I wait
Unsure of plans that are lost
An apple in my hand
-deerinbacpac
Sharing is caring
So spare me just one square please
Out of TP here
-Jebus
A happy, green bear
Shoots logs in the air
After munching on apples
-Capricy
Photo #2: CAT SMACK… cat food infused with catnip
Here’s some of the haiku highlights for this photo:
No one wanted her
Now she will become kibble
For cats who know love
-Me
Get your kitten hooked
Kibble infused with catnip
Addiction’s vicegrip
-Abbey
The cat hungers
It follows me
Steps on my keyboarkjsndfaaiufppaufh
-ducktoot
Wild and willful
With eyes that once swallowed the world
Dulled with each mouthful.
-cocytiae
The bag screams “happy”
Yet the cat yearns for closure
From this catnip hell
-buttermilks
Photo #3: A crow witting on a statue fountain
Here’s some of the haiku highlights for this photo:
Kings from long ago
No longer wear crowns of gold
Just a feathered crow
-Scott
a white snake
slithers down the statue
crow poo
-ducktoot
A blot of feathered ink
The people flock and caw
Cameras flashing on the wind
-cocytiae
After Cat Smack™ snack
The crow visits Nagano
Welcoming statue
-Jebus
“I won’t be a muse
to anyone evermore.
I miss my friend Poe.”
-Capricy
Those were some great poems! But in the end the winner was…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…a tie between ducktoot and Abbey! That meant it came down a a BONUS DEATH MATCH between the two of them, where they each wrote a single haiku based on this image:
DEATH MATCH PHOTO: An anime poster that Abbey bought for me last weekend
Here’s the two haiku:
The last day of school
Let’s enjoy the cool sea breeze
This summer will rock
-Abbey
shoes on hands
vertical sea
all physics broken
-ducktoot
FInally, at the end of the death match, the winner was…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
…ducktoot! Congratulations! As their prize, they requested Abbey’s interpretation of what a “ducktoot” was:
This is what Abbey created! A duck “tooting,”
complete with “ducktoot” in Japanese on the left.
And ducktoot reciprocated with a drawing of their own!
Awesome work everyone.
After that chat voted that we write this prompt created by Dibblestix: Describe a normal day for you but with so much figurative language that it sounds like a fantasy epic.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 7:30pm-11:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch Rubbish to Published, the writing exercises, or the writing prompts on YouTube, or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming March 2019.