This seminal contest for English-language senryu was established in 2016 by Steve Hodge and Michael Rehling and sponsored by the journals of which the two were then editors, Prune Juice and Failed Haiku respectively. Now sponsored by Failed Haiku only, the annual contest was named in honor of New Jersey naturalist and prominent haiku and senryu poet H. Gene Murtha. The competition typically attracts several hundred entries from poets around the world.
Table of Contents
- Contest Regulations and Procedures
- 9th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2024
- 8th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2023
- 7th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2022
- 6th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2021
- 5th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2020
- 4th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2019
- 3rd Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2018
- 2nd Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2017
- 1st Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2016
Contest Regulations and Procedures
Submissions: A poet may submit no more than two entries. Submitted work must be previously unpublished, but senryu that have been workshopped or appeared on social media are permitted. There is no submission fee.
Submissions must be made by email and are accepted during a ten-day window, typically in early June. Submissions received either before or after this window are not judged.
Check the Failed Haiku website for up-to-date instructions on contest procedures and for the email address to which submissions must be sent.
Adjudication: Contest judges are chosen by the journal editors. Judges’ names are normally announced before the contest begins.
Prizes: Cash prizes are no longer offered.
Notification: First Place, Second Place, and Third Place winners are first notified by email, typically about a month after the close of the submission window. Winning poems and commentary by the contest judges, as well as an unspecified number of Honorable Mention/Highly Commended senryu, are now published in Failed Haiku on November 5, Guy Fawkes Day.
Archives: As of November 2024, lists of winners in the Murtha contests were scattered, incomplete, and in some cases inaccessible online. The ”Results published” line in the tables below presents the most complete information currently available online for each running of the contest. Note also that the lists of contest-winning senryu in Prune Juice are centered on the page, while Failed Haiku sets them flush left. Haikupedia has opted for flush left.
9th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2024
| Judges | Marilyn Ashbaugh and John Pappas | |
| Number of entries | “A record number” | |
| Results published | Failed Haiku website | |
| First Place | petro c. k. | all of us icar fall |
| Second Place | Tom Bierovic | bullied girl in her shirt pocket an origami swan |
| Third Place (tie) | Kala Ramesh | a termite-eaten photo frame still holds her smile |
| Laurie Wilcox-Meyer | while (bumper-to-bumper) the willow sways | |
| Honorable Mention, (13, listed alphabetically by author) | Farah Ali | spinning compass navigating a neurotypical world |
| Erin Castaldi | double sugar bacon the gentle way she says goodbye | |
| Baisali Chatterjee Dutt | scorched skin that summer of no consent | |
| Lev Hart | the floral print dress faded & worn farmer’s wife | |
| Ravi Kiran | second marriage the pause before I do | |
| Barrie Levine | stirred, not shaken my son survives the war protest | |
| Marianne Paul | prison buzz cut on his scalp a childhood scar | |
| Minh-Triêt Pham | cold moon— her wish for a child after the abortion | |
| Neena Singh | silent walk her dog collar in my pocket | |
| Christina Sng | quiet river a pebble watches the world go by | |
| Debbie Strange | solar eclipse the times we choose to look away | |
| Ann Sullivan | twenty-six weeks … her sisters-in-law take down the crib | |
| Elisa Theriana | man in the moon the shadow my father keeps even in death |
8th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2023
| Judge | Michael Rehling | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results published | Failed Haiku website | |
| First Place | Lakshmi Iyer | spring outbreak a red dragonfly escapes from her tulips tattoo |
| Second Place | Jay Friedenberg | bomb shelter the children gather around fairytales |
| Third Place | Jeff Hoagland | confluence the river in us |
| Highly Commended (77, listed alphabetically by author) | Farah Ali | wicker chair the intricacy of her thigh tattoos |
| Michelle V. Alkerton | poking through spent shell casings daffodil shoots | |
| Hifsa Ashraf | tunnel’s end … the sunlit face of a migrant child | |
| Jo Balistreri | under a straw bale in the haymow … a kitten i never held | |
| Caroline Giles Banks | widow keeping her hair long for him | |
| Roberta Beary | mother’s day he laces her shoes | |
| Roberta Beary | storage unit i slice open my ex | |
| Rowan Beckett | pond scum calling me the ex’s name | |
| Brad Bennett | spring peepers I wish I’d had a childhood nickname | |
| Jerome Berglund | allegedly everything true | |
| Kathryn Bold | divorce papers only our signatures haven’t changed | |
| Nancy Brady | grandfather’s second family revealed —DNA test | |
| Alan S. Bridges | we are the main course … tectonic plate | |
| Susan Burch | growing cucumber she suggests we take it slow | |
| Daniela Lăcrămioara Capotă | ten years of marriage— my cat still loves me | |
| Ram Chandran | first date speaking at the same time for the third time | |
| Antoinette Cheung | alphabet soup the strange taste of my Chinese name | |
| Elizabeth Crocket | hospital parking lot a lone bird sings to me | |
| Alvin B. Cruz | reading it as eros instead of rose my dyslexic heart | |
| Pat Davis | in hospice enough strength to hold a dandelion | |
| Radostina Dragostinova | nothing else but quietude agave leafs | |
| Peter Draper | the clocks hands pointing the way to now | |
| Bruce H. Feingold | breaking waves we talk with the children about our ashes | |
| Felix | In your bathroom another girl uses my rose-water mouthwash | |
| Jenny Fraser | aging is getting the hang of It | |
| Volker Friebel | Storm of thoughts—the trace of a dandelion. | |
| Ganesh R. | pre-wedding vows we exchange our chat history | |
| Mark Gilbert | prostate exam I remind him why I am here | |
| John S Green | pieces of sunlight visiting hours | |
| Laurie Greer | cowbird no one in school that looks like her | |
| Charles Harmon | to hell and back only to find here has also gone to hell | |
| Michele L. Harvey | listening to the crickets blind date | |
| Edward Cody Huddleston | Google Maps the cursor hovers over Mom’s childhood | |
Marilyn Humbert | my son breaks the rules again … lumpy custard | |
| Mona Iordan | dull night the shiny doorknob of the bar | |
| David Josephsohn | twilight the shadows and I finally at rest | |
| Arvinder Kaur | the part of me that is just me half moon | |
| Nicholas Klacsanzky | mushroom hunt only finding my attention | |
| Nadejda Kostadinova | aging father the child and the grown up taking turns in him | |
| Gregory Longenecker | Easter we talk about his time in rehab | |
| Bob Lucky | slide guitar ~ ~ I change my order to a full pint | |
| Gabriel Awuah Mainoo | fading moon how slow a boy licks his candy | |
| Andrew Markowski | black coffee— he sweetens the terms of their divorce | |
| Scott Mason | the security question … I’m no longer me | |
| Françoise Maurice | autism syndrome the slow swaying of the hollyhock | |
| Marietta McGregor | still inside, the me I once was … home town | |
| Joe McKeon | Monday morning coffee the strength of Sisyphus | |
| anne morrigan | warm rain a tulip child crowns | |
| Ron C. Moss | active shooter all the dead pixels on their lesson screen | |
| Kamrun Nahar | black hole.… a secure home for a frog | |
Nick T | online bakery I accept all cookies | |
| John Pappas | pear blossoms my daughter unexpectedly holds my hand | |
| Susan Bonk Plumridge | a hint of lily-of-the-valle —my daughter born late | |
| Kala Ramesh | his eyes speak before his tongue one more lie | |
| Valentina Ranaldi-Adams | time capsule my past resurfaces | |
| Mark Ritchie | chaos theory a butterfly sets off the car alarm | |
| Cynthia Rowe | wind in the pine wind in my hair— the secrets between us | |
| Suraja Menon Roychowdhury | that sensation of being watched in the dark … white orchid | |
| Jenn Ryan-Jauregui | fetal position the shape of a mother’s grief | |
| Bona M. Santos | walking encyclopedia all I need is a simple yes or no | |
| Kelly Sargent | backyard stargazing still a stranger to the owl | |
| Agnes Eva Savich | memorial service her voice breaking on the word joy | |
| Julie Schwerin | holding it together … the rusted paperclip on his will | |
| Shloka Shankar | persona grata I redact the parts that aren’t me | |
| Neena Singh | another sunset echoes the silence … Old Age Home | |
| Srini | having the last word again mountain echo | |
| Stephenie Story | heirloom fly rod tracing granddad’s footsteps river to river | |
| Barbara Strang | New Year a pain in a new place | |
| Debbie Strange | foetal/fatal the absence of almost-presence | |
| Mark Teaford | hot breakfast … tick on a cape buffalo | |
| Elisa Theriana | total eclipse a little boy covers his dog’s eyes | |
| Richard Tice | old furniture the air thick with old words | |
| Joseph P. Wechselberger | childhood the worn spot in the grass under the swing | |
| Michael Dylan Welch | changing his point of view his wife’s wagging finger | |
| Allyson Whipple | our last goodbye my sunburn lingers longer | |
| Scott Wiggerman | drifting off infinity pool | |
| Robert Witmer | at the shoe repair counter the little old lady on tiptoes |
7th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2022
| Judges | Vandana Parashar and Susan Burch | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results published | Prune Juice website | |
| First Place | Philip Whitley | cockroach … once more i beg forgiveness |
| Second Place | Joanne van Helvoort | and again the white horse wins— merry-go-round |
| Third Place | Aka Moone | first bite your move now Adam |
| Honorable Mention (21, listed alphabetically by author) | Fred Andrle | them not me the obituaries |
| Cristina Angelescu | my neighbors’ noises all night long— way to go crickets | |
| Jacob Blumner | chrysanthemums trying on my wife’s kimono | |
| Stefanie Bucifal | eye of the storm not even the wind wants me | |
| Antoinette Cheung | middle school even our breast sizes have letter grades | |
| Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă | Smirnoff vodka all my demons in high spirits | |
| Billie Dee | hand-crocheted afghan … too late to tell her I don’t like maroon | |
| June Rose Dowis | hermit crab where to begin downsizing | |
| Richard Grahn | cash flow the hole in my pocket bigger than I thought | |
Richard Grahn | national debt! and you’re worried about my credit cards? | |
| David Grayson | phone call the length of a bottle of wine | |
| Laurie Greer | nesting dolls … how history repeats itself | |
| Julie Bloss Kelsey | a constellation on her breast … freckle envy | |
| Jacquie Pearce | sand shifting pronouns | |
| Geoff Pope | deepest breath ever leaving the psych wing | |
Kala Ramesh | first cut— the watermelon seller bites into his profit | |
| Ron Russell | old flames at the class reunion not one match | |
| Rich Schilling | tent poles testing the strength of our marriage | |
| Ron Scully | a cheerio in the pill box fool me once | |
| Carly Siegel Thorp | childless cracks forming in the heirlooms | |
| Stephen Toft | carrying the coffin— the undertaker says i’m a natural |
6th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2021
| Judges | Bryan Rickert | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results published | 3 winning haiku (only) on Prune Juice website with dead link to a PDF of all results | |
| First Place | Arvinder Kaur | courtroom–– how white the shirt of the rapist |
| Second Place | Agnes Eva Savich | first cry … I too am born a mother |
| Third Place | Kelley White | white privilege–– a protester asks to use the bathroom |
| Honorable Mention (41, listed alphabetically by author) | Jo Balistreri | falling light rinses over his face … father at the sink |
| Caroline Giles Banks | widower the unevenness of his sideburns | |
| Maria Bonsanti | three-legged dog how easily i win custody | |
| Alan S. Bridges | mass shooting the frayed ends of a flag | |
| Pris Campbell | daffodil shoots the children I never had | |
| Hemapriya Chellappan | becoming extinct my spirit animal | |
| Antoinette Cheung | physics department the pristine state of the ladies’ room | |
| Alvin B. Cruz | his hand-painted postcard — more cherry blossoms than words | |
| Pat Davis | alone with all my technology Alone | |
| Pat Davis | his favorite belt the last two holes hammered in | |
| Michael Dudley | festooned bridge: among the lovers’ locks 3 linked together | |
| David Kāwika Eyre | hospice bed forming her chrysalis | |
| P. H. Fischer | vaccineneedleamightylongemdash | |
| Mark A. Forrester | bleeding through a fresh coat of paint old regrets | |
| Terri L. French | laundromat an old woman folds into herself | |
| Terri L. French | mastectomy she hands me a bag of barely worn bras | |
| Nikolay Grankin | rain over the sea my generation starts to pass away | |
| Bart Greene | infant’s funeral two pallbearers more than enough | |
| Jennifer Hambrick | a single slice in the toaster this loneliness | |
| Nick Hoffman | false spring I rub red marker from her lips | |
| Dan Iulian | marriage proposal— she analyses my syntax | |
| Peter Jastermsky | ten children later a box of condoms in the hope chest | |
| Lisa Anne Johnson | shaking her upside down piggy bank Earth | |
| Alexander B. Joy | promotion the windowsill plants too bent to straighten | |
| Amy Losak | peeling tree bark she hides her spotted hands in the interview | |
| Robert B. McNeill | half full or half empty … family plot | |
| Laurie D. Morrissey | wedding morning last nights rain shaken from the trees | |
| Janice Munro | long snowfall the weight of a confession | |
| Helen Ogden | after you left knowing and not knowing the names of birds | |
| Gregory Piko | she loves me she loves me not shucking oysters | |
| Madhuri Pillai | vacuuming fruit flies my karmic overload | |
| Sanela Pliško | flea market between bullet shells this and that god | |
| Vijay Prasad | gradually i resemble the corpse i will be | |
| Cynthia Rowe | last chemo a lotus above the waterline | |
| Agnes Eva Savich | family mantel the ashes I’ll inherit | |
| Ron Scully | seesaw my daughter rises into her laughter | |
| Srilata K | temple bells we wake to the same unholy land | |
| Christine Lamb Stern | no longer welcome at my daughter’s home I miss her peonies | |
| Stephen Toft | in the packed church an empty man | |
| Kevin Valentine | death vigil … the soothing sound of a singing bell | |
| Philip Whitley | cranes still dance in the closet her kimono |
5th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2020
| Judges | Mike Rehling and Brent Goodman | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results published | 3 winning haiku (only) on Prune Juice website with dead link to a PDF of all results | |
| First Place | Louise Hopewell | the lingering notes of an out of tune piano burying grandpa |
| Second Place | Roberta Beary | lockdown loving the surprise of wild nose hairs |
| Third Place | Minal Sarosh | chemotherapy she takes a selfie with the new wig |
| Highly Commended (36, listed alphabetically by author) | an’ya | camping alone a deer tick on my back just out of reach |
| Tom Bierovic | double shift the nurse’s gloves wearing thin | |
| Meik Blöttenberger | silencing my cell I enter the old slave graveyard | |
Alan S. Bridges | gender fluid unsure of where not to look | |
| Owen Bullock | not feeling well she puts on lipstick thicker | |
| Dan Burt | ice cream cold curve of a spoon | |
| Hemapriya Chellappan | two-step verification mom asked me to ask dad | |
| Ronald K. Craig | everything in bloom she picks a training bra | |
| Ronald K. Craig | glaciers melt my child learns to tread water | |
| Stephanie Cupido | from hand to hand the new baby goes baptism morning | |
| Pat Davis | birthday party the boy without a gift | |
| Michael Dudley | e e e s r ndipity a br z of ch rry p tals e e e | |
| Terri L. French | first date the cocktail names make her blush | |
| Mike Gallagher | dinner time the plate’s willow pattern reappearing | |
| Benedict Grant | Chinook this morning’s snowman zombified | |
| Praniti Gulyani | another x ray … a broken branch held with moonlight | |
Marilyn Humbert | precise lines raked in white pebbles his mindset | |
| Carmela Marino | his deep sleep the milk of my breast frozen | |
| Lori A Minor | southern heat the buzzing of barflies | |
| Laurie D. Morrissey | condolence cards sprinkling seed in the bare spots | |
| Janice Munro | separate beds I hear her breathing through the wall | |
| Nika | weighing the odds of reincarnation grandad rewrites his will | |
| Jacquie Pearce | vintage photo her name given only as ‘wife’ | |
| Gregory Piko | serendipity running across my favorite word | |
| Kala Ramesh | designer wear she walks her curves on stilettos | |
| Timothy Russell | midwinter — the blood spot in an egg makes her cry | |
| Ken Sawitri | rewriting haiku … a kitten twist to catch its tail | |
| Greg Schwartz | elevator— she offers me a mint | |
| Shloka Shankar | moving through a cloud :: the diameter of sadness | |
| Tomislav Sjecloća | Alzheimer’s teaching the dog old tricks | |
| Christina Sng | never trusting again old shelter cat | |
| Barbara A. Taylor | bliss at last clear unpolluted skies and silence | |
| Joanne van Helvoort | video chat a contrail connects two clouds | |
| Philip Whitley | wilderness one more stop to speak a flower’s name | |
| Robert Witmer | calloused hands the carpenter smooths his daughter’s gown | |
| Genevieve Wynand | parting words … silverfish in her bible |
4th Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2019
| Judges | Brent Goodman and Mike Rehling | |
| Number of entries | Not stated | |
| Results published | Prune Juice 28 (July 2019) | |
| First Place | Madhuri Pillai | ultrasound gel as she circles the probe I read her face |
| Second Place | Elizabeth Crocket | strip-o-gram everyone’s standards go lower |
| Third Place | Kelly Sauvage Angel | shriveled flesh the impermanence of bath bubbles |
| Highly Commended (19, listed alphabetically by author) | Dan Burt | you and me taking a selfie separately |
| Colleen M. Farrelly | shooting stars— the dash between born and died | |
| Terri L. French | I dream someone else’s dream hotel pillows | |
| Ivan Gaćina | chess match … I choose a bottle of whiskey to be my rival | |
| Roberta Beach Jacobson | family reunion bad breath has a name | |
| Arvinder Kaur | Ceasefire … a soldier comes home wrapped in moonlight | |
| Michael Henry Lee | all day rain sending a second friend request | |
| Darrell Lindsey | border war the price of tamales on a slow day | |
| Lori A Minor | first date I slip into old habits | |
| Madhuri Pillai | cancer diagnosis i add a red lipstick to my collection | |
| Valentina Ranaldi-Adams | shrinking all my flaws thumbnail photo | |
| Kai Rands | sunshine— she spins the sunglasses round and round | |
| Claudette Russell | writer’s block my father’s eulogy | |
| Srinivasa Rao Sambangi | history class my girlfriend whispers forget what happened | |
| Tomislav Sjekloća | pilot burial he still speaks from the black box | |
| Corine Timmer | divorce papers— a stray dog adopts me | |
| Lucky Triana | birthday candles I blow out an old dream | |
| Aljoša Vuković | a mute man— his parrot repeats the silence | |
| Robert Witmer | baggage claim his and hers the second time around |
3rd Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2018
| Judges | Steve Hodge and Michael Rehling | |
| Number of entries | “Over 300” | |
| Results published | Prune Juice 25 (July 2018) | |
| First Place | Gregory Longenecker | prayer book all the funeral cards but hers |
| Second Place | Nicholas Klacsanzky | new tabla the smells of India in one strike |
| Third Place | Kerstin Park | moving out— the perfection of pomegranate halves |
| Honorable Mention(70, listed alphabetically by author) | Kelly Sauvage Angel | discarding the sex organs edible orchid |
| Debbi Antebi | mother’s eulogy finally I tell her what she wanted to hear | |
| Marilyn Ashbaugh | plum petals … after the ginkgo walk the ticks | |
| Pamela A. Babusci | deep autumn … walking barefoot on my mother’s grave | |
| Stephen Bailey | final words his clod strikes a hollow tone on her coffin | |
| Don Baird | making love … my sneakers finally didn’t run | |
| Gabriel Bates | photo album those faces I used to know | |
| Johannes S. H. Bjerg | in the stillness after the OM swallows | |
| Ingrid Bruck | universal adapter social media | |
| Helen Buckingham | graffiti sharper by moonlight | |
| Susan Burch | pocket protector— I keep my wits about me | |
| Dan Burt | tai chi master moves slowly traffic jam | |
| Pris Campbell | birdbath filled with yesterday’s songs his empty pillow | |
| Salil Chaturvedi | buddhist shrine— the smell of someone’s socks | |
| Salil Chaturvedi | final goodbye— the ice melts in her lemonade | |
| Elizabeth Crocket | eye exam the doctor changes my long term vision | |
| Pat Davis | silence the strength to wait for her reply | |
| Zoran Doderović | insomnia I am the only sheep in my head | |
| Jerry Dreesen | barefoot in the grass a violet’s close call | |
| Garry Eaton | blushing bride the secret she’s keeping ’til after they’re married | |
| Robert Forsythe | what she left behind the sound of an empty drawer | |
| Terri L. French | a bird flipped through the sunroof summer heat | |
| Jay Friedenberg | wireless connection this stream of information i call me | |
| William Scott Galasso | Grandma declares Grandpa full of whimsy … I thought it was gas | |
| Rajandeep Garg | childhood well I call my name in your voice | |
| Mark Gilbert | Japanese garden my mother clings onto my arm | |
| Mel Goldberg | war over I carry the face of the boy I killed | |
| Anita Guenin | the usual boy leaves girl story assisted living | |
| Jennifer Hambrick | checking the deck for the king of hearts singles cruise | |
| Mary Hanrahan | lullaby … both of us trying not to fall asleep | |
| John Hawk | a legless man shines his boots Veterans Day | |
| John Hawkhead | on the road to the funeral are we nearly there yet | |
| John Hawkhead | sixtieth birthday at last I let my stomach out | |
| Lynne Jambor | family dinner in-depth conversation about mashed potatoes | |
| Julie Bloss Kelsey | wishing I’d worn a longer skirt— spring breeze | |
| Mary Kendall | worry beads— one by one I parse your silence | |
| Bill Kenney | estate auction a pair of elephants carved in ivory | |
| Bill Kenney | prognosis no more somedays | |
| Mike Keville | running as I say goodbye her mascara | |
| Dubravko Korbus | a pre-election poster— only his smile intended for all | |
| Eva Limbach | summer lilies one more funeral I skip | |
| Chen-ou Liu | zen workshop the thought of myself not thinking of myself | |
| Bob Lucky | department meeting an argument about collaboration | |
| Carole MacRury | shelling peas … my mind too, empties | |
| Martha Magenta | mammogram my shadow leads the way | |
| Hannah Mahoney | unloading the dryer my daughter’s bra and mine entangled | |
| Susan Malernee | thunderstorm holding close my dog’s rosewood box | |
| Scott Mason | just us touch dancing the universe expands | |
| Joe McKeon | holocaust museum remembering to breathe | |
| Lori A Minor | hospital curtain her last breath lingers in the ripples | |
| Ron C. Moss | old war … leaders jump in sound of twitter | |
| Peter Newton | pulling it together letting myself go jazz riff | |
| Ken Olson | street band an old soldier shakes his bag of pills | |
| Kunjana Parashar | hitchhiking the cartographer’s son lost | |
| Bill Pauly | New Year’s Day — grunting on the wrong boot | |
| Sandi Pray | old white cat acorns sculpt his grave with shadows | |
| Geethanjali Rajan | incontinence … remains of rain from the red-tile roof | |
| Kala Ramesh | rat race I become the tortoise | |
| Valentina Ranaldi-Adams | fun-house mirror reflections of my inner self | |
| Duncan Richardson | history talk some questions never end | |
| D. V. Rožić | on the bath scale … taking off her glasses | |
| Shloka Shankar | mother-daughter selfie what it all boils down to | |
| Debbie Strange | bagpipers just far enough away to move me | |
| Rachel Sutcliffe | spring again the high street floods with umbrellas | |
| Barbara Tate | chemo the passport photo no longer me | |
| Christine Taylor | our last dinner date the bones picked clean | |
| Christine L. Villa | car wash it doesn’t change where you were last night | |
| Julie Warther | glacial grooves— a look back at how far I’ve come | |
| Scott Wiggerman | my shadow the height and width I always wanted | |
| Robert Witmer | the wind picks up a campaign poster the hair just right |
2nd Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2017
| Judges | Steve Hodgeand Michael Rehling | |
| Number of entries | “nearly five hundred” | |
| Results published | Prune Juice 22 (July 2017) | |
| First Place | Gregory Longenecker | moving day we take apart the bed our parents dreamed on |
| Second Place | Marilyn Humbert | job interview— dodging puddles in my best shoes |
| Third Place | Lori A Minor | family dinner adding salt to my own wounds |
| Honorable Mention(60, listed alphabetically by author) | Angelo B. Ancheta | climate change her tone begins to sound monotonous |
| Debbi Antebi | putting the comma in prison sentence— visiting hours | |
| Debbi Antebi | WiFi zone I get disconnected from myself | |
| Gabriel J. Bates | old sitcoms I cringe at the laughter of dead people | |
| Brad Bennett | orioles oblivious to my success | |
| Danny Blackwell | the girl selfying her face cocks her leg anyway | |
| Kristyn Blessing | the sign five mile point eight miles | |
| Alan S. Bridges | train whistle until I am no longer here | |
| Kanchan Chatterjee | board meeting my doodles are getting better | |
| Kanchan Chatterjee | Ouija board the window curtain’s soft flutter | |
| Steven Clarkson | departed son the chess board left as it was | |
| Maria Corado | they hate his drinking — but they put his ashes in a wine bottle urn | |
| Pat Davis | recurring dream … the lesson I have yet to learn | |
| Urszula Funnell | first touch holding that space between breaths | |
| Joshua Gage | chili night the last roll of toilet paper | |
Joshua Gage | performance review the hiss of a cigarette in a puddle | |
| Rajandeep Garg | silence ~ our minds still talking | |
| Rajandeep Garg | winter graves missing people I never met | |
| Mark Gilbert | flip flops Grandma’s laugh turns into a cough | |
| Mark Gilbert | in the cathedral a lost soul asks me the way to the gift shop | |
| Anna Goluba | Our first date To give or not to give him An apple | |
| Helga Härle | windowshopper— the glassy gaze of the dummy | |
| Michele L. Harvey | organ harvesting … my mother’s unaccustomed generosity | |
| Mercy Ikuri | Mother’s Day counting my blessings One . | |
| Peter Jastermsky | stage four the doctor’s eye contact wavers | |
| Emmanuel Jessie Kalusian | wedding anniversary the librarian gifts me a book on marriage | |
| Barbara Kaufmann | day of remembrance I stop to watch a butterfly | |
| Julie Bloss Kelsey | snowmelt — the things I thought I’d left behind | |
| Nina Kovačić | dense fog a dog’s barking quickens my steps | |
| Ola Lindberg | drawings to grandma my daughter stamps it with a cloud | |
| Gregory Longenecker | senior center I search for the man he used to be | |
| Amy Losak | phone interview she applies her foundation with extra care | |
| Bob Lucky | tying my shoes lately the ground seems so low | |
| Hannah Mahoney | folding her clothes remembering folding her first clothes | |
| Kim Mannix | discovery the shadow on the x-ray | |
| DL Mattila | recurring weed a sign we need to dig deeper | |
| Marietta Jane McGregor | a note in the Wall then, surrounded by friends he gropes for a cliche | |
| Mark Miller | winter’s night in the finished scarf a dropped stitch | |
| Lori A Minor | dementia I lose the lily petal by petal | |
| Peter Newton | in with my taxes a spring poem written by hand | |
| Maeve O’Sullivan | All Saints’ Day — a small superman costume on the barrio balcony | |
| Carol Ann Palomba | filling your absence the pharmacist recounts my pills | |
| Aparna Pathak | train journey each one of us a hula doll | |
| Patricia Pella | refugee camp children waiting for a childhood | |
| Dottie Piet | fishing lures dangle from her ears singles bar | |
| Gregory Piko | new waitress her smile seems big enough for something more | |
| Kala Ramesh | bed time … she asks if her rag doll can stay up late | |
| Cynthia Rowe | graveside my toddler’s pink balloon keeps bobbing | |
| Rob Scott | peace rally — my kids fight over a balloon | |
| Tiffany Shaw-Diaz | Mother’s Day I tiptoe around the past tense | |
| Sandra Simpson | stored in her phone photos of the unborn child | |
| Stevie Strang | my father’s Will not as strong as I thought he was | |
| Hansha Teki | mirror mist I almost believe that I’m real | |
| Hansha Teki | seven billion of us interpreting silence | |
| Maria Laura Valente | cash-for-gold … the day I paid the rent with memories | |
| Lorraine Ward | “What’s this called, Grandma?” “Ampersand”, is my reply & then more questions | |
| Julie Warther | photographer’s funeral no pictures of her | |
| Tyson West | our daughter’s wedding i stop to pick wild roses for my ex-wife | |
| Lolly Williams | summer’s end … a new coolness between the sheets | |
| Kath Abela Wilson | winter chill one year later I try mother’s lip gloss |
1st Annual H. Gene Murtha Memorial SenryuContest, 2016
| Judges | Steve Hodge and Michael Rehling | |
| Number of entries | “hundreds” | |
| Results published | Prune Juice 19 (July 2016) | |
| First Place | Bill Kenney | wedding announcement all those years we didn’t ask and they didn’t tell |
| Second Place | Joe McKeon | peace talks a tissue paper floats in the limo’s wake |
| Third Place | Debbi Antebi | spring cleaning I throw away the blues |
| Honorable Mention (6, listed alphabetically by author) | Mike Keville | just one beer and English becomes my second language |
| G. R. LeBlanc | dementia symptoms … in the garden an elusive butterfly | |
| Bob Lucky | leap year once a year my brother dies no matter what | |
| Rob Scott | heading home drunk the full moon all over the place | |
| Pat Tompkins | letters from the war— meeting my father before he was | |
| Ian Willey | Dad’s study I can still hear his silence |
