[Seasonal Cup: Tanka] The Unofficial Chiyo Ohashi Award

This is a private award I am holding on my own☆
I selected the tanka that I liked from the list while the authors' names were hidden.
※In order of submission

◎The Unofficial Chiyo Ohashi Award [Gold Prize]

In your yukata, the stray hair at the nape of your neck,
the cicadas keep crying on your sweating skin

Author: okona-san

The way the feelings that are about to overflow are held back is condensed into the 'cicadas that keep crying,' which is wonderful.
I imagined this scene and was in agony.

◎The Unofficial Chiyo Ohashi Award [Silver Prize]

Unable to forget that summer, I keep watching the bubbles of cider disappear one by one

Author: Shien Satake-san

It is a lovely tanka that makes me associate the unforgettable memories with the time it takes for cider bubbles to overlap and dissolve.
I can almost hear the small sound of the bubbles popping.
I also gave it a 'pon'.

The boy sprinting through the sunset hates getting tired, it's frustrating

Author: Jibow-san

I really like how the boy's two contradictory feelings coexist.
It's something unique to a boy.

The soft vinyl doll from my memories is sun-bleached as it passes away on the bay window

Author: SF-san

I really like this tanka, which drifts with a melancholy that makes you feel the passage of time.
At the same time, it also makes me think of changes in the heart.
Everything is impermanent.

Without shadow, without form, swaying,
drifting uncertainly

Author: Haru~ to Tomoni🌸-san

The fact that it is written in hiragana gives it a wonderful, indecisive, and ambiguous feeling.
A chaotic mind...

This time, I gave a 'pon' on a short story, and it became a big hint for the character description of the protagonist.
Thank you very much☆

Beside the pot
Finding a place to belong, it clings on
Entrusting my own self to the frail vine

Poet: ning

It brings to mind a girl who desperately tries to keep up because she wants to be part of the group. It makes me want to cheer her on, telling her she can relax and just be herself.

I went to check out ning's article and felt warmed by the sight of the little watermelon vine tangled in the netting ^^

At the end of the line of bicycles
the hand of night
is about to touch
the sunset sky

Poet: Momoco

I am enchanted by this truly painterly poem. I often encounter scenes of boys and girls returning from club activities on their bicycles, passing by one after another in the evening. It reminded me of those backs.

Waves rolling in, diving into the sea of words, seeking only the sounds that resonate together

Poet: Neeton.

This is exactly what we are like when we create. I have been drifting in the sea of words for a long time.

While you are not looking, the tomato and I are slowly rotting away

Poet: Watari Niihara

The way the tomato and I are becoming one is wonderfully messy. The fact that it is slowly rotting is also... You surely won't notice.

The flesh of the woman who kept eating mermaids burst from within and turned into a pomegranate

Poet: Tsuki

It's a great horror piece. They say eating mermaid flesh makes you immortal. Yet, the fact that this woman burst open makes me feel a sense of resentment that couldn't be contained within her body.

The phrasing that it is not the mermaid's flesh, but the flesh of the woman who ate the mermaid... that is what makes it so scary.

I have given it a 'pon' (a like/stamp) with a drawing.

Blue sky, a contrail drawing the borderline between you and me

Poet: Kotaro

I really love the blue feeling.
It looks like it's being boldly drawn with contrails, and I also like the unexpectedly soft feeling.

I find myself imagining all sorts of things about the relationship between you and me.

The calendar stopped since that day, summer in the bedroom without its owner

Poet: akariko-san

This is a poem with a story. What happened to the owner of the bedroom?
It makes me want to let my imagination run wild.

As if to fill the silence, the two of us watch the evening shower pouring down

Poet: Hanakaze-san

This is a poem where the scene comes to mind.
What is the relationship between these two? Are they lovers? Or perhaps more than friends...? Or maybe friends, or parent and child... I can imagine various stories.

When I hold my palm up to the sun
God, we are all clumsy

Poet: Suna no Saburo-san

This is cool.

Looking at the lifeblood visible through the sun, I feel a sense of repentance while realizing the reality of life.
I thought it captured the complex emotions of human beings.

I gave it a 'pon' (like) as a short story.
It became the theme of the entire story, like a catchphrase.
Thank you 🌈

Holding a firework that won't light, waiting forever
The beginning of summer, realizing it's upside down

Poet: Daina-san

You want to light the part that's fluttering, don't you? The fire.
A scene from summer vacation. It's a poem that also feels melancholic.

In the hospital room where a 0-year-old is on an IV
Hearing fireworks in the distance

Poet: Mi-kukku-san

My son also repeatedly went in and out of the hospital when he was 0.
This is exactly that situation.

It was right in the summer that he had a major surgery.

It just so happened that I ended up alone in a four-person room, and my pleasure was to listen to my son's breathing in the quiet, dark hospital room at night while looking out at the night view with the window curtains wide open.
There were even days when I could see fireworks from the baseball stadium in the distance.

What is sung about in this tanka is a scene so deeply etched into my heart that it feels like a flashback.

When a baby is on an IV, their arm is secured with a splint-like device called a 'sheene,' so when they're sleeping, it can hit their face with a thud, which is painful.
*It was a bed where we could sleep together.

You've got to be kidding, I forgot the water, the rice is burnt
The number one memory of the field trip

Author: Seven Sword-kun

This is seriously a 'You've got to be kidding...' moment.
It's really disheartening when the rice doesn't cook, but for some reason, it makes you laugh, doesn't it?

I imagined the scene and couldn't help but chuckle.

I'm sure it will be a memory that lasts a lifetime.

Damp
Knowing it's love
I keep it going
The occasional spark
Feels like it could be called love

Author: yuhi-san

Are humans weak to the real thing that we catch a glimpse of?
I know it, but I can't stop.
I thought that maybe it's the same even if the object of your love isn't a person.

Something you keep doing without getting tired of it. The passion isn't there like it was at the beginning, but sometimes sparks fly.

That's what I found myself thinking.

The gray, unable-to-cry sky is heavy
The flower that remains parched and cannot fly

Author: Suufu-san

This is a poem that could be song lyrics.
With the expression 'flower that cannot fly,' I let my imagination run wild, wondering if this 'flower' is an actual flower or perhaps someone else.

Waking up to the transparent voice of the cicadas
A strange world where I can't tell if it's morning or evening

Author: Mimosa-san

It hasn't happened much since I had children, but there were many times when I would wake up and it would be evening.
I truly couldn't tell if it was morning or evening, a feeling like I had entered the Twilight Zone.

Just the sound of the cicadas and no sign of anyone else... I remembered such a mysterious moment.

Oshi no Ko, SPY×FAMILY, Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, The Witch from Mercury

Poet: chitoseArk

I watch them all. I love them all.
There are so many good anime this year, too.

I haven't finished checking out the summer anime yet, but I'm excited about Mushoku Tensei, Jujutsu Kaisen, Undead Girl Murder Farce, Zom 100, My Happy Marriage, and more☆

That is all.

◎Anyone can give out their own unofficial awards~

◎Seasonal Cup Final Round

Voting ends today, August 1st, at 9:00 PM!