Haiku Flash Fiction Challenge WINNER

Oh, so difficult…

We had some great, GREAT entries.

Then we selected three finalists – merely because to judge more would have seemed like work. Who needs that?

One of the finalists got DQ’ed right off the top, and another came close.

And while this is a dictatorship, we LISTEN to the voices of the people. And the people spoke. Kinda.

The degree of difficulty was HUGE as this random topic generator yields no quarter!

“What is one of your worst habits?”

Whew, that’s just awful. Who’s gonna cop to that? And who would even know if they did?

But our finalists were up to the task.

First, LC Rooney:

Dear Senor Cuervo

A novel cries out for me

Procrastination

DAN: starts right off with the alcohol, a dangerous move. Could be too over the top, an obvious attempt to gain favor with a judge who had been to an Oktoberfest that very afternoon and who even now may only technically be sober. Plus, Curevo’s kinda nasty stuff. But the mentioning of literature reeled it in and put it near the finish line. Great job.

Next, Vagabond Velda

Pop tarts in the sky

Sugary sweet little pie

Irish cream my chi

DAN: I don’t much care for Pop Tarts. It was a risky move going there, too. These competitors are leaving it all on the field, folks. But when you want a freaking pop tart, nothing else will do. Again, another blatant attempt to sway the judges with an obvious overreach with the booze, but Irish cream, well… if there’s any blarney in ya, you have to leave some room for the Irish cream, okay? Fast talking helped get me back into undergrad, my friends, and all thanks to an association with the emerald isle on my mother’s father’s side. Allegedly. But that’s a different story.

SUMMARY

Two fine competitors, one crappy topic, two difficult haikus to decide between. But a winner must be had and a winner you shall have. It was a tough call, coming right down to the wire, and possibly leaf riot was a dark horse nobody saw coming, because…

As good as these two were, and they were good…

AND THE WINNER IS

So good that they tied! The pop tarts had sentimental appeal and sweetness, but Cuervo has a novel crying out! And procrastination!

But a winner must be had!

So we declare a TIE on the finalist round and look back to the prior round for a tie breaker. There we had leaf riot, a fan fave, and we also had a hug from mom. If mom was whiskey.

It was tough. Cos mom liked her toddy’s, God love her.

But as this is a benevolent dictatorship, the voices of the people were the deciding factor! And the people liked them some leaf riot. So leaf riot will tip the scales to break the tie and LEAF RIOT’s writer will be our winner!!!

CONGRATULATIONS L C ROONEY, you are our FIRST WINNER  of the Haiku Flash Fiction Challenge!

We had a LOT of great entries and LOT of fun and probably waaaayy too many drinks, so I want to thank everybody and find the restroom to see a man about a horse.

Arigato!