Quadru-haiku

Quadru- means “four.” The ancient Greeks believed that the four Classical Elements were the source of all things and essential to sustaining life.

The Prompt

For this challenge, you may write:

• one haiku, or
• a set of four haiku,

inspired by any or all of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire).

Judging will not give preference to either format length. Although the history that inspired the prompt is classical, creative interpretations of the elements are always encouraged.

In order to qualify as a haiku, your submission must meet the following requirements:

• There must be 3 lines and 17 syllables, or a set of 4 haiku, each containing 3 lines and 17 syllables.
• The first line of each haiku should be 5 syllables, the second line should be 7 syllables, and the third line should be 5 syllables.
• It must be submitted to the Poets community. Choosing a community is a final step in the submission process. Your poem will be rejected for word count requirements if it is submitted to any other community.

The Prizes

• Grand Prize: $1,000
• Second Place: $250
• 10 Runners-Up: $25

For your poem to be eligible, it must be 3 lines and 17 syllables, or 4 sets of 3 lines and 17 syllables, and adhere to our Community Guidelines. Poems published on Vocal and entered into the contest up until January 24, 2023, at 11:59 PM ET will be considered. You may submit as many entries as you want. Official Rules for the Challenge can be found here.

The Quadru-haiku Challenge is exclusive to Vocal+ members. To learn more and upgrade to Vocal+ visit https://vocal.media/vocal-plus.

To be eligible to win the grand prize, second place, or runners-up prizes, you must be over the age of 13 and residing in a country where Stripe is available at the time of entry. A complete list of countries where Stripe is available can be found here—winners will need to have a Stripe account created and connected in order to receive the prizes. For this reason, entrants located outside of any of these countries will not be eligible to win.