And the Winner of The Emotional Moment in Nature Challenge Is...

Hello, everyone!

Submissions to The Emotional Moment in Nature Challenge closed yesterday. Thank you to the creators who participated. I had a wonderful time reading your flashku!

And now, time to share my favorite entries and announce the winner!

The Winner

It is not easy to write about the loss of someone we love. The way Kristen Balyeat's "Field of Endings" conveys pain and hopefulness at the same time is nothing short of beautiful.

This piece also captures the essence of the Flashku perfectly. And the icing on the cake: Kristen used Ralph Waldo Emerson as inspiration!

Congratulations!

(NB: A couple of Kristen's haiku are featured in the Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology: Volume 2, which was released a couple of weeks ago.)

Runners-Up

"Snow Falls in the Foothills" is another example of the depth of Mackenzie Davis's style. This is a delightfully poetic piece whose last line will hit you with all the feels!

Paul Stewart's "Chance Encounter" surprised me, but in a great way. I love how he set the scene with an onomatopoeia. The third-person point of view almost feels like a first-person POV! Very well done!

By now, it's not a secret that Dana Crandell is one of my favorite writers on Vocal. (You may remember my recent interview with him.) Inspired by Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," "The Meeting" reads like a love letter to photography and childhood in one fell swoop.

Other Entries to the Emotional Moment in Nature Challenge

The stories in this list may not have made it to the top, but they are definitely worthy of a read (or three)! I have included my favorite line(s) for each of them.

"These Weeping Shores" by Chloe Gilholy

The anxieties building up inside me are washed away like the pebbles I throw in the sea.

"Downpour" by Sian N. Clutton

The need for nothing but to cool myself encapsulates me, with reckless abandon I take off my coat

"Stairway to Heaven" by Ashley Lima

I do not know what will greet me at the top, I just know I need to get there.

"The Walk" by Mother Combs

First, they would enjoy the woods in all their autumnal glory.

Then they would play hide and seek among the trees.

"Finding The Huntress, My Goddess Of Nature" by Mike Singleton

My spirits were down as I wandered through to trees in despair.

"In Awe" by Linda Osipow (Medium entry)

The mist rising off of the pond seems like an eerie echo of my ancestors, reminding me to pause and be thankful.

NB: You can continue submitting entries for as long as you want. If I receive more, I will post another list later.

Check out the rules of the Emotional Moment in Nature Challenge below.

I will have another challenge for you very soon. So, watch this space! 🙂

In the meantime, here is a tutorial on how to write a memorable flashku. You'll find examples that I wrote. Do not forget to give the form a try!

That's it for today. Thank you for reading!

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Cendrine Marrouat is a writer, photographer, podcaster, blogger, anthology editor, and the co-founder of Auroras & Blossoms and A Warm Cup of Cozy. She has authored and co-authored more than 40 books, including The Train: A Short Story (2023), In Her Own Words: A Collection of Short Stories & Flashku (2022), After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine (2021), Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku (2020), Walks: A Collection of Haiku (2019-2020), and In the Silence of Words: A Three-Act Play (2018).

Cendrine's work has appeared in many publications. She is the creator of the Sixku, Flashku, Sepigram, and Reminigram; as well as the co-creator of the Kindku, Pareiku, Vardhaku, and Hemingku.