Blossoms

All hail the haiku: a short, elegant distillation of a moment in time or a gem of an idea. But can it be used to convey years or decades of scientific work in one seventeen-syllable poem? Yes, if the entries to the second annual CEOAS haiku contest are any indication.

Here are this year’s winners, and the complete set of amazing entries.

The winners are:

First place

If rocks could talk, mine
would say, “Stop crushing me there,
My sensitive place!”

(Japanese translation, roughly:) 俺の岩
云う <<辞めてください!>>
遺体、全て
    ~ Thi Truong, Ph.D. student

Second place

the parched forests burn
red eyes look to yellow sky
recess is inside
    ~ Kathie Dello, Associate Director, OCCRI

Third place

Two-shelled bay cleaners,
ocean health tellers, slimy
boogers with purpose
    ~ Sophia Wensman, Ph.D. student


See the rest of the haiku entries, all of which deserved a prize.

To Pleistocene depths
Ice drillers travel in time
The past in my hand
    ~ Christo Buizert, assistant professor

 

Taani is the name
of our new research vessel
she will sail offshore
    ~ Clare Reimers, distinguished professor

 

Greenland is melting
Sediments hold histories
P-mag helps explain
    ~ Rob Hatfield, research associate

 

Two thousand miles out
Solitude and synchrony
blue secrets unfold
    ~ Laurie Juranek, associate professor

 

Satellites drift high
Silent witnesses of change
Show us our story
    ~ Robert Kennedy, associate professor

 

Dark treasures, dug deep
Glittering truths - hold then keep
Our science never sleeps…
    ~ Bruce Marler, research computing

 

Icebergs are gone by
But wind and waves are still high
So sad we can’t dive
    ~ Marta Torres, professor

 

Water table drops…
Let's expand our toolkit for
Collaboration
    ~ Skye Steritz, M.S. student

 

Wet lab, rad van, mob
Core, count, sample and review
Oceanus on the waves
    ~ Lisa Hyslop, operations specialist, OSU Ship Operations

 

Two-shelled bay cleaners,
ocean health tellers, slimy
boogers with purpose
    ~ Sophia Wensman, Ph.D. student

 

We passed on the hill
For the tsunami zone fill
Now we have to drill
    ~ Patrick Corcoran, associate professor, OSU Extension

 

I am Frankie T
Coring on the deep blue sea
Brothers, come to me
    ~ Frank Tepley, professor

 

If rocks could talk, mine
would say, "Stop crushing me there,
My sensitive place!

(Japanese translation, roughly:)

俺の岩
云う <<辞めてください!>>
遺体、全て
    ~ Thi Truong, Ph.D. student

 

the parched forests burn
red eyes look to yellow sky
recess is inside
    ~ Kathie Dello, associate director, OCCRI

 

ForaminiferaPopcorn of the deep
Their shells reveal the ocean's past
In intricate whorls
    ~ Kelsey Lane, M.S. student

 

a sawtooth pattern
bright yellow under the blue
a glider, I used
    ~ Pha Truong Phan, 2018 REU student

 

 


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