Haiku Head-to-Head Reading: Chicharra Poetry Slam Festival

Name: Haiku Head-to-Head Reading: Chicharra Poetry Slam Festival
Start: 2026-03-20T14:30:00-06:00
Location: Secret Gallery

Schedule

Fri, 20 Mar, 2026 at 02:30 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Secret Gallery | Albuquerque, NM

Are you a haiku fan or a slinger writer of seventeen-syllable brilliance?
If so, this event is for you!
Join us as haikusters come together in a head-to-head competition, sharing their best haiku in front of a boisterous and appreciative audience that will determine which poets advance to the final round. The winner receives a medal and a Southwest Regional title!
This event is open to any poet of any experience level. Sign up to share your poems, or come out to witness the poetic beauty of these 17-syllable symphonies!
For more details, feel free to visit our festival website at www.cicadapoetryslamfestival.com.
Part of the Cicharra Poetry Slam Festival.
If you are not familiar with Haiku:
Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 phonetic units (called on in Japanese, which are similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a kireji, or "cutting word"; and a kigo, or seasonal reference. Themes of nature, change, & liminality are common.
In America,
we follow the standard of
17 syllables
We give or take to
allow for dialect &
pronunciation
This rule has been adopted in the effort of inclusion as well as in the fact that it follows in the rich history of the poetic form. Some of Basho’s most famous works have 11 syllables, some have 26, all of them are haiku.
The Haiku Head-to-Head is a dignified event (sorta). Taking a classic writing form from Japan & combining it with a head-to-head fight to the death. Judges will raise either the red or the not red flag to signify which poet they thought won using the parameters of content, originality, & performance.