After receiving over 600 entries in our Hunger Games haiku contest, it took some Katniss-strength fortitude to find one victor to take home the coveted grand prize, a pair of tickets to the March 12 Los Angeles premiere. You think choosing between Peeta and Gale is hard? Try selecting a winner from the vivid, emotional, romantic, lyrical, hilarious, and evocative poems submitted by Hunger Games diehards in our Cornucopia of words.
In order to be eligible, entries had to be original compositions in haiku form and be inspired by any part of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Many of you took the first person approach, writing as Katniss; some opted to approach it from the point of view of Peeta, Rue, or other supporting characters in the Hunger Games world.
Overall, the potency of the Hunger Games mythology and heroine Katniss Everdeen's journey shone through. In the spirit of the Games, here are the Top 12 "candidates" (ending with the contest's winning entry):
Nina Kuo:
Pick Peeta or Gale?
Well, I've always been a fan
of polyandry!
--
Momin Sherazi:
Katniss, I knead you
I bread your pardon Peeta?
I said I loaf You
--
Robyn:
Screw Gale and Peeta
This hellish revolution
Was all for you, Rue
--
Brittany Huynh:
I threw you some bread
And now I throw you my heart
Don't break it apart
--
Samantha:
You're the boy with bread.
And I am the girl on fire,
So do we make toast?
--
Mar (we'll let the extra syllables fly on account of the Tim Gunn reference):
Cinna is the most normal
He reminds me of Tim Gunn
Make it work, Katniss
--
Kristen Kelly:
Silver parachutes;
My kisses bring survival
But is there love here?
--
jjl:
If I were to win
Maybe my wife would see I'm
Better than Peeta
--
Skid Maher:
So Peeta or Gale?
oh come on Katniss, why not
take them both, you prude
--
James:
A children's deathmatch
Ignites a nation to fight
No sparkling vampires
--
Prianna Ahsan:
To the Capitol
where death awaits me now, yet
my mind is on boys.
--
And the winner of Movieline's Hunger Games Haiku contest is... Lisa, whose entry captured the wistful spirit of Collins' novels with a lyricism evoking Katniss's relationship with her fellow tribute Rue, the iconic Mockingjay call, and the rebellion she inspires with one courageous act during the Games.
Lisa:
Four notes on the wind--
I must whistle for you now.
Hear our song, Panem?
Congrats to our winner and many thanks to all who played! Read all the Hunger Games haiku entries here.
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