Head-to-Head Haiku Regional Championship!

There’s a legend that in the early part of the 1670’s, Bashō and his students devised an event called “the seashell game” in which poets competed head-to-head with their original haiku and a winner was selected by a judge.

In the early 1990s, over 3 centuries later, a poet from the Illinois poetry slam scene named Daniel Ferri created the Haiku Death Match. The slam-style haiku, also known as “ku,” is just a 17 (or less) syllables poem and contains no title. Poets battle one-on-one until only one poet remains, and we crown them the winner in our Head-to Head Haiku championship!

Any poet may sign up at the venue on arrival to compete, but come ready - we suggest having 15 to 20 haiku ready at minimum - and the audience decides who our winners are!

Will you be the next Chicharra Haiku Champion and wear the crown for a year? Only one way to find out!