trade war news
a spiderweb on the eaves
sagging with raindrops
Prize Winter, 27th Haiku International Association/HIA Haiku Contest
Chen-ou Liu
Judge's Commentary: The first line is clearly topical, a concern of the moment, while what follows is natural, observed. The spider’s web is, I imagine, on the eaves outside the poet’s house, where the heavy raindrops gather and threaten to destroy it. The web is the spider’s lair and means of existence, yet one that may soon give way. Our lives too are delicately wrought, and may be easily disrupted. In the meantime we can admire the light refracted in the glittering raindrops, before they fall. I note the syllable count of 3-7-5.
Analysis: The haiku opens in abstraction—economic conflict, media chatter, global tension—impersonal and distinctly contemporary. It then pivots from headline-scale urgency to intimate observation. The spiderweb “on the eaves” grounds the haiku in a specific domestic space, an image of fragility fastened to shelter.
The raindrops’ weight becomes an unstated metaphor. The web, strained by accumulated water, quietly echoes global economic systems under mounting pressure, without ever declaring the parallel. The haiku’s strength lies in this restraint: the small, rain-soaked scene absorbs and reflects the larger unease of geopolitical tension.
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