The voting for the most popular of the 43 (!) entries to the Hunter Pet Haiku Contest is finally over, and we have our winners!

As an aside: I have to keep putting the (!) after the number of entries, because I was expecting maybe 10, if I got lucky. I am thrilled that so many hunters decided to participate.

The first two popular winners tied for total number of votes in the run-off poll, so I’ll list them alphabetically.

Popular Winner: Mishaweha

Mishaweha, or Misha for short, submitted this entry:

In stables I lay
The sentimental first pet
Just waiting for you

When I asked her about her entry, Mishaweha told me:

I had decided to write a haiku for each pet my ‘main’ hunters owned. One is Rexxa, a Flatland Cougar (or Prowler) that my hunter Mamisha tamed as her very first pet. While Rexxa isn’t always forced into the stables, I know that happens to lots of beloved first pets, so I decided to make Rexxa’s haiku about that kind of situation.

I suspect a lot of hunters are sadly familiar with that kind of situation. I know I am. I picture my cat Cloud, lying sprawled in the warm grass in a comfortable stable in Nagrand. A hunter walks by to claim a pet and Cloud’s head comes up, hopefully. But it’s not me, not for him, and he relaxes again into the grass.

Mishaweha gave voice to our feelings much more eloquently than I could. Her haiku is seemingly simple, yet deeply genuine.

Popular Winner: Nikkrosnil

On a rather different note, Nikkrosnil submitted this entry:

He governs the stars
The spirit beast Arcturis
Lord of night sky

His explanation:

Ever since i was a child I have had this obsession with the stars and mythology, and I’ve always loved the spirit beasts. Arcturis happened to be part of both these groups, and ever since has been my favourite hunter pet on my draenei. I wanted to describe Arcturis as he was, with some of the mythology integrated.

I love the interplay here of the mythology and astronomy. The start Arcturus is the third brightest star in the sky, as well as the mythical protector of a woman that Zeus turned into a bear.

More than that, though, I think Nikkrosnil captured something of the spirit of Arcturis here: his noble guardian essence. This haiku reflects both the comforting strength of Arcturis as a bear as well as his celestial beauty as a spirit beast. And I have no idea how he did that in three short lines.

Popular Winner: Dragonpuff

The third winner is Dragonpuff, who submitted this entry:

They dance on the wind
Young gods that spit sapphire bolts.
Electrifying

About her entry she wrote:

I just wanted to write something dedicated to my main and most favorite of pets, the Wind Serpent. They are amazing creatures to me, with rich characterization and lore, and I just tried to put to words how incredible they are.

Dragonpuff did an amazing job of describing wind serpents vividly without ever mentioning them by name. The wind serpent family skill is Lightning Breath, of course, which I’m sure is quite electrifying for their prey. But I especially love the phrase ‘young gods’, a reference to the relationship between wind serpents and Hakkar the Soulflayer.

I sometimes think of wind serpents as a bit boring, perhaps because I spent so much time with them in my lower levels. But Dragonpuff’s haiku makes them shine in a new light: I can feel the joyful wind, see their sinuous bodies dancing, hear their lightning crackling about them as they play.

Prizes

Now if you remember, the official prize for the writers of the three most popular haiku was, and I quote: excessive praise and laudatory text. That may have been a bad idea on my part because I’m not the best with eloquent praise, even when I break out the thesaurus … but suffice it to say, these haiku are exquisite little gems of meaning and emotion.

Nikkrosnil, speaking of Dragonpuff’s haiku, said:

I found this entry truly inspiring [...] thanks to this entry I found myself sketching again!

And I’ve got to second that — not just about Dragonpuff’s entry but about all the winners’ haiku. Reading them, I find myself inspired: I want to take Cloud hunting, I want to feel the comforting bulk of Arcturis beside me, I want to tame a gorgeous red wind serpent. And I want to give voice to the beauty that we have in our lives, in the game and out of it.

But I don’t have to, because these writers have done it for me.

(Mishaweha, Nikkrosnil, and Dragonpuff will also receive the special forum title of “Haiku Master” on the WoW Petopia Community forums.)

Popular Winners: All The Entries

I’d also like to take a moment to thank everyone who submitted a entry for the Hunter Pet Haiku Contest. The truth is that all the entries were amazing. As I mentioned on the forums, I’ve gotten a lot of e-mail and comments about what wonderful works all the haiku were. I knew that this contest would highlight impressive talents of our creative and articulate community … and you didn’t let me down.

So thank you, everyone who wrote a haiku, and thank you also everyone who voted. You’ve made this little contest a huge success.