As we approach the end of 2022, we encourage you to take a moment to reflect on the year and write a poem about where you call home.

For the fourth year in a row, Civil Beat is running the Neighborhood Haiku Poetry Contest and we invite you to enter. The deadline is Dec. 30.

Selected poems will be published on Civil Beat, shared on our social media and in our Morning Beat newsletter.

Here are the instructions in the form of a poem.

96816 – Kaimuki, Oahu

      Write a neighborhood haiku poem
Using your zip code as
      The syllable count for each line
Blank
For the number zero

Use the five digits in your zip code and write each line to contain the amount of syllables of that digit. A zero represents a blank line. Everyone’s zip code in Hawaii starts with a 9, so nine syllables for the first line and so on.

We also love it when you submit original photographs with the poem so we can use them for the artwork.

Check out the 2022 Neighborhood Haiku page for newly published poems every day until the end of the year.

Submit a poem here or email it to membership@civilbeat.org