Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #I, "wind jostles the scarecrow" by Jessica of Like an Apple.

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Here we go ... our first Tan Renga Challenge Month of Carpe Diem. It's a challenge for me and for you all, but ... for all it's fun.

I have gathered a lot of nice haiku for this Challenge and I am glad that you all my dear friends have shared haiku for this Tan Renga Challenge. I am happy that you have given me permission to use your haiku and of course all the rights stay with you all I just use them for this Challenge. This will become a wonderful Carpe Diem month I think. By the way: While I wanted to use as much haiku, written by you, as I can I have decided to do NO SPECIALS this month and I have made the decision to grant you all more time to make the Tan Renga complete, this month you've 24 hours more to respond on the given prompt.

Tan Renga is a short-linked poem which has two stanza, the first stanza has 5-7-5 syllables (the haiku written by you) and the second stanza has 7-7 syllables. The second stanza is a response on the first and has to have a 'kind of link' with the first stanza, but it can also be completely different say 'a kind of reaction or answer' on the first, but there always has to be, in some way, a 'link' with the first stanza. The Tan Renga looks very similar with the Tanka, but there is of course a little difference. A Tan Renga you write with two poets and a Tanka is written by one poet.
The goal of the Tan Renga Challenge is to write the second stanza of the given incomplete Tan Renga by association on a theme from the first stanza. You don't have to use the classical rules, but if you like to do so ... well feel free ... no obligations.In your linked post you have to copy and paste the given first stanza and include your second stanza.

Here is our first Tan Renga starting haiku written by Jessica of Like an Apple; Jessica wrote this haiku in response on our kigo 'scarecrow' (Kakashi).

Stanza 1 (5-7-5):
wind jostles the scarecrow
near the heavy-hung cornstalks
the summer is spent                                              (Jessica)

 

Stanza 2 (7-7):

??????????????????
??????????????????

My attempt to write a second stanza to this Tan Renga started by Jessica:

wind jostles the scarecrow
near the heavy-hung cornstalks
the summer is spent                                              (Jessica)

"trick or treat" they sing
halloween is on the go                                           (Chèvrefeuille)


Well ... now it's up to you .... make the Tan Renga complete by writing the second stanza. This first Tan Renga Challenge Month episode will stay on 'til November 3rd 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our second Tan Renga Challenge later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! This first Tan Renga Month episode is open for submissions right now !!   

Carpe Diem #336, Galaxy provided by Bjorn)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is the final prompt of our first year anniversary. It's was a joy to celebrate this with you all. I loved all the prompt I have used, all suggested by you dear friends, thank you for your warm love and participation in Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. And let this haiku-family grow further ... it's fun to write haiku and sometimes not easy to do, but always haiku writing is awesome and I see and read that every day again in all of your wonderful haiku. Let's go ... to our next anniversary (smiles).

Today our prompt is Galaxy and it's provided by Bjorn of Bjorn Rudbergs Writings and I think this prompt needs no introduction.
We are all part of the Greater Thing and we are part of the Universe in which our Galaxy, the Milky Way, is our place in that unending universe. This prompt can lead us to every place in that Universe even beyond the not seen boundaries of our Galaxy. So have fun, let your inspiration flow and share your haiku with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, a great haiku-family.


Orion's Belt
brighter than ever
in a moonless night

in a moonless night
wandering over the heath -
the Milky Way

the Milky Way
a path of thousand stars -
like a river

Orion's Belt

Well ... what do you say about these haiku .... I personally am proud on the second ... that's a wonderful one very much in touch with the prompt and a bit of Zen in it.

This prompt will stay on 'till November 1st 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our first episode of our Tan Renga Challenge month, a haiku by Jessica of Like an Apple, later on around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! Galaxy is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !! 

Carpe Diem #335, Machu Picchu provided by Managua

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our festive month of Carpe Diem's first anniversary is almost over. I have had fun with all of your wonderful prompts and it was a joy to read all your wonderful haiku, senryu, tanka and other poetry forms. It wasn't the most easy month, but I enjoyed preparing it. As you will know our next month we will have our first Tan Renga Challenge month in which I ask you every day to make a Tan Renga complete. Every Tan Renga is started with a haiku written by one of you, my dear friends and haiku-family members. I am looking forward to that month ... it will be a challenge to prepare all the daily posts, but ... whatever .... I enjoy what I do ..

Today we share haiku on Machu Picchu (provided by Managua) that wonderful Inca place high in the Andes. A lot of people who have been there say it's a very magical, mystical and spiritual place to be and as I look at the photos of that great place I do believe that it's an one in a life experience to be there.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu bears a unique testimony to the Inca civilization. Macchu Picchu is an outstanding example of man's interaction with his natural environment.
Standing 2,430 m above sea level, in the midst of a tropical mountain forest in an extraordinarily beautiful setting, Machu Picchu was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height. Its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.
Machu Picchu covers 32,500 ha in some of the scenically most attractive mountainous territory of the Peruvian Andes. As the last stronghold of the Incas and of superb architectural and archaeological importance, Machu Picchu is one of the most important cultural sites in Latin America; the stonework of the site remains as one of the world's great examples of the use of a natural raw material to provide outstanding architecture which is totally appropriate to the surroundings. The surrounding valleys have been cultivated continuously for well over 1,000 years, providing one of the world's greatest examples of a productive man-land relationship; the people living around Machu Picchu continue a way of life which closely resembles that of their Inca ancestors, being based on potatoes, maize and llamas. Machu Picchu also provides a secure habitat for several endangered species, notably the spectacled bear, one of the most interesting species in the area. Others animals include: dwarf brocket, the otter, long-tailed weasel, pampas cat and the vulnerable ocelot, boa, the Andean cock of the rock, and the Andean condor.
The natural vegetation is of humid and very humid lower montane forest of the subtropical region, mainly with genera and ferns of the Cyathea and palms.

Machu Picchu

Set on the vertiginous site of a granite mountain sculpted by erosion and dominating a meander in the Rio Urubamba, Machu Picchu is a world renowned archaeological site. The construction of this amazing city, set out according to a very rigorous plan, comprises one of the most spectacular creations of the Inca Empire. It appears to date from the period of the two great Incas, Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui (1438-71) and Tupac Inca Yupanqui (1472-93). The function of this city situated at least 100 km from the capital, Cuzco, has not been formulated which are not verifiable given the absence of written documentation and sufficiently explicit material evidence.

Without making a judgment as to their purpose, several quite individual quarters may be noted in the ruins of Machu Picchu: a quarter 'of the Farmers' near the colossal terraces whose slopes were cultivated and transformed into hanging gardens; an 'industrial' quarter; a 'royal' quarter and a 'religious' quarter. Inca architecture reveals itself here in all of its force with the titanic earthen works which multiplied the platforms, leveled the rocky relief, constructed ramps and stairways and literally sculpted the mountain whose cyclopean constructions appear to be a prolongation of nature.

Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC 

Machu Picchu

Isn't it a wonderful place ... I would love to visit it .... yeah in my dreams I think (smiles).

high in the mountains
a city built for the beauty of the Sun -
Machu Picchu

spiritual place
feeling in touch with the Inca -
Machu Picchu

close to heaven
high up in the mountains
I feel close to God

Well .... I hope you liked this post and I hope it will inspire you to write haiku. This prompt will stay on 'til October 31th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our last episode of our festive month, Galaxy (provided by Bjorn), later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Machu Picchu is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #334, fence (provided by Lolly)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

UPDATE: My PC is repaired, so I am ON LINE again. (29/10) I will try to link all of your post into the linky widget.

I am late ... I know it, but my PC is defect, and so I have to make this post on my tablet. Today we share haiku on Fence provided by Lolly of 'a lovely thing'. So no pictures and no linking widget. I hope that my PC will be repaired soon. Would you please be so kind to share your link to your post in your comment.

This is my attempt to write a haiku on fence:

autumn storm
the fence is squeaking
just like last year

(c) Chèvrefeuille

This prompt will stay on 'til October 30th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Macchu Picchu, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku inspired on fence with us.

Carpe Diem Special #64, Garry Gay's fifth haiku "touched"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This festive first anniversary month of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is almost over and today I love to share our last (the fifth) Special episode, a haiku by Garry Gay, our featured haiku-poet for this month. I have made these Specials with a lot of fun, because Garry writes awesome haiku and is the president of the American Haiku Society ... I am proud that I might use his haiku. Next month, our first Tan Renga Challenge month, I hope to publish a new Carpe Diem Lecture about the Rengay, a kind of Renga which was invented (in the early ninethies) by Garry Gay.

The goal of this Special episode is to write a new haiku inspired on the one I gave of Garry Gay and to try to catch the same mood as the haiku by Garry Gay. By the way: This is the last Special episode for a while, because I don't have Special episodes next month. In upcoming December I will have all new Special episodes, so don't worry ... the Specials will be back (smiles).

Photo (c) by Garry Gay, belongs to the haiku for this Special

touched
in the darkness--
by a snowflake

(c) Garry Gay

What a beauty, don't you think? I like the strong and fragile tone of this haiku and I hope to touch that same mood with the haiku inspired on this one by Garry Gay.

My inspired haiku:

touched by a feather
my sleepy senses awaken -
midsummer night's dream

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Touched by a Feather

A completly different season, but I think it's close to the mood of the haiku by Garry Gay. What do you think? Did I succeed?

Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku inspired on the one by Garry with our Haiku Kai. This Special episode will stay on 'til October 29th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Fench provided by Lolly, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). 

!! This Special is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #333, The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we end our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders at Ancient Alexandria where one stood a wonderful lighthouse.

The lighthouse was localized, between 1994 and 1996, in the port of Alexandria by the French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur. This is one of the most known ancient monuments and also most often represented because it was one of the first lighthouses. Indeed, we even found souvenir objects with reproductions of the image of the lighthouse in Afghanistan.
The Lighthouse is located in Egypt on the island of Pharaohs in front of the city of Alexandria. During the centuries, this island was connected with the continent by the alluviums of the Nile, on which we built a road and a bridge. The lighthouse, built on the island, was begun under Ptolemy II Philadelphus and ended around 280 BC by Sostratus of Cnidus.

Lighthouse of Alexandria, our last stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Woders

The lighthouse counted three floors: the first one was squared, the second was octagonal and the third cylindrical. The white marble whole measured approximately 135 m (440 feet) height from where we could see ships located 100 miles far away. Angles were decorated with bronze tritons which was used either to warn of the approach of the enemy by terrifying sounds, but also to carry mirrors which, during the night, reflected the light of a fire. In the daytime, the smoke indicated to the boats the entrance of the port.
Its important height and its exemplary robustness made the lighthouse of Alexandria unique. Indeed it was exposed to a strong wind coming from the sea, that is why it should be inevitably resistant enough. This edifice is the symbol of the technical exploit shown by the Egyptians. Furthermore it was one of the first lighthouses.

stormy nights
entering the harbor save
led by the Lighthouse

led by the Lighthouse
finally fishermen can enter save -
stormy nights

Thsi was our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders ... back to our regular prompts. Our next prompt will be our last Special of this anniversary month, ... This prompt will stay on 'til October 28th 11.59 AM (CET). Now open for your submissions. By the way I have chosen to do this last episode of the World Wonders instead of the last Garry Gay Special, which I now will do next day.

Carpe Diem #332, Colossus of Rhodes

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are almost at the end of this journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders and I have seen and read wonderfully composed haiku inspired on these World Wonders and that's the goal of this journey. Just to share a bit history for your inspiration. If not possible to write haiku about the World Wonders then I hope that the post inspire you to write haiku ... no obligations, feel free and have fun. Haiku is fun and I love that poetry form a lot. I started Carpe Diem Haiku Kai because of my love for haiku and to share haiku with the world and maybe ... inspire others to start writing haiku.

Today we are on Rhodes where once stood a great Colossus as a victorious statue at the waterfront of Rhodes.This bronze statue representing Helios, Greek sun god, had been built by the sculptor Charas of Lindos to commemorate the end of the seat of the city, which took place into 305 BC, and the victory of Rhodiens against the Macedonian chief Démétrios Poliorcète.

The colossus of Rhodes was located in the wearing of Rhodes in Greece, probably at the end of the current Saint-Nicolas Day mole, where some marble blocks have been found and could have been used to build the base of the statue. The colossus of Rhodes was set up between 303 and 291 BC, so it took twelve years of hard work to totally finish it.

An impression of the Colossus of Rhodes, this impression gives the Colossus as it almost certain was, because in those times they couldn't built such a statue with legs split as you can see on the most pictures of the Colossus.

Made of bronze and based on marble block, the statue was 32 meters (105 feet) height from the top of the head to the feet, that is to say 14 meters (46 feet) less than the statue of liberty in New York. The height enabled the statue to be visible by the ships approaching to the port. In his raised arm, the sun god held a torch while his other arm was pressed on a lance. Contrary to the illustrations we usually find, ships were not passing under the colossuses’ legs to enter in the wearing of Rhodes. It was technically impossible that the statue had its legs split.
The statue had been partially destroyed in 225 BC after a earthquake. Then, in 653 AC, all the material (more than 13 tons of bronze and nearly 7 tons of iron, according to Philon) is taken by an Arab expedition to be sold to a Jewish merchant of Ephesea. The statue has been raised at the entry of the port for only 65 years.

Another possible impression of the Colossus of Rhodes

We can say that the colossus of Rhodes is part of the seven wonders because of its exemplary vastness. Moreover, it should well be realized that this Greek monument is the result of a very huge technical prowess which is characterized, amongst other things, by the use of terra cotta moulds necessary to the casting of the colossus. According to the legend, Charas of Lindos commited a suicide when he discovered an error in his calculations. An error that one of his assistants had to correct.

Rhodes is one of the bigger islands of Greece and it has a wonderful history. The old city of Rhodes is since 1988 on the UNESCO world heritage-list. 

Rhodes

I have never been there, but it looks like a wonderful, rich of history, Greek Island to visit, maybe once ...

ancient greek statue
nowadays just a figment -
outstretched beaches

outstretched beaches
packed with tourist from all over the globe -
sound of breakers

sound of breakers
still there - telling stories
of years past

Well ... this was the post about the Colossus of Rhodes and now we have to visit the last of the Seven Ancient World Wonders, the Lighthouse of Alexandria. With that Lighthouse we will end our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders ... and then back to the normal routine of our daily prompts.

Hope you did like this post and that it will inspire you to write haiku, senryu, tanka or kyoka. No obligations, feel free and have fun. This episode will stay on 'till October 27th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our last stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Colossus of Rhodes is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge #20, Joanne's "Autumn Leaves"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and so it's time for a new Tan Renga Challenge. This week's Tan Renga Challenge is started with a haiku by Joanne of 4Joy. She wrote it in response on Garry Gay's 4th Special and it's a stunning haiku. The goal is to write the second stanza (7-7) to this Tan Renga started by Joanne. You don't have to stay to the classic rules of haiku writing, but feel free to do so.

Stanza 1 (5-7-5):

autumn leaves
myriad shades red and gold
begin to fall as snow                                   (Joanne)

Stanza 2 (7-7):

???????????????????

???????????????????

A wonderful haiku to start this Tan Renga with ... so I hope that it will inspire you to complete this Tan Renga with your second stanza. Good luck ... and have fun ...

My attempt:

autumn leaves
myriad shades red and gold
begin to fall as snow                               (Joanne)

at the feet of the snowman
a glimpse of the first crocus                     (Chèvrefeuille, your host)

Crocus in the snow

This Tan Renga Challenge will stay on 'til November 1st 11.59 AM (CET) I will post a new Tan Renga Challenge then, from our November Tan Renga Challenge month prompt-list around 7.00 PM (CET)

Carpe Diem #331, Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders and today we arrive at the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.Another not so easy prompt I think, but we have said A so we have to say B too.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is a monumental grave located in the southwest of Turkey in the city of Halicarnassus (nowadays Bodrum) where lived the king of Carie named Mausole. He was also satrap (governor) of the king of Persia, to whom the Carie belonged.

It is very likely that Artemis, sister and woman of the satrap of Carie began the construction of this edifice in 353 BC, three years after the death of king, to honour him. The mausoleum was ended one year after the death of this woman.

Ruins of the Mausoleum

With a total height of around 43 m (141 feet), it was sustained with thirty six columns and surmounted by a pyramid decorated of one quadriga with marble. The funeral chamber doubtless contained the graves of Mausole and Artemis. We could also observe a valuable frieze represented a fight of the Greeks against the Amazon and the Centaurs.
This monument was partly destroyed, by an earthquake, at around fourteenth century. A short time later, the knights of Malta decided to build a fortress: they used the stones of the mausoleum and in 1522, no one remained. Nowadays, we can again observe this fortress in Bodrum.

Mausoleum of Halicarnassus

This mausoleum was classified as a wonder because it distances itself by its beauty and its great value. Indeed, the ornaments of the sanctuary were realized by the most famous artists of its era: Satyrus and Pythius for the architecture; Scopas, Timotheos, Bryaxis and Leochares for the sculpture. The decorations and the sculptures were really magnificent. Several pieces were recover and can be seen in the British Museum of London.

a king's grave
built with marble to honor him -
shimmers in the sun

shimmers in the sun
a grave worthy to a king
now a ruin

This prompt will stay on 'til October 26th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next stop on our journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders, Colossus of Rhodos, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! Mausoleum of Halicarnassus is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #330, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are on a journey along the Seven Ancient World Wonders, but I think those world wonders are very difficult to write haiku about. Maybe that's a misunderstanding, but I can see that in your up-linked posts. The World-wonder prompts have less reactions as the other prompts we had.
I know that it isn't easy to write haiku on these World-Wonder prompts, so don't be afraid to try to write haiku about them. Of course there are no obligations that you have to post, but I try to understand what the reason is that these prompts aren't that easy.

Notwithstanding ... today we are visiting the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, it was built in honor of godess Artemis.

Ruins of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Dutch wordpress log)

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus served as well as a market place and a cult place for the goddess Artemis which was the divinity of the fertility, the Earth, the moon and the animals. She was very worshipped.

It was located in Turkey, in the ancient city of Ephesus which is nowadays called Selcuk, and which is located 50 km in the South of Izmir. This temple was set up from the middle of the eighth century to the middle of the third century BC It has the peculiarity to have been demolished seven times in ten centuries.

The first temple was primitive (8 columns on 4), however king Croesus ordered to destroy it in order to raise a new much larger one. With a base of 155 m (508 feet) on 60 (197 feet), the new sanctuary possessed 127 columns with sculptured reliefs. But it was destroyed again to leave place to the new temple drawn by the Greek architect called Chersiphron, even more gigantic than the precedent: its Ionic columns, adorned with gold, raised at more than 18 m height and contained scenes with mythological symbols sculptured by the lost famous sculptors and the Greek architects such as Scopas, Praxiteles, Phidias and Polyclitus. This last sanctuary sheltered the statues of Artemis and Zeus where these gods were worshipped by the Greek population. Nowadays, we can find some reproductions of the statue of this goddess in the museums of Naples, the Vatican and the Louvre.

Finally, during the night of 21st of July in 356 BC, a person called Herostratus set on fire the temple so that its name is immortalized. It is done. Stones were doubtless reused to build churches.

Artemis (or Diana) statue

Antipater of Sidon (a 2nd century BC Greek poet), who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:

“I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand".

nature's beauty
Artemis protects it with passion -
a hunted deer

Well ... I hope you did like this episode and I hope that it inspires you to write haiku. This prompt will stay on 'til October 25th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! The Temple of Artemis is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem's Tanka Shrine #1, "Small footprints" by Marika Kitakubo

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to introduce a new monthly feature at our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As you maybe know next to haiku, Tanka is one of the most beloved poetry-forms of the Japanese range of poetry. So I love to start a feature in which I will share a Tanka of a wellknown Tanka-poet ... the goal is, as it is at the Carpe Diem Specials, to write a Tanka in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one I gave.

Tanka has also a classical syllables-count similar with the Tan Renga, of course Tanka is written by one poet and not by two as is the Tan Renga, the syllables count is: 5-7-5-7-7 ... it's up to you to feel free to use that syllables structure or not.

This month's Tanka is written by:

fine snow
of New Year's Day,
small footprints
lead to grandma's gate
before the shrine

Mariko Kitakubo, tanka-poet

She says about her poems:

“In my own composition of poems, I wish to pursue things that can only be achieved with Tanka poems amid this rapidly changing society”.

Excerpt from View of the Month in “Tanka Orai” August 2003.

While composing poems is the primary thing to do, I want to continue expressive activities by means of reading performances in and out of the country. I feel it meaningful to vibrate Japanese traditional rhythm sounds, consisting of units of 5 and 7 syllables, in front of Tanka lovers whose native language is not Japanese.

A wonderful tanka, composed by a wonderful Tanka-poet. Visit her website by clicking the caption under her photo.

Now ... it's up to you my dear friends to write a Tanka inspired on the one by Mariko ... have fun, be inspired and share your Tanka with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This first episode of Carpe Diem's Tanka Shrine will stay on 'till November 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will try to post a new episode on that same day. By the way: I wasn't inspired enough to write a response on this Tanka, but I will sure give it a try and share it with you all.

Carpe Diem Extra #4, Autumn in my hometown

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I was on my way home this morning, I had nightshift, I saw how autumn has come ... all those wonderful colors and the perfume of the decaying leaves were overwhelming and I decide to make a walk through my neighborhood to shoot some photos.

I love to share them here with you all ... so look how my hometown looks in autumn.

colorful leaves
everywhere I look ... autumn -
Ah! that sweet perfume

the city-park
changes his outfit -
autumn is there

golden leaves
like the sunlight
what a wonder

along the highway
trees and bushes change
thousand colors

in the morninglight
trees look like a treasure chest -
autumn has come

I hope you liked this "Carpe Diem Extra" and now you have an idea of my hometown in the lowlands of The Netherlands. Autumn ... saying goodbye to summer.

Namaste.

Carpe Diem #329, The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As we are on our way to the end of this anniversary month of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we are visiting the Seven Ancient World Wonders and today we arrive at Olympia were the Statue of Zeus once stood.
This colossal statue represented the Greek god of heaven: Zeus. It was ordered in 450 BC. to the Athenian sculptor Phidias by the inhabitants of Olympia who wished to decorate the temple of the old town.

This statue was located on the west coast of Greece at Olympia. In the antiquity, this city was a place of cult which contained numerous treasures of the Greek art: temples, monuments, altars, theaters, statues and marble or bronze votive offerings. It was realized with golden and ivory, measured 12 m (39 feet) height and was placed on a base of 2 m (7 feet). The base of the statue was 6 m (21 feet) wide and 1 m height. The statue's perimeter was 13 m (43 feet). This work touched almost the ceiling of the temple. On the other hand, the throne was decorated with precious stones, ivory, ebony and gold.

Zeus, in sat position, holds, in its right hand, the goddess of Victory, Nike, and, in the left hand, a scepter surmounted by an eagle. The throne was decorated with relief sculptured mythological scenes, notably evoking the murder of the sons of Niobe, the queen of Thebes.

The Statue of Zeus at Olympia (an interpretation)

This statue was made,  in honour of the god whom the ancient Olympic Games were created. They took place every four years and were the most famous ancient four games during which the Greeks were involved. The three others were the Isthmian games (at Corinth), the Pythian games (at Delphi) and the Nemean games (at Nemea). Then, we can say that with its greatness and its priceless value, the statue of Zeus distanced itself from the other Greek works. We can add that this is the biggest statue that the Greeks have ever realized.

Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the fire which ravaged the temple in 462. Nowadays, only stony ruins which were used for the construction of the temple remain.

A wonderful kind of ancient Greek art-work, it's a shame that there's nothing less then a few ruines and no physical evidence for this World Wonder.

in honour
of a great haiku poet
Basho's statue

Basho (1644-1694) - the greatest haiku poet ever

As the Statue of Zeus was made to honour the creator of the Olympic Games,  Basho was honoured with the Sumo-games which are wearing his name "Basho-Games".

honoring haiku -

fighting in praise of Basho
sumo warriors

sumo warriors
after their fight retrieving balance
writing haiku

writing haiku
sometimes a struggle sometimes not
just like sumo

A nice series of haiku I think, in praise of Basho, my haiku master, inspired by the Statue of Zeus ... Hope you like the read. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

This prompt will stay on 'til October 24th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will (try) to post our next episode around 7.00 PM (CET) later on today. That new episode will be our next stop in our journey along the Ancient World Wonders, The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
!! Statue of Zeus is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #328, The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day in haiku paradise Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, and as we started two days ago with exploring the Seven Ancient World Wonders with the Pyramid of Giza, we now will visit The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

The hanging gardens of Babylon are a quite mysterious wonder. Indeed, no Babylonian text describing them have been found. We don't even know the destruction date of this wonder. Maybe this is just a product of Greeks imagination ?

The gardens were located on east the bank of the river Euphrates, in the city of Babylon (50 km from Bagdad) and may have been built in 600 BC. No Greek historian have seen them, it just consists in stories told by soldats, which is a quite doubtful source of informations.

According to the legend king Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) would have made build the famous hanging gardens of Babylon for his wife Sémiramis to remind her the vegetation of the moutains from her natal country : Media (actual Iran).

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon - painting by the 16th century Dutch artist Martin Heemskerck

These gardens were composed of several floors, each was a terrace of 120 m² supported by vaults and pillars of brick. An immense staircase, made of marble, connected the terraces, where water was brought from the river Euphrates by a system of hydraulic screws. It was a real botanical garden where was cultivated plants and trees of Mesopotamia and of Media. On the first eight meters height terrace were planted big trees : plane trees, palm trees - date palms, pines and cedars. On the second thirteen meters height terrace were located the cypresses and quantity of fruit trees. And even higher, on the two last terraces, less vast than the others, we could find the anemones and the tulips, the lilies and the irises… without forgetting the roses, so appreciated from the beautiful Sémiramis.

There is evidence that these Hanging Gardens were situated in Nineveh and not in actual Babylon. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are likely a legend, but a nice one.

ancient stories told -
soldiers' fantasy came true
desert garden

desert garden
eyecatcher of Babylon -
hidden wisdom

hidden wisdom
ancient knowledge for gardening
hanging baskets

Well ... have fun with this new episode of Carpe Diem's daily haiku meme ... be inspired and share your haiku with our haiku-family here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
This prompt will stay on 'til October 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! The Hanging Gardens of Babylon is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem's Imagination #8 "red tricycle"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another episode of Carpe Diem's Imagination, our feature in which the goal is to write a haiku inspired on a photo, painting or other image. In other words Imagination is Painting with words. It's a nice way to learn to use photo's, paintings and other images as source for your inspiration.

In this episode I love to share a nice autumn-photo for your inspiration ...

A wonderful photo I think ... very nice source of inspiration ... It inspired me to write the following haiku:

tricycle left behind
between colorful leaves -
kidnapped child?

red tricycle
inbetween colorful leaves
it disappears

colorful leaves
dancing through the streets of the town -
tricycle left behind

Not such very strong haiku, but it was really a joy to write them. And now ... it's up to you my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers to Paint with Words. This episode of Imagination is open for submissions 'til November 4th 11.59 AM (CET).

Carpe Diem's Make the Haiku complete #2

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Two weeks ago I started this new feature "Make the Haiku Complete", and I got very positive reactions and comments on this new challenge ... so I think this new feature / challenge will be fun and a strong part of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
The goal for this new feature is to make the haiku complete and this week I have found a really nice haiku by Matsuo Basho ... that haiku by Basho has a little anecdote which I love to share with you all.

This haiku by Basho he wrote somewhere in 1690 on a sheet of paper next to another few haiku written by him, but this haiku he really didn't complete ... he forgot the third line or couldn't compose a third line. So this haiku is really incomplete.
Maybe we can complete this 'unfinished' haiku after almost 325 years ... that's the challenge for this episode of "Make the Haiku Complete" ... write the third line of this haiku by Basho.

tsuma kou te nezasa kazuku ya ..............

missing a wife
the bamboo grass dives under
.............................

Bamboo grass

Well ... I think this one isn't easy ... but I have to try it (of course) myself too. So here is my attempt to write a third line to this haiku by Basho,

missing a wife
the bamboo grass dives under -
wise men's gathering (*)

(*) refers to the "The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove", a group of Chinese scholars and poets in the mid third century,very similar with what Henry Thoreau describes in his "Walden, Life in the Woods".

The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove

I think that I have made this haiku complete in the spirit of Basho, but ... that's not up to me to decide. I challenge you my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers to make this unfinished haiku by Basho complete by writing the third line. Have fun ...

This episode of Carpe Diem's Make the Haiku Complete will stay on 'til November 4th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will (try) to post a new episode on that same day.
!! Make the Haiku Complete #2 is now open for your submissions !!

Carpe Diem Special #63, Garry Gay's "New Snow"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I wasn't aware that I had to prepare a new Special episode, maybe this comes through the Tan Renga Challenge for which I have chosen a haiku by Garry Gay, so I thought maybe that was our new Special.

Today another nice haiku written by our featured haiku poet Garry Gay this one is titled "New Snow" and going along with this haiku he has photographed the next scene:

A wonderful photo of fresh fallen snow, the haiku which goes with this photo is the following:

new snow--

the path you made last night

has gone with you

(c) Garry Gay

The goal of this Carpe Diem Special is to write a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one written by our featured haiku-poet, and so ... your haiku has the spirit or the touch of the haiku by Garry Gay. 

My attempt to write a new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one by Garry:

autumn wind

last leaves of the Red Maple fall -
bare branches

(c) Chèvrefeuille

I hope you like this new Carpe Diem Special ... and I hope that the haiku by Garry inspires you to write a new haiku. Have fun, enjoy and share.

This Special episode will stay on 'til October 22th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).

!! This Special is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!