Carpe Diem #1043 emptiness

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we are entering spring. Our first episodes were all from the New Year section of "A Dictionary of Haiku" by Jane Reichhold and today we are starting with the spring section of her saijiki.
Today our prompt is emptiness and that's what I am still feeling since I heard from Jane's passing away. I feel empty as if my drive to create haiku has been gone ... I really miss Jane, she was such a nice friend and an awesome mentor.

"Emptiness" is also a very strong idea within Zen Buddhism and that's also part of haiku. Today I have a few nice haiku by Jane reichhold to inspire you, to tribute her:

nothing fills
the emptiness of the question
where are they?

the empty nest
my daughter's house
after the wedding

© Jane Reichhold

Two haiku in which you can feel the emptiness ... That first haiku makes me sad and gives words to my feeling of emptiness. That last line could be easily be 're-written' into where is she?

Emptiness ... where is she?

How to turn that feeling of emptiness into something positive? I think I have found it and I give it words through the following tanka:

boundless world
the tranquil gardens of the temple 
I empty my mind
to make room for another thought
emptiness is cool

© Chèvrefeuille

Jane Reichhold has left an emptiness in my heart, but I always will cherish her in that same heart. Jane was not only a great haiku poet, but she also created wonderful tanka. So I just had to create a tanka this time.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 8th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our first CD-Special by Dolores and a new regular episode mysteries later on.