Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #30 pilgrimage

!! The first seven (7) prompts for December 2016 Let The Music Inspire You are NOW ONLINE you can find them in the menu above !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Well ... this is it ... our last episode of our Tanka Splendor month. This month I hope you had a lot of fun and that you have learned something. Through the Ten Tanka Writing Techniques by Teika we explored the beauty of Tanka. It was a real adventure and a journey, because tanka isn't easy and as you all know not really my "cup of tea".

As I started this Tanka Splendor month I introduced to you a tanka which I had written and I asked myself the question if this tanka would change after this month ... well let's look at that tanka again.

lost in the woods
searching for a new path
between ferns
the early light of day
points the way to leave

© Chèvrefeuille

This tanka wasn't strong but it was the "scene" to explain why I choose to do a Tanka month. It gives words to my struggle with tanka, to me tanka is a new path, because I am a "real" haiku poet. This month was the light that poiinted me the way to leave the safe grounds of haiku and I hope that I have improved my tanka writing skills.

This tanka I will not change, but I will try to create a new tanka here with our theme for today ... pilgrimage ...

Sakura

Maybe you can remember our journey back in 2014, our two month pilgrimage following in the footsteps of Kobo Daishi on Shikoku Island were we visited the 88 temples. This pilgrimage is a once in a lifetime must for the Buddhists and we made that pilgrimage virtually. We were two months on our way on Shikoku and almost on the same time we walked to Santiago De Compostela together with Paulo Coelho (one of my favorite authors).

Here is the tanka which I wrote inspired on "pilgrimage" :

pilgrims transformation
as buds burst open in spring
flowering cherry trees

dancing naked to honor them
the beauty of the Sakura

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this tanka is close to the beauty of the real tanka written by a lot of you. It has the beauty of nature, but also the beauty of love. I think this tanka is one of my best. Did I succeed to find my path to tanka writing? Tanka ... it still isn't really my "cup of tea", but it is a poetry form which I will try more often ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 4th at noon (CET). I will try to post our first episode of December later on ...