Carpe Diem #1533 Xenolith

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of CDHK. This month we celebrate our 6th anniversary with prompts following the alphabet. During our existence I have created several other weblogs for our CDHK family. One of those weblogs is titled Haiku Shuukan and was a weekly haiku meme. This weblog is still open, but I am not publishing there at the moment. As I started Haiku Shuukan I started with the alphabet also and so for today I have chosen a prompt I used there; Xenolith.

Let me tell you all a little bit more about Xenolith: This prompt will not be an easy one. I had to search on the Internet to find something about this prompt. And I found the following about Xenolith at Wikipedia.

A xenolith (Ancient Greek:  “foreign rock”) is a rock fragment which becomes enveloped in a larger rock during the latter's development and hardening. In geology, the term xenolith is almost exclusively used to describe inclusions in igneous rock during magma emplacement and eruption. Xenoliths may be engulfed along the margins of a magma chamber, torn loose from the walls of an erupting lava conduit or explosive diatreme or picked up along the base of a flowing lava on Earth's surface. A xenocryst is an individual foreign crystal included within an igneous body. Examples of xenocrysts are quartz crystals in a silica-deficient lava and diamonds within kimberlite diatremes.
Although the term xenolith is most commonly associated with igneous inclusions, a broad definition could include rock fragments which have become encased in sedimentary rock. Xenoliths are sometimes found in recovered meteorites.

Rounded, yellow, weathered peridotite xenolith in a nephelinite lava flow at Kaiserstuhl, SW Germany

Here is an example of a Tanka by Georgia also known as Bastet:

war and poverty push
social cataclysms drive
human lava flows
into established homelands
creating new xenoliths

© Bastet

I remember that I couldn't come up with a haiku or tanka inspired on this prompt so I am looking forward to your responses.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 6th at noon (CET). I hope to publish our new episode (a double one) later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 9th "autumn leaves turn red" by Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

At the end of Mother's Day I welcome you at a new episode in our Tan Renga Challenge Month. I hope you all have had a wonderful Mother's Day and especially I hope that our haiku poetess who delivers us her haiku as the starting verse will have had a great festa della mamma.

autum leaves turn redFor this episode I have chosen a haiku by one of our long time participants and one of our co-hosts at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet). Georgia is a very gifted haiku poetess and she has been several times the co-host here and she once won our kukai. Her e-book "old bamboo wind chimes" you can find in our Carpe Diem Library.

autumn leaves turn red

Here is her haiku which will be our "hokku" (starting verse) of today's Tan Renga Challenge:

a dream in a dream
sand slipping through old fingers
autumn leaves turn red

 © Georgia

And here is my try to turn it into a beautiful Tan Renga:

a dream in a dream
sand slipping through old fingers
autumn leaves turn red                              © Georgia

the sound of laughter resonates
children dancing in the street                    © Chèvrefeuille

What a joyful scene I would say ... children playing in the street dancing through the fallen leaves throwing them up high swirling ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 13th at noon (CET). Our new "hokku" (starting verse) is now on our twitter account.

Sign up for our second Renga party

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last August we had our very first Renga Party and I love to create another Renga together with you all. This time I love to create a

“yoyoshi”, a renga of forty-four links. Maybe you can remember this "yoyoshi" from Carpe Diem #884, I shared a note about it in that post.

Our first Renga was a so called "kasen-renga" and had 36 links, so it was slightly shorter than the "yoyoshi".

For this "yoyoshi" I have asked Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet), our featured haiku poetess of this month, to write the starting verse or "hokku".

Here is the "hokku" of this "yoyoshi":

white dusted meadow
remembering spring’s glory
tufts of pampas grass

© Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet)

tufts of pampas grass

As you maybe remember you had to sign up for participating in the Renga Party. I will prolong that idea here again.

So if you would like to participate in this new edition of our Carpe Diem Renga Party "white dusted meadow" than please sign up and let me know it through the comments field of this post.
You can sign up for this new Renga Party until January 12th 2016 10.00 PM (CET)

I hope to see you all participating in this new Renga Party.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host
 

Carpe Diem Special #189 Georgia's 5th strolling yesterday (tanka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am in the nightshift, so this post and the posts to come will be not published on the scheduled date and time I think, but I know that you all don't have a problem with that.

Today's CD Special is the last of December and so it's the last by our featured haiku poetess Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet) of Bastet and Sekhmet's Library. I hope you enjoyed these CD-Specials by Georgia. She is a very gifted poetess and is, as we have seen this month, writing several poetry forms e.g. the Japanese long peom "choka".

For this CD-Special I have chosen a tanka which Georgia wrote in May 2013. I especially was caught by the beauty of the photos shared in that post. And as I read and re-read this beautiful tanka "strolling yesterday" I had to share it here with you.

strolling yesterday
astonished by the pine trees.
they seemed to copy
the heavy rain laden skies
imitating it’s wet lay.

© Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet)

 

Credits: Tree in the park

A beauty ... don't you think so too? As you all (maybe) know I am not that good in composing tanka, so I have chosen to share a few haiku inspired on this tanka.
 

a new day rises -
the weeping willow on the piazza
a birds' gathering

weeping willow
in the autumn sunlight
a golden tree

under the willow
on the city's graveyard
weeping silhouette

 © Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Weeping Willow

This was our last CD-Special of 2015. Next year we will have (of course) new episodes of CD-Special, and I hope that I can share wonderful poetry by very gifted poets/esses next year ... I wish you all a very inspirational 2016.

This CD-Special is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 1st at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, our last episode of the 2nd series of Haiku Writing Techniques, later on. For now ... have fun!

 

Carpe Diem Special #188 Georgia's 4th, another choka

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Here is our belated fourth CD-Special by Georgia, winner of the "peace of mind" kukai. As you maybe know Georgia has re-discovered the choka (Japanese long poem) and she is, in my opinion, the queen of choka. She has written a lot of choka through the years and she also has experimented with this beautiful Japanese long poem.
For this episode I have chosen an experimental choka which rhymes ... I hope you all like this experimental choka and maybe it triggers you to experiment too with this form, or with one of the other Japanese poetry forms.

Meditation

Bastet’s Choka Experiment: Meditation – Rhyming Choka : 7-6-7-6-5 repeated 3 times…rhymes in couplets until the last line.

Meditation

reflecting, meditating
my thoughts contemplating,
watching the leaves blow around
without hearing a sound
relativity
looked at in simplicity
observing the east and west
there I began my day’s quest
thus I discovered death
with a baby’s breath!
I think babies born today
have just finished dying
from the world that they knew well
living that awful hell
we call being born
then, I saw death everywhere
for which I have no care
leaves and insects, passing days
a simple passing phase
why then should I fear

© Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet, 2013)

This CD-Special is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 26th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem's Seven Days Before Christmas 2015 #3 decorations

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Seven Days Before Christmas ... we are closing in to Christmas with this third episode of this special "holiday" feature. Christmas is the time of decorating our homes inside and outside so therefore I have chosen for "decorations" as our prompt for this third episode.

I remember that we had an almost the same prompt last year. Of course that's not a problem, because decorations are part of Christmas. I decided to read all the entries for that episode last December 2014 again and I love to share a few entries which were written then.

Yuletide
decorations and lights
ruby-red and green
despite falling snow
the spring sun returns

© Georgia (2014)

lace of frost
blossoming on windowpanes
winter meadow

© Ese

Christmas decorations
assortment of memories
hung on my tree

© Dolores

light of the world
reflects in silver and gold
christmastree clothed

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 21st 10.00 PM (CET). Have fun!

 

Carpe Diem Special #187 Georgia's 3rd, a haibun "idyllic spring"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring to you Georgia's 3rd CD-Special. We have already seen how gifted she is and she also writes wonderful haibun. A haibun, in which prose and poetry are entwined, is a short story that ends mostly with a haiku, sometimes there are also haiku embedded in the haibun as for example in our monthly theme "Narrow Road" that famous haibun by Basho (1644-1694).

For this CD-Special I have selected a haibun which Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet) wrote in December 2014. Have fun reading it and let the haibun inspire you.


IDYLLIC SPRING

Grassy steps led to an over-grown garden. Looking down Janice wondered who had built the walls and indeed, when those stony steps had last been used. The garden full of wild flowers was weed-choked but the sun filtered down invitingly. She began to descend, half-way down the stairs she stopped surprised.

Piercing the silence, a blood-curdling howl. Robin red-breast rises, screeching, into the sky.

She looked down the remaining stairs and saw a large brindled cat stride out from the undergrowth. Tail swishing she realized the hunter had lost his prey.

idyllic spring
among the wildflowers
the hunt continues

© G.s.k. ‘14

With this haibun went a photo by Bjorn Rudberg

Grassy Steps photo © Bjorn Rudberg

Sorry for being late with publishing.

This CD-Special is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode later on today.

Carpe Diem Special #186 Georgia's 2nd "days of Christmas" (choka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to read how much you all appreciate Georgia's CDHK e-book "old bamboo wind chimes", she is indeed a great poetess and very gifted. Together with her son she created her e-book and I made the final publication complete by adding a foreword to it. I have read "old bamboo wind chimes" several times and every time again I find new ideas and feelings. It's really an awesome e-book. And I am proud to present to you Georgia's second CD-Special. For this episode I have chosen to bring a choka written by her.

I had never heard of choka until I read several choka at Georgia's weblog and I must say ... Georgia is one of the most gifted choka peotesses I know. She gave me the guts to write a choka myself, which I will share here too later on, but first I love to share a choka Georgia wrote in response on one of the themes of last years "seven days to Christmas" feature.

candles burn bright
Christmas trees twinkle
symbols of rebirth
in dark days of winter
school children home
play in snow-covered lawns
an old beggar stands
alone homeless and cold
angels smile sweetly
on a street corner at dawn
in newspapers
words of peaceful harmony
on the radio
sweet carols play day and night

Christmas card scenes
melt under the heat of hate
we know too well
the children are being good
anxiously awaiting gifts

© Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet, 2014)

Credits: Christmas

The goal of this CD-Special is to write an all new haiku, tanka or in this case an all new choka, inspired on the given one by Georgia.

As I told you above ... Georgia inspired me once to try choka and this was my very first choka ever: It's not themed Christmas, but I love to share that choka here with you, which was earlier published at my personal haiku blog.

the cooing of pigeons
resonates through the gray streets –
ah! that summer rain
refreshes the dried out earth
filling its scars
the perfume of earth tickles
my nostrils
after the hot summer days
I dance in the rain
naked on the top of the hills
I feel free at last
nature around me comes to life
field flowers bloom
I see their beautiful colors
the perfume of Honeysuckle

ah! that summer rain
the perfume of the moist soil
tickles my senses
I lay down, naked in her arms
surrounded by Honeysuckle

© Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Chèvrefeuille (my penname meaning Honeysuckle)

And now it's up to you my dear Haijin to write an all new haiku, tanka or choka (if you want too) and share it here with us all at our Haiku Kai.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until December 13th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, making the coolness; crawling out, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #185 Georgia's first "Autumn Reflections" (Troiku)

Credits: logo CD-Special December 2015

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure and with pride that I welcome you at the first Carpe Diem Special of December. This month's featured haiku-poetess (and winner of our "peace of mind" - kukai) Georgia (a.k.a. Bastet) of Bastet and Sekhmets Library

Georgia won our "peace of mind" kukai with the following haiku:

rain drips
off the old bamboo wind-chimes
serenity

© Georgia

A real winner I think, and you all thought so too, because you were the judges yourself. For this first CD-Special I have chosen to share a Troiku composed by Georgia with you all. As you maybe know I have invented the "troiku" a creative way of writing haiku. More about Troiku you can find in de menu above.

Credits: autumn reflections

autumn reflections

as I cross the sun warmed bridge
geese fly south

autumn reflections
old man contemplates winter
under the hot sun

as I cross the sun warmed bridge
ducks laugh downstream
– diving for trout

geese fly south
the noisy swallows have gone
but the blackbird sings 

© Georgia

And the challenge, as you all know, for the CD-specials is to write an all new haiku, tanka or in this specific episode, a troiku, inspired on the given one trying to touch the same sense, tone and spirit. I am looking forward to all of your responses.

This CD-Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until December 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, men of this world;  picking up rice seedlings; backpack and sword, later on.

Carpe Diem Special #168 Autumn "tonight's moon"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First this: In one of the posts of this week I mentioned that I am busy with a merchandise-project. This project starts to become real. Just several hours ago I have created our "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Merchandise (CDHK-M)" webshop. Thanks to Hamish, who pointed me at Ticail, a Swedish website that gives people the opportunity to create their webshop. At this moment the CDHK-M webshop is under construction, but later this week I hope to open it ... I will start with the (free) e-books of CDHK. I will keep you posted on this CDHK-M project.

Ok ... it's time again for a CD-Special and this time I love to focus on thé kigo (seasonword) of autumn, Moon. As you all know I am a real "moon-lover". The moon is one of my favorite themes for haiku and I have written a lot of "moon"- haiku. Why "moon" for this CD-Special?

To the Japanese the moon is at her brighest and beautifuls in autumn. Every haiku poet will agree on that. "Moon" is not a kigo in other seasons. As haiku poets write haiku on "moon" in other seasons they will always mention the season too e.g. "moon of summer", "moon of spring".

Maybe you can remember that I published earlier this year an anthology with "moon"- haiku, you can find that anthology in our Library (in the menu).

To inspire you I have a few "moon"- haiku by Basho which I love to share here. All haiku are translated by Jane Reichhold.

the moon so pure
a wandering monk carries it
across the sand

blue seas
breaking waves smell of rice wine
tonight’s moon

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Maybe you know that I am also co-hosting at MindLoveMisery's Menagerie (MLMM). At MLMM I am hosting the Wednesday feature "Heeding Haiku With ..." and this week's "Heeding Haiku With .." is also about autumn.

Here are a few haiku to inspire you written by (former) CDHK family-members:

autumn moon
soft veils enhance
her beauty

© Georgia

ancient warriors ghosts
mists over the foreign highlands -
waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

feeling shadows –
and yet
I thought the moon was hidden

© Paloma

 

noisy moon
declarative geese
migrate

© Jules

 

voluptuous night
under the transient moon
gone too soon

© Cathy Tenzo

 

bright little full moon
evening to rejoice the light
praise the universe

© Anmol (a.k.a. HA)

 

Stars blink amidst clouds
All gazes hushed in thrill
Harvest Moon fulfills us.

© Mariya Koleva

All wonderful haiku ... really a joy to read them and re-read them. I hope these haiku will inspire you to write/compose an all new haiku (or tanka).

This CD-Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 26th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Pegasus, later on.

 

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #56 Choka (or Nagauta), Japanese "long poem"

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

I didn't get the job. I was first disappointed, but after hearing the reasons I was, in a way, happy that I didn't get it, because to this new job there was a study included in a city far from the city were I live. My employer has given me an opportunity to follow another study and maybe in the near future I will get the job after all. Thank you all for your love, thoughts and prayers. And now ... let's go do some haiku-ing or in the case "choka-ing".

As I promised you all few weeks ago I will do a few episodes of Tokubetsudesu about other Japanese poetry-forms. In this episode I love to tell you a little bit more about the Japanese "long poem", the Choka (or Nagauta).

The choka can be of almost any length, because its form depends on alternating phrases (or lines) containing either seven of five sound units (onji). The end of the poem is signaled by two lines of seven sounds. So the form is five/seven, five/seven, five seven, .... , seven/seven.
This was the most popular form of poetry in the 9th century as indicated by the large number of works in the celebrated anthology Man'yoshu (The Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves). This anthology of anthologies contained 260 chok and 4200 tanka.

Credits: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

The poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, who composed most of his work in the last decade of the 7th century, took the choka to its highest lyrical point with his finesse in the use of ritual language.
The connection to tanka is evidenced by the envoy or hanka - a tanka-like poem attached at the end of the choka. Occasionally more than one envoy will close the choka. There have been a few efforts to revivie the form over the intervening centuries, but the form has failed to gain any popularity in Japan, and even less has been accomplished in English. (Based on Jane Reichhold's "Writing and Enjoying Haiku")

Here is an example of a choka from the Man'yoshu (no. 802):

The briefest chōka documented is Man'yōshū no. 802, which is of a pattern 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7-7. It was composed in the Nara period and goes:

When I eat melons
My children come to my mind;
When I eat chestnuts
The longing is even worse.
Where do they come from,
Flickering before my eyes.
Making me helpless
Endlessly night after night.
Not letting me sleep in peace?

(envoy or hanka)

What are they to me,
Silver, or gold, or jewels?
How could they ever
Equal the greater treasure
That is a child? They cannot.

© Yamanoue no Okura (Tr. Edwin Cranston)

Credits: Harvest Moon

I remember that Georgia of Bastet and Sekhmet's Library wrote, a while ago, an episode of our former Ghost Writer post, about the choka. She is, as far as I know, the only CDHK family member who writes choka. Here is one of her choka:

The Last Harvest Moon

as the breeze picks up,
canes rattle in harmony
red scattered leaves
fall in the river and drown
a monk bent with age
walks along the road thinking
his secular thoughts
the splendor of youth now gone
he gathers courage
to face another winter
his arthritis plain
his skin yellow and brittle
then a finch warbles
a cat rubs against his legs
he smiles down sweetly
then continues his journey

(envoy or hanka)

the last harvest moon
outlines the withered bent stalks
he walks and gazes
gathering the cold omens
whispered in the winter wind

 ©  Georgia (2014)

I love this "long poem", but it's not really my "cup of tea". I remeber that I had a while ago the iidea to create a weblog about choka, but I never did that and maybe that's something not to worry about, because recently we decided as Haiku Kai to make it possible to respond with other Japanese poetry forms than haiku or tanka. So ... choka ... is also part of that decision.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 14th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, a cd special with the third haiku by Lolly, later on.

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer post #39,

!! I publish this GW-post earlier, because I am in the nightshift !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present you an all new episode of our Ghost Writer feature. This week I have a nice article about Choka written by Georgia of Bastet and Sekhmet's Library ...
I am not that familiar with Choka, but I love to know more about it ... Choka is a Japanese long poem with also a kind of syllables rule, just like our haiku.
So have fun reading this article and maybe you will compose your first 'Choka'.

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Hello Haijin:

I thought today I’d try to introduce the choka.  It’s a form that fascinates me the more I try to understand it.  Choka were long, commemorative poems (in fact choka means the long poem) and the longest ran sometimes over 100 lines!  They were usually sung.  There were about 400 choka copied in the 8^th century anthology of waka entitled Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves).

The classical choka is formed by writing 5-7 syllables couplets for as many lines  as you like ending however with an extra 7 syllable line. There have been variations over the years as to how to write a choka including modern attempts to revive the genre. Many modern English language writers are now using the choka to create longer poems with Japanese flavour.  You can see how that’s done clicking the link to The Poet’s Garret below.

Now days when the form is used (and interestingly it is often used by English language haiku poets) it is used to tell a story, not necessarily an epic or commemorative tale – just a story.  Sometimes people use it just to write an impression – something link a longish tanka.

Here’s one of my choka which I wrote not long ago to use as an example of how it can be done:

The Last Harvest Moon

as the breeze picks up,
canes rattle in harmony
red scattered leaves
fall in the river and drown
a monk bent with age
walks along the road thinking
his secular thoughts
the splendor of youth now gone
he gathers courage
to face another winter
his arthritis plain
his skin yellow and brittle
then a finch warbles
a cat rubs against his legs
he smiles down sweetly
then continues his journey

the last harvest moon
outlines the withered bent stalks
he walks and gazes
gathering the cold omens
whispered in the winter wind

 

©  G.s.k. ’14

As you can see, I wrote 16 lines of 5-7 syllables ... from the 17th I created a  5 line conclusion, a kind of general summary of the poem in  5-7-5-7-7.  

There's no need to rhyme but you can and the syllable count is open to discussion if you follow the modern school of haiku and do "the short line - long line - short line" version of haiku, which compensates for the problem of not being able to superimpose the on (Japanese sounds) to our language, using syllables we create haiku that are third longer than Japanese poetry.  I preferred the 5-7 couplets with a conclusive tanka for my choka. 

I found it interesting that the author of the blog Kujaku Poetry and Ships points out that often the last closing lines of a choka were used to give a sort of summary of the whole poem.  When the poet did this, the last lines were often more emotional and less detailed.  Sometimes these closing fragments could stand alone and eventually they were gathered together in an anthology under the name tanka, (short poem) or waka (though waka generally refers to Japanese Poetry as a whole) and so the independent genre tanka was born.

I would like to suggest that you write a choka and here is a winter scene that might help you:

Thanks for reading!  Hope you have fun, Georgia (Bastet)

For further reading:

Origins of Japanese Poetry – Kujaku Poetry & Ships – a brief history of choka

Japanese Poetry Forms – The Poet’s Garret – a brief explanation of katauta and choka with examples of ways the choka can be used.

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Well ... I hope you did like this Ghost Writer post and I hope you are inspired to write Choka ... Have fun!

This GW-post is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until December 26th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, Christmastree, later on ... for now have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #61, Georgia's "a dream in a dream"

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and we have had a wonderful Tan Renga Challenge last week. Today I present to you another Tan Renga Challenge based on a haiku by Georgia of Bastet and Sekhmet's Library which she wrote in response on the GW-post on Poe.
It was really a wonderful haiku and I was immediately caught by it as I read it the very first time. So here is the haiku, our first stanza of the Tan Renga, composed by Georgia:

a dream in a dream
sand slipping through old fingers
autumn leaves turn red

© Georgia

Credits: Sand Slipping Through Old Fingers

To complete, continue this haiku will not be an easy task I think, but on the other hand ... there are several ways, images to do something with in this haiku. So I think it will bring us a lot of joy to see how this Tan Renga Challenge will unfold ...

a dream in a dream
sand slipping through old fingers
autumn leaves turn red   (Georgia)

blown away on the shoulder of the wind
delusory hopes caught in sand     (Chèvrefeuille)

Hm ... a nice continuation I think. It has become what I thought it would be. Strong and in balance.

And now it's up to you to do the same ... make the Tan Renga complete by writing a second stanza (classical or non-classical) towards the first stanza. That second stanza has two lines which follow the 7-7 syllables count, but that isn't an obligation.

This episode is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Friday December 5th at noon (CET). Have fun!
PS. Do you have a haiku which you would like to share for this Tan Renga Challenge? Than please let me know or send an email to our emailaddress: carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com

Carpe Diem #606, Guardian Angel

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you did like the new episode of "Ask Jane ..." in which we discussed the Kanshicho-style. As you maybe know I walk away with that style of haiku-writing, but ... as you could have read in the mentioned "Ask Jane ..." episode, it turned out to be just a hoax, an Internet-legend ... does that change my way of haiku-ing? No ... certainly not. I love haiku and I couldn't live with it ...

Today our prompt is Guardian Angel and I think it needs no further explanation. I have written several haiku about angels and guardian angels and I love to share a few of them with you all here.

This one I wrote (and published at my wordpress-weblog) recently, it's part of a haibun:

did I see an angel

or was it just the wind
moving clouds

© Chèvrefeuille

Once I wrote a cascading haiku for Theme Thursday about my guardian angel, my brother who passed away in 1995 at the age of 35.:

a being of light

guides every step I take
my dear brother

my dear brother
he has become my guardian angel
after his dead

after his dead
I knew he would be always with me
a being of light

© Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Guardian Angel

To conclude this episode I love to share a haibun, which I wrote last August for mindlovemisery's menagerie in response on a photo shared by Georgia (Bastet & Sekhmet's Library).

My Angels

I remember him very well, how could I ever forget him? He was the most precious what I had. We were always together and we shared almost everything. He is still around me after almost 20 years. I miss him every day ... sometimes I look at his photo on the wall just right of the TV-set ... framed in a silver frame together with my grandma and our Yorkshire terrier. All are missed ... and they all watch over me and my family.

No Cardboard Angel, but real angels ... I know for sure that he, my brother, my grandma and our Yorkshire are watching over me ... I can sense their presence in so many things ... I can feel them trying to cherish and comfort me as I am sad ... they are my angels ...

no cardboard angels
cherish and comfort me when I am sad,
... real angels do

© Chèvrefeuille

Maybe you have a guardian angel too ... let him/her inspire you to write an all new haiku .... This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until November 19th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, Roadside Beggar (based on a haiku by:Nana Fredua-Agyeman), later on today. For now ... have fun!