Carpe Diem's Seven Days Before Christmas 2019 (1) Peace Within

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our traditional feature "Seven Days Before Christmas" 2019. It has been a while that I published here during circumstances with my mom. At the moment her dementia looks stable, but she gives me still worries. Because of her behaviour, she sometimes goes outside in the middle of the night, I have slept at her home to give her a feeling of safety. I have now been at her home almost a week and it looks like she starts "to accept" that she will become more and more demented ... I had the possibility to leave her alone in her home with good care by nurses. So it gives me a kind of freedom or to connect with our theme for this first episode of "Seven Days Before Christmas", peace within.

 'The Peace Within' is referring to the balance in your life which brings peace within. To me that's what haiku does. I write haiku since the late eighties and I have grown to a balanced person with a heart full of joy and love. I even think that haiku has a positive influence on my work as an oncology nurse. I am more balanced through haiku and I hope haiku does that also to you all.


gentle breeze
refreshes my troubled mind -
finally peace within
my head completely empty
through the gentle breeze

© Chèvrefeuille


Peace Within ... is what I love to wish you all during this Holiday season and let us hope that the Peace Within will become once also a Peace On Earth. We are enetering a new decade and I hope and pray that everyone and everything on Earth will get that Peace Within.

To conclude this first episode of our traditional Holiday season feature "Seven Days Before Christmas" I love to share a wonderful music composition by one of my favorite composers, Karunesh.

This first episode of "Seven Days Before Christmas 2019" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 24th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #69 Returning To Now

!! open for your submissions next Sunday January 27th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies ... we say that very often and it's true. This is our last weekend meditation of January and I have chosen for a special feature from our rich history ... As you know I love to share wonderful music to inspire you. Especially the music of Karunesh I love to share here to inspire you. Karunesh
has created a wonderful kind of music that he calls "fusion". He integrates several kinds of music to one wonderful piece of music.

I once had the opportunity to have an interview with him and he has ... what we call charisma and he really creates wonderful music. For this weekend I love to challenge you to create a haiku inspired on the music of Karunesh and to create a Troiku with that haiku.

Here is the music video by Juan F

This track is titled "Returning To Now" and it's created in 2001. ("Returning To Now" is part of the album "Zen Breakfast")

Listen to the music, let it inspire you. Meditate and contemplate on it and share your Troiku with us all here at our wonderful Haiku Kai.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday January 27th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 3rd at noon (CET). Have a wonderful inspirational weekend.

Carpe Diem #1291 Remembering to Forget (by Karunesh)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are counting down to the end of this celebration month. It's amazing how fast this month has gone, it feels like grains of sand slipping through my fingers. Time flies ... time it's a strange thing. We hope to have time and sometimes it feels like we have time enough, but ... well you know what I mean.

Today our last "musical" weekend starts with another wonderful composition by Karunesh. I love to thank him that he gave me permission to use his music. Thank you Karunesh that I had the opportunity to share your music. I hope that I, that we, have given it the touch of love, of haiku, you appreciate.

This track is titled "Remembering to Forget" and it is taken from "Zen Breakfast", an album Karunesh created in 2001. This video was made by Awa68.

Remembering to Forget ... isn't it a wonderful idea? There are memories we have to cherish, but there are also memories to forget. Nothing wrong with of course. I cherish all my memories, but there are a few that I love to forget, but can't, because "bad" memories we need too. All our memories, good or bad, make us who we are and who we will become.

autumn storm
blows away bad and good memories
leaves dance through the streets

© Chèvrefeuille

Do you have memories you cherish? Or memories you want to forget? Memories make us who we are.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 3rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our last musical prompt, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1278 Enigma (by Karunesh)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have a weekend off, and this weekend I am all alone at home, no problem by the way. My wife is visiting her parents and my youngest son is the weekend away with his friends. So I can listen, for example, to my own music. Right now I am listening to Mozart's Requiem, a composition he never could finish. He died before his final piece was ready. It's a wonderful composition and you have to listen to it once, it's sure worthy to listen.

Well ... as you know we are celebrating our fifth anniversary and this month we have not "weekend-meditations", but wonderful inspirational music every weekend. Yesterday I shared a nice piece of music composed by Peter Crowley and today I have another beautiful piece of music composed by Karunesh.

I couldn't find the title of the album from which its extracted, but maybe someone of you knows it. It's a real nice composition.

Before I became involved with haiku I was a wandering spirit. I didn't now how to fit in, but there was no reason (at least to me) to become fit in. I wandered through life and tried a lot of things. I dived into the occult, but that brought me lot of sadness and illness. So I had to take another path. I was a wandering spirit again, but now I hoped to find positive energy ...
That energy I found in haiku. So you can (maybe) say that haiku saved me from the negative path I was on. Through haiku I discovered the beauty of nature and it became a task for life to defend nature, not through an organisation or something, but just through teaching my kids and grandkids to take care of nature.
My kids and grandkids are all caring for nature, not all in the same way, but for example ... my kids and grandkids will never throw garbage on the streets or in nature. They are all "soldiers" to take care of nature.

dawn
dewdrops
shimmer
the fench
glistens

© Chèvrefeuille (experimental tanka)

I hope you did like the music and the post "an sich". This episode is open for your submissions tonight around 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Yekaterinburg, later on. For now ... be inspired and share your inspired haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with us all.

Carpe Diem #1270 desert travellers (Karunesh)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our luster month October 2017. Five years of CDHK ... isn't that something. I once had a goal to create a daily haiku-meme and ... well that goal I have achieved Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is still here and what a history we have already. All those beautiful prompts and all of your really wonderful responses. At the start there were approximately 5 or 6 responders, enough in my opinion, but not enough to go on. I even thought once to end it, but I am so glad that I didn't. I am so glad that I had the guts to go on with this dream, this goal.
I was excited when I met Jane Reichhold in 2013. She a renown haiku entrepeneur had time for me, a beginning haiku poet with a dream. I remember how friendly she was as I emailed her for the very first time. She took the time to answer my mail and the questions I had. I remember how proud I was as she started to co-host CDHK through a special feature "Ask Jane ...?" I remember that she once said that CDHK was the world's best website about haiku and tanka. I can only hope that she will be still proud on what I am doing. I feel her presence every day again as I am preparing the posts for CDHK. She watches my back, she gives me the inspiration I need, she ... at least her spirit is still here at CDHK.

Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

What a journey it is to be your host at CDHK. To find ways to inspire you. I made contact during our history with several other renown haiku poets, not only from all over the world, but also from my own country. I came in contact with wonderful musicians like Peter Crowley and Karunesh. I introduced classical and non-classical haiku poets to you and I even had the guts to help you improve your haiku writing skills. What an awesome place on the Internet this is, a place were you can write and share the beauty of Japanese poetry.

This month there will be no "weekend-meditations" instead of that I have chosen to inspire you through music, as I have done earlier here at CDHK. This first episode of this weekend is a piece of music by Karunesh, maybe you can remember that back in 2013 I had a whole month of inspirational music for you with the music of Karunesh. Karunesh granted me permission to use his music for our celebration month and I am grateful for that. Thank you Karunesh that I may use your music to inspire my visitors, the haijin and travelers by, with your music.

Maybe you have read the page about October 2017 than you have seen the prompt-list too. I had chosen a nice composition titled "Calling Wisdom", but I recently heard new compositions by Karunesh. I love to share one of those new compositions by Karunesh to inspire you today.

The above track is from Karunesh' latest album "Sun Within" (2016) and this is what he says about this album:

[...] "Everybody is different and everybody is unique - yet we are all connected. We are connected through the same source, the source of existence. We can get in touch with our inner self through stillness and meditation, dance and celebration. Just be yourself and let your inner light - the Sun Within - shine and lead you on your way." [...] (Source: karuneshmusic.com)

This track is titled "Desert Traveller". Take your time to listen to it. Become one with the music, maybe be that "desert traveller" yourself. I think this composition is really gorgeous and full of spirituality. I personally love the singer in this composition, she has a wonderful angel-like voice, really gorgeous.

wandering
lost and alone
but free

© Chèvrefeuille (experimental haiku)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 13th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, another beautiful piece of music to inspire you, later on. For now ... let the spirit of the desert be with you on your travel through the sands ... of music.

Carpe Diem #1269 reflection

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies ... there is already a whole week of this celebration month gone, time to reflect. This first week was really awesome. I have spoken with participants from the first years of CDHK and they will try to "walk in" this month of celebrations and I have got permission to use all the beautiful music of Karunesh. Maybe you can remember that month full of his wonderful spiritual music back in August 2013. This month we will have again a few wonderful compositions created by him. In our prompt-list I have mentioned already which ones that will be, but ... maybe I will change them, because very recently Karunesh has created a few new albums full of beautiful music. We will see.

I have read wonderful responses on the first week's prompts and I even had time to visit you all already. Really I have read wonderful haiku and tanka. I hope you all will be here this upcoming weeks and share your inspired haiku and tanka with us all.

reflection

Okay I will go on with our prompt for today. We are on the road along memory lane and this prompt I have done earlier in the summer of 2013. At the end of this episode I will give you the link to that episode. I remember that it was a short episode, just like it will be today.

Reflection it's a wonderful natural play as you can see in the above image and that "play" we can use in our haiku in a great way. Here is an example by Becca Givens, one of the first years participants, a great haiku poetess:

Mirror of my soul
Deep shimmering golden pond
Reflects Divine Love

© Becca Givens

Or what do you think of this one by Sara McNulty of Purple Pen in Portland, one of our all time participants:

Autumn leaves mirrored
In clear lake their colors float
Soon lake fills with fall

© Sara McNulty

Both are by the way responses on the prompt we do today in its reprise ... along memory lane.

reflection

And here is one of my own haiku I used in that episode, it's merely a senryu I think than a haiku, but to me those two forms are the same.

in front of the mirror

I open my young eyes -

an old grey man

© Chèvrefeuille

What is reflection?

Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. Common examples include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. (source: wikipedia)

clouds
swaying through the pool
frog jumps in

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think this episode is ready to be published, so I will do that immediately after I have given you the URL of the mentioned episode from summer 2013. You can find that episode HERE.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 12th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Calling Wisdom, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1109 Siddharta's Journey by Guy Sweens

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I love to share a "reprise" of a piece of music which I used earlier here at CDHK. Maybe you remember it, maybe not. I created this episode back in August 2013. I will not full re-create that post, but I love to share the music video of this wonderful piece of music by Guy Sweens, a young Dutch composer of New Age and Fusion music.

Guy Sweens

You can find more about him at his own website www.guysweens.com or you can read the mentioned episode HERE again.

Guy Sweens is a composer similar with that other favorite of mine Karunesh Karunesh was by the way the one who brought me the music of Guy Sweens, but that you can read in that mentioned episode of CDHK.

Here is the music video of Siddharta's Journey by Guy Sweens (video made by Nick of London)

I hope this composition will inspire you to create haiku or tanka. I love to share a re-done cascading haiku, I turned it into a set of tanka:

in the light of dawn
the world looks mysterious
a new day begins
the sweet sounds of birds singing
in the light of dawn

walking the path
from richness to poverty
enlightened Buddha
reaching for the deep truth of life -
walk his path

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 1st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Mists of Avalon by Adrian Von Ziegler, later on.

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #83 Imagination

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you know I am a busy man and I am always busy, but today I have a few things to do personal so I have a short Tokubetsudesu episode for you.

In this Tokubetsudesu episode I love to challenge you to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on a music clip by Karunesh "calling wisdom" (video by makhfii)

Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 19th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Finland, later on.

Carpe Diem Special #194 A Trip Along Memory Lane -- with a twist

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last CD-Special of January. This month our CD-Specials were all about special features which I have created during the liftime of CDHK. I started with one of my favorites, Carpe Diem Imagination, in which the goal was to write a haiku inspired on a photo, image or something else. And to close our Trip Along Memory Lane I have another special feature for you all, but this one I have never published earlier here at CDHK.

Let me tell you which special feature I am talking about. This feature I created shortly after our first month of inspirational music, but I never dared to publish it, because of its likeness with Imagination.

This special feature I had titled "Carpe Diem Awakens your Muse" and the goal was to share a video for your inspiration. These videos would be all about nature and so ... after thinking and re-thinking this I decided to bring this special feature in our last CD Special of January.

Credits: Sparrow on Lotus (logo CD Awakens Your Muse)

The goal of this CD-Special is to watch a video, look at the images, listen to the music and become one with the scene(s) in the video and awaken your muse and write/compose an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

Watch the video ... experience the beauty of the Japanese Spring and enjoy the music by Karunesh, one of my favorite musicians. Through this video I can only hope that your muse will awaken and that she will inspire you to write an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

fragile beauty
the shining wind* from the east
plays with cherry blossom

from far away
the sound of a temple bell
welcomes spring

cherry blossoms bloom
bare branches in designer cloths
children's laughter

© Chèvrefeuille

* "the shining wind" (a classical kigo) refers to the sparkling of spring sunshine and a gentle wind on a sunny spring day.

My muse was awake for sure ... but ... well you all know that cherry blossoms are my favorite theme for haiku. I hope you all did like this CD-Special and that you will forgive me that I never used this special feature in our CDHK lifetime.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 30th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, drinking tea, later on.

!! By the way I have published our new prompt-list for February which has been created by Hamish Managua Gunn. (You can find the new prompt-list above in the menu or HERE) !!

!! Note to Hamish: I have changed the consecution of your list a little bit. I hope you don't mind !!

Carpe Diem #752 eagles

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful responses I have read on our last Tokubetsudesu episode "flowers". It was also a joy to create that episode. And what a joy that I can use haiku from our Haiku Kai family members for examples. Thank you all for your participation and being a devoted family member of our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai family.

Today we are going further with our exploration of the modern summer kigo as compiled by Jane Reichhold in her "a dictionary of haiku". Our prompt for today is eagles and as you all know I have written several haiku on eagles during the years that CDHK exists and I will for sure re-produce a few here, but first I love to tell you something more about our upcoming months, our third quarter.

In July I will bring classical kigo (seasonwords) for summer, so than we are going further with exploring those wonderful seasonwords which have to be part of a haiku. In August I hope to take you all on a trip along the Nile, as I had planned last year. And in September I hope to do another month with modern kigo as compiled by Jane Reichhold. And while I am telling you all this I also will bring our next anniversary to your attention. Next October we will have our third anniversary and I hope that will become another wonderful festive month with great names in haiku.

Ok ... back to our prompt for today eagles ... I love to tell you first a little bit about the spiritual meaning of the eagle(s) before I go on with the prompt's haiku.

According to Native American Tribes, like the Maine Penobscot Indian Nation, the eagle is considered the messenger from God. It is believed to carry the prayers between the earthly world and the world of spirits. As such, the eagle is revered as a sacred animal and honored above all other birds. Eagle feathers have long been part of the Native American traditional worship and celebration and are thought to call the attention of God.

As animal totems, eagles are thought to bring spiritual awakening through wisdom, perspective and insight into your life. These spiritual messengers may reveal opportunities and give you the wisdom to reach your dreams.

Isn't it a wonderful creature? The king of the birds being our guide on our spiritual path. Eagle learns us through his ancient knowledge all we need to know. This majestic bird is one of my favorite creatures and therefore I love to share a few haiku first written by me.

First a cascading haiku:

laying down on my back
watching the deep blue night sky -
feeling my spirit

feeling my spirit
wishing to be free forever
like an eagle

like an eagle
free and high in the blue sky
my Inner Path

© Chèvrefeuille

And this haiku (which I posted a time ago on my personal weblog):

high in the mountains
seeking for deeper silence
the cry of an eagle

© Chèvrefeuille

To conclude this episode I have the haiku by Jane Reichhold which she shared in her "a dictionary of haiku".

mountain climbers
resting in an eerie
eaglets

mountain peak
an eagle leaves it
moonlight

© Jane Reichhold

I hope this post will inspire you all to write an all new haiku or tanka. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until June 13th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, arts, later on.

 

Carpe Diem #583, Magic Fields (August 2013) reprise

!! I am in the nightshift, so I post this new episode already this early. !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present our new episode of Carpe Diem to you. We are on a trip along memory lane and today we have arrived in August 2013. That month I introduced Karunesh to you all, a New Age/World Fusion musician. Karunesh has composed wonderful pieces of music and in August 2013 it was really a joy to have him as the one who delivered us all our prompts. So August 2013 was a month full of inspirational music.

"Magic Fields" was the title of the composition which I shared on August 20th 2013 and I love to share that piece of music here again:

Isn't it wonderful ... and so inspirational ...

magic is in the air
the sweet perfume of autumn
brings ecstasy

© Chèvrefeuille

I love the music of Karunesh ... it's really relaxing. I listen always to his music as I am in the nightshift and have to sleep during the day.
Well ... I hope this music will inspire you all to write an all new haiku (or share the haiku which you wrote than again here). Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 18th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, another nice haiku by Shiba Sonome, our featured haiku-poetess, later on.

Carpe Diem #285, The Peace Within

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

With sadness and joy I publish our last Carpe Diem episode of August with the wonderful music of Karunesh. I have enjoyed this month very much and as I read all of your comments and haiku I am sure that you all have enjoyed it too.
Next December I hope to do another Carpe Diem month with inspirational music. Which musician's music I am gonna use that month I will reveal in November as I publish the December prompt-list.
I am looking forward to our next Carpe Diem month in which we have all classical Japanese kigo (seasonwords) for autumn.
OK ... back to our episode for today The Peace Within, our last musical piece by Karunesh. I am glad that he granted me his permission and I am grateful for that. Thank you Karunesh for this honor.

This piece of music has a wonderful title I think. 'The Peace Within' is referring to the balance in your life which brings peace within. To me that's what haiku does. I write haiku since the late eighties and I have grown to a balanced person with a heart full of joy and love. I even think that haiku has a positive influence on my work as an oncology nurse. I am more balanced through haiku and I hope haiku does that also to you all.

'The Peace Within' is gorgeous so lean back, listen to the music, become one with the music and enjoy the video which is made by: eljasydanina

Well ... did you like it?

the gentle breeze
refreshes my troubled mind -
finally peace within

finally peace within
my head completely empty
through the spring breeze


This prompt will stay on 'till September 1st 11.59 AM (CET) and I will publish our next episode, the first prompt of September, Risshuu (coming of autumn), later on today around 7.00 PM (CET) I hope. It will be a joy to prepare all the wonderful kigo of autumn and the Specials by Southard. So pick up your pencil and paper and write your haiku right from the heart and inspired on 'The Peace Within' by Karunesh. You can submit your haiku at 7.00 PM (CET) today.

Namaste

Carpe Diem #284, Endless Skies

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today our before last prompt with music by Karunesh. Today I share Endless Skies (from the album "Beyond Heaven" 2003) with you all. A wonderful piece of music which brought me to a deeper place inside of my mind. A place were I came in contact with an ancient past, another life maybe, but it was a wonderful place to be ... the endless skies can do that with you.
Lean back, listen to the music and maybe you will find also a deep hidden spot somewhere in your mind ... you never know.

This video is made by: Jorge Serra it's a wonderful video and it brings you to that "hidden place" deep inside your mind.


ever blue skies
moving clouds take me with them -
lotusflowers bloom

lotusflowers bloom
inbetween mirrored clouds
and blue skies


I hope you enjoyed the music and that it inspired you to write haiku. Maybe you have found that hidden place inside your mind were you can rest and enjoy the greatness of our Creator.
This prompt will stay on 'till August 31th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will try to post our last episode of August later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). That will be The Peace Within. !! Endless Skies is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #283, Hidden Places

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What an awesome month we have this month. All the wonderful music by Karunesh, which I love to listen too, and I will missed it I think. Just a few days to this month and then we will start with an all new month full of classical Japanese autumn kigo. I am looking forward to that new month.
A few days ago I launched our new feature "distillation" and I have read wonderful distilled haiku and I hope you all will give it a try ... it's just fun and so like the classical haiku-poets way to write their haiku.

Today I have another wonderful musical video for you all with a nice piece of music by Karunesh it's called Hidden Places and it's about wonderful places around the world. I think that everyone has a favorite (and maybe hidden) place somewhere on our beautiful world. I have a wonderful "hidden"  place here in The Netherlands and I love to share that with you all.
In Leiden we have a Hortus Botanicus and in that garden they have made a wonderful Japanese Garden with awesome Japanese trees, bushes and flowers ... it's really a wonderful place to be and it's a very inspiring place.

Hortus Botanicus Leiden The Netherlands, Japanese Garden

Japanese Garden
place to be silent
inspiration grows


OK ... back to our episode of today. I love to share the following music video by Karunesh. This video is made by Christy Andreii. So lean back listen to the music and watch the video. Let it inspire you to write your haiku.

This prompt will stay on 'till August 30th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will try to publish our next episode, Endless Skies,  later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! Hidden Places is now open for your submissions !!

Carpe Diem #282, Secrets of Life

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This Carpe Diem month, full of wonderful music, is almost ending, four (4) days are left of this month and then we will enter a new month of Carpe Diem, with wonderful prompts for autumn and another featured 'modern' haiku-poet.
Today I share Secrets of Life with you, but what (without the music or a music-video) are the Secrets of Life? The secret of life is the live-giving energy of Mother Earth and the creating energy of the Creator, but secrets of life can also be something you have experienced and haven't told to someone ever.

Video made by Vips2466

An awesome video with wonderful nature and wonderful music intwined with eachother in great symphony and in praise of the Secrets of Life ...

inbetween leaves
hiding for the eyes of humans
young towhee birds


I hide my tears
behind the Holy Scripture
my brother died (*)

(*) in loving memory of my brother who died in 1995


"granddad come look!"
my grandson beckons me closer
"a homeless snail"

Credits: "a homeless snail"

Also a secret of life? Why does a snail has a shell and a "homeless snail" not ... My grandson had the answer. Would you want to know it? Well ... he said: "he hasn't paid his rent, that's why that snail has no house." How simple ... what a secret of life ... really I enjoy all the child's thoughts about something like 'a homeless snail'.

This prompt will stay on 'till August 28th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our last Carpe Diem Special by Kikaku later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! Secrets of Life is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #281, Punjab

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today a little trip back to India. Several days ago we went for a "Journey to India" and now we are goning on another trip ... we are going to Punjab. This musical video will bring you there ... lean back and listen to the music, become one with the music, and let the inspiration flow ...

This video is made by: khs1216

Be inspired and share your haiku on "Punjab" with us all here at Carpe Diem. This prompt will stay on 'till August 27th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Secrets of Life, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET) !! Punjab is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #280, The Conversation

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day in haiku paradise Carpe Diem another day for wonderful music written by Karunesh our featured New Age World Fusion Musician of this month. Today I had a busy day I am preparing our prompt-list for our first anniversary next October and I have laid contact with one of the most famous modern haiku-poets (and photographer) of our time. I have contacted Garry Gay and have asked him permission to use his haiku for our anniversary month next October ... he has granted me his permission to use his haiku. I am excited. In our News-section you can find his respons on my request. Garry Gay is a wellknown haiku-poet and he has developed the Rengay a specific form of Renga. I will write soon a Carpe Diem Extra episode about this wonderful new modern form of Renga, Garry has also given his permission to do that and he was honored as I am honored with his permission. So our first anniversary will be one long month of festivities. I am looking forward ... and I hope you all will too.

Credits: Garry Gay, our featured haiku-poet for October

OK back to our episode of today. Today I love to share The Conversation from the Album Nirvana Café (2002). What is conversation? Do we have a conversation here? I think everyone of us will know what a conversation is, talking with eachother and really listen to eachother. In some way this is what we are doing here at Carpe Diem.
I start a conversation with our daily posts and you all, my dear haijin, visitors and travelers, join in with your wonderful haiku. Together we have a conversation through haiku. Maybe that's the goal of haiku writing and sharing, but it could easily be the goal of a Tan Renga, a Rengay or Kasen Renga. Our haiku community is always in conversation and together we share haiku .. so Carpe Diem is a kind of collaborative writing ... I like that thought.

This video was made by Digital1958 and I think he/she has made a wonderful video with the music by Karunesh ... so lean back, enjoy the video, listen to the music, become one with it and let your inspiration flow ..

all alone
surrounded by Mother Nature
I say my prayers

I say my prayers
high above the lost village
no more talking

no more talking
not in tune with the world
all alone

I think I have chosen a bit sad/dark tone for this cascading haiku, because I feel like that ... sometimes we have nothing to talk about, there's no conversation possible and ... well that can also be a relief ... just me and Mother Nature, me and the silence, me and the breeze, me and the waves, me and the scream of seagulls ... that also is in a way a conversation ... well ... I am just me and sometimes I need the silence, to be alone and say my prayers ...

I hope you enjoyed this post and the wonderful music by Karunesh and that it inspired you to write you haiku and share it with us all here on Carpe Diem, the place to be if you like writing and sharing haiku with the world.
This prompt will stay on 'till August 26th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will take you again on a trip to India with Punjab later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! The Conversation is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #279, Calling Wisdom

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I share "Calling Wisdom" by Karunesh with you. A wonderful piece of music with a deeper meaning. We all once in a while are calling for wisdom, then we go outside to be in deep contact with Mother Earth or (as I mostly do) just take a walk through the neighborhood.
In last May we were calling wisdom from the Tarot and that brought us new insights. We are all seeking for wisdom ... and I hope that I can help you all a little bit with sharing 'my wisdom' with you. "Calling Wisdom", I hope, will inspire you all to write wonderful haiku ...
I once wrote an essay for Wonder Haiku Worlds in which I compared the Haiku with the Koan and I think that we all can share our wisdom and knowledge through our haiku.

[This video is made by The Tark It’s his first attempt to create an experience that immerses the viewer into the show by combining the visual imagery of a fractal kaleidoscope with the effects produced by the music. The video is best viewed at 720p in a dark room sitting close to the screen. The Tark is working on several others based on what he learned making this one.]

By the way Calling Wisdom is from the Album Zen Breakfast which was released in 2001.

following the path
through the neigborhood were I live
seeking wisdom

seeking wisdom
in the depths of my heart -
Honeysuckle blooms

Honeysuckle blooms
I just follow the path to my mind
and become all new

Not a strong series, but it was just a joy to compose this haiku inspired by the wonderful Calling Wisdom music by Karunesh.
This prompt will stay on 'till August 25th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, The Conversation, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! Calling Wisdom is open for your submissions right now !!

Carpe Diem #278, Japanese Spring

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to prepare an all new episode of Carpe Diem with wonderful inspirational music by Karunesh I am still a lucky man that I may use his music for our daily haiku meme. Really I hadn't even dreamed about this, but I am for sure a lucky man. And I am so glad that you, my dear friends, do like the music by Karunesh and that it inspires you to such wonderful haiku. It makes me proud and humble to be your host here.
Today I love to share the next musical video made by Christy Andreii on Japanese Spring by Karunesh. Enjoy the video, lean back listen to the music, be one with the music and let the music inspire you to write new haiku for Carpe Diem.

Isn't it wonderful? Lovely music which brings the joy of the Japanese Spring. This track Japanese Spring is from the album "Colours of Light" (1987). It's one of his first albums he ever made. So in this track you can hear the 'old' Karunesh and you can compare this track with other tracks we have had through the last weeks. 

joyful time of year
cherry blossoms start blooming -
the rustling breeze

the rustling breeze
asks the cherry blossoms for a dance -
tears are flowing

A joyful circle of life caught in a set of haiku ... Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with Carpe Diem.

This prompt will stay on 'till August 24th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Calling Wisdom, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! Japanese Spring is open for submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem #277, Magic Fields

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are in the last 'trimester' of this wonderful month of musical prompts and it was (and still is) an adventure to prepare the episodes for this month and it was an adventure to let my inspiration be lead by music. To me music was (and is) always a great source of inspiration and I have seen this month that music can be an inspiration. I have read wonderful haiku inspired on the music by Karunesh and that makes me happy. It feels like some kind of magic to see what music can do with you and with me.

Today I have Magic Fields for prompt and that's a wonderful prompt I think. As I look around me and I see the fields and meadows blossom with thousands of colors then that has to be MAGIC and if not ... well to me it feels like magic. I am always happy as I see those wonderful colored fields and it's really a joy to stroll through those fields ... looking around me in the strong hope that I find another nice field flower or something ... it's a kind of love I think a kind of unconditional love for all and everything around me. It's really a joy to see God in all and everything around me.

Listen to the music, lean back, close your eyes and dream away in the Magic Fields .... (Video made by Daniel R)

Awesome ... I felt if I was really there. Wonderful, just wonderful. I even don't have words to describe what I saw and felt. Nevertheless I have tried to write my new haiku:

Mother Nature's magic
bewitches me every day again -
cherry blossoms bloom

cherry blossoms bloom
finally, after a long cold winter,
I welcome spring

I welcome spring
seasons come and go
Mother nature's magic

I am looking forward to all of your wonderful haiku inspired on this music by Karunesh. This prompt will stay on 'till August 22th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new Carpe Diem episode later on today. That will be the fourth CD Special written by Kikaku. I haven't made my choice for a haiku by Kikaku ... so you all have to wait ... sorry. !! Magic Fields is open for submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!