Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!
A second Tan Renga Challenge Month episode for today, because of the problems earlier this week with our weblog, to catch up. With this seventh episode posted now I am on route again (smiles). For this episode I love to share a haiku written by Maggie Grace of Falling into me which she composed in response on 'Willow leaves', back in September as we had classical Japanese kigo.
shedding
summer skin
willow floats downstream
reflecting season's end
(c) Maggie Grace
A wonderful photo don''t you think? I used it in that episode to which I was referring above. Maybe it helps you to be inspired for the second stanza of this Tan Renga.
This episode will stay on until November 9th 11.59 AM (CET). This episode is open for your submissions later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
Our prompt of yesterday, symbiotic, wasn't an easy on. I have read that statement several times in your posts and I must say ... yes it was, but I have read wonderful haiku and that makes me so proud. Nevertheless that a prompt is difficult, you all have given it a try ... great!
Today we have another nice prompt and I think that our prompt for today, Release (provided by Maggie Grace), isn't that difficult, but also not an easy one. Release ... a real autumn word I think, in this season in which the trees let loose their leaves and in which several kinds of birds are departing, releasing is one of the things nature (and humankind included) have to let go, have to release their feelings of the lighter seasns as spring and summer. Releasing? Sometimes you have to release loved ones as e.g. a marriage doesn't work out anymore or someone you loved dies ... release can also be letting go negative emotions through meditation or a retraite. Release ... a song which came in mind is the one once sung by Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck (and several other musicians and artists). It's about releasing a loved one in a relationship and I love to share that song here:
I love to share a part of the lyrics of the wellknown song:
Please
release me, Let me go
For I, Don't love you anymore
To waste our lives, Would be a sin
Release me, And let me love again
I have
found, A new love dear
And I will always, Want her near
Her lips are warm, While yours are cold
Release me, my darling, Let me go
It's a nice song, but as you can read a very sad song ... it's all about releasing someone else to start a new life. Sometimes people don't fit anymore and then they have to go both separate ways.
Release ... a real autumn word about letting go ... as we see in the falling of the colorful leaves, the change of the weather and as we can see in the departing of several kinds of birds. So with this prompt ... it will bring sad haiku I think, but releasing can be a good thing to do. Leaves, blossoms and flowers decay, depart, release ... to come back even nicer, even more beautiful ... so releasing has also a positive energy of new life.
leaves falling released from their branches finally free
finally free colorful leaves falling complete circle
complete circle blossoming, growing, decaying leaves falling
A wonderful prompt Maggie ... Thank you Maggie that you have provided this prompt for Carpe Diem's daily haiku meme. I hope you all did like the read and the music. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku on Release with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
This prompt will stay on 'til October 19th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Forgiveness (provided by Patricia), later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! Release ... is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!
This Haiku Kai has once started out of my own joy to promote my beloved haiku. Since October 2012, as I started, our Haiku Kai has grown (and still growing) and has become a family of haiku poets from all over the world.
As I prepare this episode, Embrace (provided by Maggie Grace), I couldn't help to think about our haiku family. It feels like a warm embrace and as I read all of your contributed haiku, senry, tanka and other forms of Japanese poetry, it gives me a real warm feeling. I think that this family provides enough safety and freedom to open up and share with loving joy your feelings and thoughts with haiku. That makes me a proud and humble host. I am blessed with all of your love.
So with this episode I give you all a (virtual) warm embrace, a hug ... thank you all for being a family-member of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Especially for you all, my dear haijin, friends, visitors and travelers, I love to share a cascading, non-classical, haiku:
like a family you my dear friends I embrace - unconditional love unconditional love shared by a bunch of haiku poets from all over the world from all over the world haijin come together to share like a family
This prompt will stay on 'til October 13th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Tea (provided by Cathy Tenzo), later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! Embrace is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!
Today I love to go on a quest, a quest to find the deeper meaning of life and to find the Inner Self. I think this episode's prompt has a lot to do with haiku. Haiku isn't only a nice form of poetry, but it's also a way of life, a way to explore our deeper spiritual grounds. Haiku has his roots in Japan and the ancient Japanese were very close to nature, they were part of nature and that we can see in haiku, but also in Shinto (the Japanese religion with a lot of nature spirits and gods) and in Zen-Buddhism. Today our prompt is provided byMaggie Grace and she suggested Vision Quest. So today we are on a Vision Quest, but what is a Vision Quest? I have sought on the Internet to find an article or website about the Vision Quest.
A vision
quest is a rite of passage in some Native American cultures. The ceremony of
the Vision Quest is one of the most universal and ancient means to find
spiritual guidance and purpose. A Vision Quest can provide deep understanding
of one's life purpose.
A traditional
Native American Vision Quest consists of a person spending one to four days and
nights secluded in nature. This provides time for deep communion with the
fundamental forces and spiritual energies of creation and self-identity. During
this time of intense spiritual communication a person can receive profound
insight into themselves and the world. This insight, typically in the form of a
dream of Vision, relates directly to their purpose and destiny in life.
In many
Native American groups the vision quest is a turning point in life taken to
find oneself and the intended spiritual and life direction. The Vision Quest is
often used as a Rite of Passage, marking the transition between childhood and
full acceptance into society as an adult. A person’s first Vision Quest is
typically done during their transformative teenage years. When an older child
is ready, he will go on a personal, spiritual quest alone in the wilderness,
often in conjunction with a period of fasting. This usually lasts for a number
of days while the child is attuned to the spirit world. Usually, a Guardian
animal or force of nature will come in a vision or dream and give guidance for
the child's life. A Vision Quest helps
the teenager to access spiritual communication and form complex abstract
thoughts. Through this Rite of Passage the child becomes an adult, taking
responsibility for themselves and their individual contribution to a healthy
society. The child returns to the tribe and once the child has grown he or she
will pursue that direction in life. After a vision quest, the child may become
an apprentice of an adult in the tribe of the shown direction (Medicine Man,
boat-maker and so on).
The vision
quest is the learning and initiation process of the apprentice under the
guidance of an elder.
The vision
quest may be said to make the initiated establish contact with a spirit or
force.
The Lakota
Sioux word for Vision Quest is Hembleciya (ham-blay-che-ya). The word
Hembleciya translates to “Crying for a Dream.” This refers to the “Quester”
both physically and internally crying for a Vision or Sacred Dream. Sometimes
this ceremony is called “going up on the hill,” because people would often go
to a nearby mountain or butte to complete their Vision Quest.
Typically
the quest is completed deep in nature, far away from civilization. At times it
can be done closer to where people live, but located in a pit dug deep into the
ground. The person on the Vision Quest either chooses or is told the location
for their Quest. They are also instructed in all preparations and on how many
days and nights the quest will last by a Medicine Person (aka Holy Person).
This Medicine Person will guide the Quester in all aspects of the ceremony and
provide spiritual support and guidance.
Before a
Vision Quest is started the Quester is purified in a sweat lodge, often over
many days. On the day of the quest they start their fast at sunrise. They also
forgo sleep and food. They give up all that it takes to live in the physical
world and rely on the strength of spirit to sustain them for the duration of
the quest.
The Quester
is purified one last time in a sweat lodge ceremony and then taken to the
designated place of the quest. There they will stay without food, water or
sleep for one to four nights. During this time the person focuses their heart,
mind, body, and spirit on the guidance they are seeking. They must overcome
their earthly wants and desires and face their human nature to fully receive
the Vision.
Upon
completion of the Quest they are brought back to a sweat lodge. There, the
Quester speaks of his or her experience to a Medicine Person who provides
spiritual guidance and interpretation of the Vision. The Medicine Person helps
the Quester understand his or her experience.
The Vision
that is received will provide guidance to the person for the rest of their
life. Some people are called to do many Vision Quests over the course of their
lifetime.
A great musical video I hope you did like it as much as I did. Well let's go do some Vision Quest-like haiku composing. Here is my attempt to catch the essence of the vision quest in a few lines:
in deep silence surrounded by nature's spirits finding the path
finding the path at the hand of the master - chestnuts fall
chestnuts fall spirits will have my attention seeking the path
seeking the path walking the 'Narrow Road' in deep silence
A nice cascading haiku, I love the meaning of the Vision Quest and I am still on my way to find my path to Inner Peace and deeper, sacred knowledge ... haiku is just my way to be on a Vision Quest.
This prompt will stay on 'til October 6th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Chaos (provided by Cathy Tenzo), later on today around 7.00 PM (CET) !! Vision Quest is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!
