Carpe Diem #1697 Renga With Jane Reichhold ... placing the flute

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month it's all about "Summer Love" in the broadest sense of the word. So I hope this month will trigger you to create wonderful "summer love" poems.

The weekend is almost over and I hope you all have had a great weekend full of inspiration. I had a busy weekend, because I had to work at the nursing home for the elderly people were I am working since the start of this year after the bankrupcy of the hospital were I was working. It's still a strange feeling that a hospital can go in bankrupcy, but well I have still the work that I love ... being an oncology-nurse. At this new workplace I have the responsibility for the care for our oncology patients and I am responsible for the implementation of the oncology care. A wonderful challenge I can say, but it takes a lot of my time, but ... it gives me a lot satisfaction.

For this new regular episode I have chosen to challenge you to create a "Renga with Jane Reichhold". I have extracted six haiku from her "A Dictionary of Haiku", Summer section, to work with. I hope you all will enjoy this challenge and (of course) I hope your Renga With Jane will be a tribute for her to honor her. She is still missed dearly ...

Here are the six haiku I have chosen:

wind perfumed
from a woman's shoulder
desert night

dancing on the beach
I jab a stick into the sky
to break up the blue

days so complete
words become the calls of birds
the high tide wind

placing the flute

placing the flute
against her lips something
slips into place

I'm not old
all night my eyes have held
the ancient stars

moon white water
lovers in the secret cove
Saturday night

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Six beautiful haiku to work with. You can chose your own "line-up", add your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) and try to make the "chain complete". The first (hokku) and the last (ageku) haiku have to have a slight connection.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until July 14th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, full of summer love, later on. For now ... have fun!!

Carpe Diem #1584 Winter Renga With Jane Reichhold -- spots of blue

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. Sorry for being this late, but I hadn't time to publish it on time. This month we are exploring modern and classical seasonwords (kigo) for winter and today I have six modern kigo for you to work with. All kigo are taken from Jane Reichhold's Saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" and are all from the section Winter, subsection Celestial.

Today I love to challenge you to create a renga with Jane Reichhold. I will give you six haiku written by her to work with (including the six modern kigo) and create a renga with. As you all know in this feature you can choose your own "line-up" of the given haiku and you have to add the two lined stanza between them. Try to make the "chain" complete by using the "hokku" and the "ageku" rule, that means the last stanza, the ageku, has to be connected to the first stanza, the hokku, through association.

Here are the six modern kigo I have chosen: air, dawn, moon, stars, first light and sunset. And here are the haiku to work with:

frost sharp air
cut into pieces by sunshine
sparkling on snow 

winter dawn
sounds of blowing snow
sleeping birds 

spots of blue
varying the light to fit
tracks in the snow 

Tracks In The Snow

cold winds
rounding snow-capped peaks
a full moon 

before one star
beams from the lighthouse
search the sky 

ocean sunset
staying by the window
'till the color sinks 

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from "A Dictinary of Haiku")

Six wonderful haiku by Jane to work with. Take the opportunity to create a renga together with Jane Reichhold in honor of her. She is still missed.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1555 Renga With Basho ... still it sways

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai were we are celebrating autumn as you can read in the theme "the leaves are falling". Today I have chosen to challenge you with a new "Renga With Basho ...". As you all know I see him as my sensei and I am honored that I may give you the opportunity to create renga with my sensei. You can choose your own "line-up" and of course your own "hokku" (starting verse). You have to add your two-lined stanza of approximately 14 syllables. Please try to "close the chain" by creating an "ageku" (closing verse) that associates with the "hokku".

Lactarius Hatsudake (Photo © Ruben Walleyn)

Here are the six haiku to use:

mushrooms *
not yet that many days
of autumn dew

pine mushroom
with its ragged top it's
like a pine tree

moon past full
the beginning of a little more
darkness

morning glories
in the daytime a lock lowered
on the gate **

chrysanthemum flowers
bloom at the stonemason's
between stones

Glistening Dew (image found on Pinterest)

glistening dew
not spilling from bush clover
still it sways

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from "Basho, The Complete Haiku")

* The mushroom here is the Lactarius Hatsudake it bleeds a reddish liquid that changes into green when broken. In spite of this spooky attribute, the mushroom is edible. One does not know from the poem whether the autumn dew that Basho mentions is actual dew or this fluid.

** Remarks on Closing The Gate: "... if anyone comes, I have to make unnecessary talk. If I go out to visit anyone, I feel bad for disturbing him. I should be content without any friends. I should feel wealthy in spite of my poverty. A fifty-year-old man writes this for himself as precept for his edification".

Six wonderful haiku I think. Full of intensity and beauty. A real joy to work with I think and I am looking forward to all your beautiful responses. By the way ... I love to create a new exclusive CDHK E-book in which I will gather all your wonderful renga created with Basho. I hope you all will be okay with that.

Cover of our new exclusive CDHK E-book "still it sways" renga with the master

This episode is NOW OPEN for your responses and will remain open until December 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #55 Renga With Basho Hineri ... picking flowers in the rain

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday October 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our weekend meditation our special feature for the weekend to meditate and contemplate before submitting our inspired poems. This weekend meditation I have chosen to challenge you with a new "Renga With Basho Hineri" episode. As you (maybe) know "hineri" means "with a twist", so there is a "twist". This time that "twist" is to start with a haiku that is original the "hokku" of a renga Basho attended. The "hokku" to start with is the fifth haiku of the given series. In that haiku you also find the title of this "Renga With Basho" episode "picking flowers in the rain".

Here are the haiku to use. Except the hineri-hokku you can choose your own "line-up" of the haiku. Create a renga together with Basho by adding your two lined stanza between the haiku and try to complete the "chain" in your "ageku" (closing verse).

Here are the haiku to use:

more reassuring
than in a dream
the real hawk

now farewell
for snow viewing we'll fall down
until we get there

frozen dew
a dry brush draws
clear water *

wine cup
don't drop in any dirt
village swallows

wearing a paper robe
even if it gets wet
picking flowers in the rain

go naked
one needs to wear more clothes
in February's storm **

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold; taken from "Basho, the complete haiku")

* In ink paintings, the white of the paper is used to indicate water. Because the dew is frozen, Basho cannot moisten his ink and brush and thus can only draw clear water on his painting.

** This one is based on the legend of Saint Zoga (917-1003), a Buddhist priest who gave away his clothes and went naked after receiving a divine message from the god of Ise Grand Shrine that he should throw away fame and wealth.

Enjoy your weekend.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday October 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until October 28th at noon (CEST).

By the way ... I have to apologize to you all, because I am far behind with commenting. I hope to visit all of your wonderful contributions a.s.a.p.

Carpe Diem #1519 Junicho, the twelve stanza renga (Soliloquy No Renga)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy this month is. It's really a feast this month and that makes me happy. I hope you all like the choice of prompts I have made. Today we have arrived at the letter J and I have chosen the theme "Junicho" and for sure you have heard from Junicho, because that's the kind of renga we are creating in our "Renga With ..." feature, but there is something about the Junicho I didn't know. So therefore I have chosen this theme. Let me give you an explanation of the Junicho.

Junicho--meaning ‘twelve tone’--is a ‘single sheet’ poem that disregards the formal separations of the jo-ha-kyu movement. There is no set seasonal progression, though each season is represented and the poem would be expected to open with the season in which composition takes place. Spring and autumn carry their traditional greater weight, the poem overall dividing more or less equally between season and non-season verses. The typical distribution therefore is: winter - one, summer - one, spring - two, autumn - two, and non-season - six.

cherry blossom road

The Junicho allows for a single blossom verse; this may appear in any season and be any type of flower. The poem will likewise contain a single moon verse that may also appear in any season and be otherwise shorn of classical precedent. 'Love' will be represented by a pair or so of verses that may appear in any position.

Source: Simply Haiku (online haiku magazine)

So for this episode I challenge you to create a Junicho on your own following the above mentioned pattern. As you can read above a traditional Junicho opens with the season in which composition takes place. So if you are living on the Northern Hemisphere, your Junicho has to start with an autumn verse. Are you living on the Southern Hemisphere, your Junicho has to start with a spring verse.

Enjoy rhis challenge!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge September 2018 Chained Together III (21) lend me your arms

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last regular episode in our Tan Renga Challenge Month. I ran through my archives to find a nice haiku to end this month with, but couldn't find the right one. So I have done some research to find haiku from the western world and I ran into a haiku by a fellow dutchman, Hendrik Doeff (1764-1837) who was the Dutch commissioner in the Dejima trading post in Nagasaki, during the first years of the 19th century. (source: wikipedia)

The haiku to close this TRC month with is the earliest known haiku written by a non-Japanese haiku poet and Hendrik Doeff has written that haiku. This makes me proud, because a fellow dutchman has written that haiku ... how awesome that is ...

Hendrik Doeff

Here is the haiku to work with and turn into a Tan Renga by adding your second (two-lined) stanza of approximately 14 syllabes:

inazuma no kaina wo karan kusamakura 

lend me your arms,
fast as thunderbolts,
for a pillow on my journey.

© Hendrik Doeff

I hope you will be inspired to add your stanza to this haiku to make the Tan Renga complete. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 4th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last weekend meditation of this month later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge September 2018 Chained Together III (20) in an empty shoe

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate regular episode of our wonderful Kai. This month I challenged you to create Tan Renga with "hokku" and "ageku" given by me and you all did a great job on these challenges. You all make me so proud and love to thank you all for that.

Arigato (Thank You)

For this penultimate regular episode I have chosen a haiku by Virginia Popescu and I hope she will appreciate my choice.

This "hokku" Virginia wrote in response on one of our "masterpiece"- episodes:

rest on the field –
a lonely cricket chirping
in an empty shoe

© Virginia Popescu

Isn't it a wonderful masterpiece? I hope it will give you the inspiration to complete the task ... making the Tan Renga complete by adding your second stanza of two lines with approximately 14 syllables.

This TCR episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 3rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new (and last regular) episode of September later on.

Carpe Diem's Renga With Basho #7 I'm a wanderer

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is time for a new episode of Carpe Diem's Renga With Basho the special feature in which I challenge you to create a renga together with the master, with Basho. I will give you six (6) haiku written by Basho. You can choose your own line-up of the haiku. Your task is to create the two-lined stanza between the haiku. Try to create a closed chain through bringing the "hokku" (starting verse) and the "ageku" (closing verse) connected.

Your renga must have a minimum of six (6) verses and may have a maximum of twelve (12) verses. This renga form (12 verses) is called Juunichoo.

Here are the six haiku by Basho, translated by Robert Hass:

all the day long-

yet not long enough for the skylark,

singing, singing.

by the old temple,

peach blossoms;

a man treading rice

the shallows –

a crane’s thighs splashed

in cool waves   

I'm a wanderer

so let that be my name –

the first winter rain                         

dragonfly

the dragonfly

can't quite land
on that blade of grass.

autumn moonlight--
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

A nice selection of Basho's haiku. Enjoy the fun, making a renga together with the master is really awesome.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 11th at noon (CEST). Have fun!



Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #46 Renga With Basho Hineri "autumn coolness"

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday August 19th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's almost weekend and that means time again for our special feature Carpe Diem's Weekend Meditation and this weekend I love to challenge you with a new version of our "Renga With Basho". As you al know (maybe) Basho was a famous renga-master and he attended several renga parties as a guest, a participant or as judge.
Today I was re-readin Jane Reihhold's "Basho, The Complete Haiku" and ran into a beautiful "hokku" he wrote for one of the renga parties he attended. That gave me a nice idea. I love to challenge you this weekend to create (again) a Renga With Basho, but this weekend I have "re-named" this special feature to "Renga With Basho Hineri". "Hineri" means "with a twist" and than you all can know that this is a little bit different than our regular special feature "Renga With Basho".

I will give you six haiku written by Basho in a translation by Jane Reichhold, but one of those haiku is a real "hokku" used by Basho at a renga-party he attended. You have to start your Renga With Basho with that real "hokku".

Here are the six haiku (including the real "hokku") to work with. The goal is to write the 2-lined stanza between the haiku and to close the "chain" with a "ageku" that connects the last verse with the first one. Except the hokku you can choose your own line-up for this Renga With Basho Hineri.

blossoms at their peak
the mountain the same as always
at daybreak

with young leaves
I would like to wipe away
the tears in your eyes

swinging bridge
lives are intertwined
in Ivy vines

Melons and Eggplant (Japanese woodblock print)

autumn coolness
each peeling with our hands
melons and eggplant

a clear night
cooling myself under cherry trees
waves of flowers

to get wet passing by
a man is interesting
bush clover in rain

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold; taken from "Basho, The Complete Haiku")

The original "hokku", the first verse of this renga is the one in fat-green print. That "hokku" you have to use as the starting verse of your Renga With Basho Hineri. You can choose your line-up from the five other haiku (in dark blue).

Create your Renga With Basho Hineri by writing the two-lined stanza with approximately 14 syllables. It's up to you now ...

This weekend meditation is open for submissions next Sunday August 19th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until August 26th at noon (CEST). I hope to publish our new regular episode around the same time. For now ... have fun and enjoy your weekend.

Carpe Diem Universal Jane #3 riversong

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is wednesday again so time for a new episode of our special feature in honor of Jane Reichhold, Carpe Diem Universal Jane. Jane's spirit moves here around on CDHK, because she was a great part of our haiku loving community and we have learned a lot from her.
Universal Jane is for her ... to honor her and remember her for ever as the connoisseur of haiku, tanka and renga, but mostly for her in loving memory, my friend and mentor as she was to a lot of us here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Jane, as we all know, was not only a haiku poetess, but also a tanka poetess pur sang, but she also was on e of the leading souls in the art of renga, or chained verse. We have done rnega here at CDHK several times and I had the opportunity to create a e-book of Jane's book "Bare Bones School of Renga", which you can find in the Jane Reichhold library here at CDHK. 

Renga ... the chained verse, that beautiful form in which we can create poetry together through interaction and association. Maybe you can remember our Tan Renga month earlier this year. Tan Renga (looks like Tanka) is a short chained verse of two stanza written by two poets. Maybe you remember the following Tan Renga:

The first stanza was by Jane Reichhold:

shadows of leaves
cover the open holes
her flute forgotten                         (© Jane Reichhold)

This was my response on this beautiful "hokku" by Jane:

caressing summer breeze
enchanted melody rises                 (© Chèvrefeuille)

I love to challenge you, in honor of Jane to create a Tan Renga with the following haiku ("hokku") by Jane Reichhold. This haiku was extracted from the online version of Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku".

riversong
wind blown from autumn trees
a stream of gold

© Jane Reichhold

A nice autumn haiku, so try to associate on the images in this haiku to create a second stanza towards this "hokku" by Jane. Your 2nd stanza has two lines (approximately following 7-7 syllables). Please share this "hokku" by Jane Reichhold also in your post.

Maybe I can challenge you a little bit more ... let's try to create a Soliloquy no Renga with this "hokku" by Jane. A Soliloquy no Renga is a "renga" written by one poet with a maximum of eight (8) stanza. The last stanza is the "ageku" and must close the chain through association on the first stanza, the "hokku". You can find more on Soliloquy no Renga (a renga form which I created) HERE.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, a new CD special by our third guest Herman van Rompuy, later on.