Carpe Diem Special #139, Santoka Taneda's "the dragon flies"

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's a bit sad and today with a little pain in my heart I present to you our last CD-Special by Santoka Taneda (1882-1940), our featured haiku poet of March. Next month we will have another featured haiku-poet. Maybe you already have read which one that will be. Next month we will have Kala Ramesh, an Indian haiku-poetess, as our featured haiku-poet.
Recently I discovered that Kala Ramesh and I were published in the same worldwide anthology "Spasms of Light" (2011). I am excited and I am looking forward to next month especially the haiku by Kala Ramesh, who already has granted me permission to use her haiku.

Ok ... back to Santoka Taneda, this month's featured haiku-poet. As you maybe remember ... Santoka was a for-stander of the so called "free-style" haiku. However the haiku for today's episode of CD-Special is very classic and (in my opinion) a real beauty.
The goal of this CD-Special is to write/compose a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given by the featured haiku-poet.
 

the dragon flies
perch on my kasa
as I walk along

© Santoka Taneda

I didn't say to much I think ... a beauty, but how to catch that beauty in a new haiku inspired on the haiku by Santoka? Maybe it's an idea to look at another "dragonfly" haiku which I found on "Hello Poetry".

Dragonfly

Dragonfly with wings of Blue, what makes me wonder just like you
You hover over a yellow flower, mesmerized by her power
I see myself attracted to, the colors of life, just like you
Something bright will pull me in, to take my light deep deep within
Oh dragonfly Oh dragonfly lets savor life, just you and I

© Johnny Dod (2010)

A wonderful poem by Johnny Dod in which we even can see something of Santoka's way of writing haiku and using repetition (the last two lines).

And here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on the haiku by Santoka Taneda:

what a surprise!
as I kneel next to the old pond
dragonflies mating

© Chèvrefeuille

This is real beauty. Look at those dragonflies while they are mating they look like a heart ... amazing.

I have tried to make a haiga of this haiku and here is the result.

This episode of Carpe Diem Special will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 31st at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, fashionista, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Little Creatures #18, Issa's "rice blossoms"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Saturday again and it's time for our bi-weekly feature "little creatures". As you all know (maybe) Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) is THE haiku-master of the little creatures. Issa wrote a lot of haiku about the little creatures like bees, bugs, fireflies and, as we will see in this episode, about dragonflies.

As I was preparing this episode I visited the Haikuguy website were you can find every haiku known and unknown written/composed by Kobayashi Issa. This visit I especially looked at dragonfly haiku. Why? I don't know ... just because I like Issa's dragonfly haiku I think. I think the "dragonfly"-haiku which I have chosen for this episode is one of his most beautiful haiku on dragonflies.


Credits: Rice Blossoms

tombô mo ogamu te tsuki ya ine no hana

the dragonfly too
folds hands in prayer...
rice blossoms

(c) Kobayashi Issa

The "too" (mo) implies that a farmer, perhaps Issa, is the other person in the scene offering a prayer of thanksgiving for the good rice crop, that now has gone to blossom and is ready for harvest. The dragonfly joins in. Issa's poem deserves to be read at face value: this dragonfly really is praying, not just seeming to pray. The fact that its "hands" are rubbing together is, of course, coincidental. But this prayer-like gesture captures Issa's attention and leads him to conclude that the little dragonfly sitting in stillness, perhaps on the blooming tip of a rice plant, is, in fact, praying. If the key prayer in Pure Land Buddhism is one of gratitude for Amida Buddha's saving grace--an experience of trusting in the Other Power of the Beyond while letting go of selfish calculations--then the dragonfly, non-calculating, surrendering to the wind, fully attuned to the present moment...is the purest embodiment of prayer. (Source: Haikuguy.com)

Credits: Qian Xuan - Early Autumn

Wow! What a great woodblock print in which we can see lots of little creatures and ofcourse dragonflies (at the right side of the image) ... I think this image fits this Little Creatures feature very well, maybe I am going to use it to create a new logo for our Little Creatures feature, but that's more a thought.

As you all know the goal of this Little Creatures feature is to write/compose an all new haiku inspired on this post and following the classical rules (as you can find in our CD Lecture 1) ... not an easy task I think ... but worth a try.

cherry blossoms bloom
first bees come to gather honey -
cherries in autumn

(c) Chèvrefeuille

What a joyful haiku this is, it has caught the the essence of the task of the bees ... I like this one ... how pretentious (smiles) ... As you all know I am not such a fan of the 5-7-5 syllables structure, but I have succeeded in this one ... and it was a struggle. I love to share a second version of this haiku, but than in (as I call it kanshicho-style):

cherry blossoms
bees gather honey
cherries in fall

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Which one do you like? Without influencing your ideas ... I like that 2nd version the most, because it's more my way of writing haiku.

Credits: Bee on Cherry Blossom

Well ... it's now up to you my dear Haijin to write an all new haiku inspired on this Little Creatures episode. Have fun, be inspired and share.

This episode is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and it will remain open until next Saturday February 28th at noon (CET).