Carpe Diem #1786 & #1787 (double episode)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have a double episode for you, because during circumstances I couldn't publish yesterday. So this episode I will give you two themes to work with, both episodes have their own linking widget.

(#1786) Renga with Chèvrefeuille.

For this first part of this double episode I have chosen for "Renga With Chèvrefeuille", I will give you six haiku written by myself and extracted from my personal website "Chèvrefeuille's Haikublog". The goal is to add your own two lined stanza to make the Renga (Junicho = a 12 stanza renga) complete. You may choose your own "line-up".

reaching for the sun
lotus flowers blooms from the mud
old pond changes

deep silence
even deeper as the nightingale starts to sing
beautiful life

snow falls gently
covers up the autumn fields
faraway sounds

Reflections

reflections

scattered by autumn leaves

the old pond

a last leaf

swirls on the wind towards the east -

first snow falls gently

farewell verse

as I depart from the train station

forget me not

© Chèvrefeuille

NOW OPEN for your submissions until December 2nd at noon (CET).

(#1787) Modern kigo

For the second part of this episode I have chosen a modern kigo taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". It's an autumn kigo. As you all know Jane was once my co-host here at CDHK and she is still missed. So create your haiku in honor of her.

Here is the theme: Autumn Equinox

And here are a few examples of haiku with this modern kigo created by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016):

autumn equinox
cool wind comes scented
sun-hot pine needles

autumn equinox
putting porch furniture away
getting it out again

© Jane Reichhold

Autumn Equinox

Two beauties by Jane ... and now it is up to you to create haiku with this modern kigo. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 2nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1645 Abalone (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A new episode in our journey through the classical and modern kigo for spring and today I have (again) a nice modern kigo by Jane Reichhold, extracted from her saijiki "a dictionary of haiku". As you all know Jane was an awesome and renown modern haiku poetess and she was once my co-host here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

I can say she was a real friend and I still miss her every day, but I believe that her spirit is dwelling here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, because she loved CDHK and said about CDHK "it's the best website on haiku, tanka and other Japanese poetry forms on the World Wide Web".

Abalone shell

shades of art deco
lying on the beach
abalone shells

colors of seafoam
in the abalone
a cup of fog

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from: "A Dictionary of Haiku")

As you can read and see our modern kigo for spring is "abalone" and I love to challenge you to create haiku or tanka according to the classical rules. (See CDHK Lecture One).

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

Carpe Diem #1637 April Fool ... (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful inspirational weekend, but the weekend is almost over ... so it is time for a new episode of our Haiku Kai. As I told you earlier in March, we are going to explore modern and classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring in April. I hope to give you all an idea of these spring kigo.

Today, as it is April Fool, I have chosen a modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijiki. That will be ... April Fool, but why is the first of April called "April Fool"?

It's not easy to explain that, because there are several explanations about the origines of April Fool, but the explanation I share here is most commonly used to explain April Fool.

April Fool

Although April Fools’ Day, also called All Fools’ Day, has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, its exact origins remain a mystery. Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.
People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes. These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

The challenge for today is to create haiku or tanka in which you use humor or riddle and I hoe to read wonderful "April Fool" haiku and tanka.

To conclude this episode I love to share a haiku created by Jane Reichhold as an example for this modern kigo, April Fool:

no April Fools
these crocus buds closed
against the snow

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

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 7th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun! Have a great hilarious April Fool's Day.

Carpe Diem #1633 Wedding

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. As you know I have changed our theme for this month instead of Kumano Kodo it's now A New Route Leaving Kumano Kodo a journey along modern and classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring. Yesterday I started with "desire" taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" and today I have another nice modern kigo for spring also taken from "A Dictionary of Haiku".

Today our modern kigo is "wedding". I can hear you think "why is wedding a modern kigo?" Let me try to explain that. In Nature Religions, like Shinto and Paganism for example, it is not done to marry in the dark part of the year (autumn and winter), but in the light part of the year you can marry. So that's why Jane has chosen to bring "wedding" as a modern kigo for spring.
Ofcourse I don't know what kind of religion Jane belonged to, but what I know ... she was a haiku poet and as you all know haiku is rooted in nature ... so maybe that was Jane's reason to bring "wedding" as a spring kigo.

Pagan Wedding (image found on Pinterest)

Here are a few examples of haiku by Jane Reichhold themed "wedding":

rehearsing vows
in the middle of the night
frogs

honeymooners

boats in the harbor

anchored together

© Jane Reichhold

Two beautiful haiku themed "wedding". I am married for 28 years next month and I am still deeply in love with my wife. We had a wonderful (low budget) wedding, but we enjoyed it very much. We celebrated our wedding at our home with all of our loved ones ... yes it was a wonderful day that I will never forget.

early this morning

the sound of church bells

through the mist

© Chèvrefeuille

And I ran into a nice haiku in my archive, that in a way resonates with the above haiku. I revised the original by the way to make the connection a little bit clearer.

croaking frogs

the old mansion is alive

a farmer's wedding

© Chèvrefeuille 

What a joy it was to create this episode for you all. It's a small token of my love for Jane Reichhold and my love for our CDHK family. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 1st at noon (CET). Have a wonderful day ...!

Carpe Diem #1632 Desire ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. I hope you all have had a nice weekend full of inspiration. I had a very busy weekend at work and at home. We had visitors the whole weekend and the last visitor has just left ... that's why I am late with publishing. Forgive me ...

Last week I decided to leave the Kumano Kodo and start a new route ... classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have a nice modern spring kigo taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijki. The modern kigo I have chosen is "desire" and that's a wonderful "emotion" for spring. I desire for the beauty of young green leaves, lots of spring flowers and of course the blooming of the plum and cherry.

Maybe you can remember our theme week about the "Latifa Prayer", one of the main lines of that prayer is "I desire". However the "Latifa Prayer" is not about spring but about "finding the way to inner balance and enlightenment", but isn't that also spring?

As you all know Jane Reichhold was a close friend of mine, but also a close friend of CDHK, she even was one of the hosts here. I have only warm loving memories about her and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to get to know her ... I still miss her, but I know for sure her spirit is still dwelling here at CDHK.

Snowdrops are mostly the first flowers that trumpeting the coming of spring ... so they are in my opinion the natural "desire" the longing for a new day, a new season ... spring.

cold winter night
dreaming about the coming of spring -
Ah! the first snowdrops

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope I have awakend your muse and I hope I have inspired you today.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 31st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. That will be another wonderful kigo for spring.

Carpe Diem #1588 delight in company

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend full of inspiration. I had a nice weekend, relaxing and taking time with my loved ones. I really enjoy the time I can share with my loved ones and that's also the theme for this new episode.

This month we are exploring classical and modern kigo (seasonwords) for winter and today I have a nice modern kigo for you taken from Jane Reichhold's Saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku". And that modern kigo has everything to do with enjoying the company of loved ones ... the theme today is "delight in company" and that's very important for everyone I think.

Delight In Company (©photo Anna Ivanova)

Ofcourse "delight in company" is not specific for winter, but I think in winter we enjoy it more than in the other seasons. The evenings and nights are longer and mostly in this time of year we enjoy the romance of candlelight and soft music ...

I love this time of year and I am enjoying the company of my beloved ones. In her Saijiki Jane Reichhold gives us a few wonderful examples of haiku in which she uses this modern kigo. So here are a few of those haiku to awaken your muses.

a new winter friend
up the year's steep sloping
our flow of words

bird song

under winter quilts

bodies touching

curved ink

the warmth of your hand

in the letters

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

By the way the first haiku of the above series she wrote for a friend.

fireplace (still from a you tube clip)

warm embrace

in front of the fireplace
I see stars

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice romantic haiku I think ... isn't that what delight in company can mean also?

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1586 withered leaves

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

"Withered leaves" is our modern kigo for today's episode. It's taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" section: winter, subsection: plants. A wonderful modern kigo to work with I think so no further explanation needed.

Withered Leaves

And to awaken your muses ... here are a few haiku extracted from Jane's Saijiki as examples for this modern kigo:

up to a branch
wind took a winter leaf
let it fall again

snow
cooling the colors
withered leaves

frost spikes
the growing cold
of withered leaves

© Jane Reichhold

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode later on.

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 #1582 Black Birds (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our wonderful Haiku Kai were we are exploring the beauty of all kinds of Japanese poetry especially haiku and tanka. This month we are exploring kigo, those nice words that point towards the season in which the haiku scene was seen. This month I have chosen kigo (classical and modern) for winter and today I have a wonderful modern kigo taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern Saijiki.

Winter is associated with snow, virginity, cold weather and so on. The "white-ness" in contrast with for example the blackness of several kinds of birds. Maybe you remember this beauty by Basho:

a crow
has settled on a bare branch —
autumn evening

© Basho

Crow

Of course this isn't a real winter haiku, but it can be easily set into winter in my opinion. I have  given it a try:

winter moonlight
on a bare branch covered with snow
a crow's shadow

© Chèvrefeuille

Today our modern kigo is Black Birds, extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" and here are a few haiku written by Jane taken from her above mentioned Saijiki:

flying from the branch
sun in a bird's wing
a shower of snow

blackbirds leaving
on bare winter wands
pussy willows

winter birds
kicking down fireworks
from snowy twigs

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Black Birds

Well ... I hope I have inspired you all to create haiku with this modern kigo. Maybe you can try to create a tanka or maybe choose the classical way of haiku writing and use the classical rules. It's all up to you.

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

Carpe Diem #1580 moonlight (modern kigo, extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry. This month we are exploring kigo (seasonwords) for winter. Those kigo can be classical or modern and today I have chosen for a modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", the online version.

Today I have chosen the modern kigo ... moonlight. Why is this a modern kigo for winter? Well in Japanese culture "moon" is a kigo for Autumn, but in our Western society "moon" is mostly a kigo for winter, but that is not our discussion here.

winter moonlight

Today I hope to inspire you with "moonlight" and a few haiku created by Jane Reichhold:

winter moonlight
the crystal prism turns
with the tides

surf and sea
white with the sound
of moonlight

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Two nice haiku to inspire you ....

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 15th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1578 Amaryllis (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend full of inspiration and joy. I had a nice relaxed weekend and I enjoyed it a lot. Tomorrow (January 7th) I will start in a new position as a senior oncology nurse, a kind of manager, at a nursing home in my hometown. As I told you earlier I started in the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam, but travelling to the VU Medical Center took to much of my energy, so my health became worse. So I had to decide to resign from the job in VU Medical Center. I am glad that I have found another wonderful job ... I am excited to start there.

This month we will explore the seasonwords (kigo) for winter. A kigo is a word that indicates the season in which the haiku scene was seen. This month I will try to inspire you through modern and classical kigo for winter. Today I have chosen a nice modern kigo (taken from Jane Reichhold's "A  Dictionary of Haiku") ... Amaryllis.

Amaryllis

The Amaryllis is typical for this time of the year, Christmas and New Year. We see them often here in The Netherlands, but I think you all know this beautiful flower.

Here are a few haiku themed "Amaryllis" created by Jane Reichhold:

swollen
the amaryllis bud
already red

low-slanted sun
in the red amaryllis
turning on lights

© Jane Reichhold (taken from the online version of "A Dictionary of Haiku")

I found a nice "story" about the Amaryllis. I love to share that "story" here too, just for fun or to help your inspiration.

[...] "Legend has it that the amaryllis - the stunning red flower we've come to associate with the holidays - began as a shy, timid nymph. Amaryllis fell deeply in love with Alteo, a shepherd with Hercules' strength and Apollo's beauty, but her affections were unrequited. Hoping that she could win him over by bestowing upon him the thing he desired most - a flower so unique it had never existed in the world before - Amaryllis sought advice from the oracle of Delphi.

Following his instructions, Amaryllis dressed in maiden's white and appeared at Alteo's door for 30 nights, each time piercing her heart with a golden arrow. When at last Alteo opened his door, there before him was a striking crimson flower, sprung from the blood of Amaryllis's heart. With this romantic - albeit tragic - tale as its beginning, it's not surprising that today the amaryllis has come to symbolize pride, determination and radiant beauty." [...] (Source: Teleflora)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 13th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1576 Dawn

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month we are going "classic" or in other words we are exploring classical and modern kigo (seasonwords). Today I have a wonderful modern kigo, again extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", for you. Today that modern kigo for winter is "dawn" and to give you an idea of this modern kigo I have a few example haiku by Jane herself:

winter dawn
sounds of blowing snow
sleeping birds

sea dawn
the journey of snowflakes
to a parking lot

clouds resting
on top of snowdrifts
winter dawn

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku", the online version)

winter dawn

at dawn
fresh white blanket
ah! that silence

© Chèvrefeuille

I love the silence of a winter dawn as fresh fallen snow covers the fields.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 9th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1574 New Year's Eve

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai of 2019. This month we will explore the classical and modern kigo for winter. So first HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope 2019 will be a wonderful year full of inspiration and joy.

To start this month with I have chosen for a modern kigo taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". New Year's Eve ... well needs no explanation I think (smiles).

alone
at the end of the road
a New Year's party

New Year's Eve
the angel atop the pine
a full moon

New Year's Eve
on the country porch the sound
of a full moon

© Jane Reichhold (taken from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

(credits logo)

Here is my response:

Ah! that silence
after New Year's Eve ...
the wind of last year
plays with bare branches
nothing has changed

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 7th at noon (CET). Have an awesome New Year's Eve !!

Carpe Diem #1550 Harvested Fields (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I had a farewell-party tonight so I am a little bit late with publishing our new episode. As you all know the hospital were I work is closed during bankruptcy. The lung-unit (were I was working most of the time next to the chemo-therapy-unit is closed. All our patients have been transferred to other hospitals in our region. Next Friday we will give our last chemo-therapies and than the chemo-therapy-unit will close too ... than the hospital is only open for policlinical visits. So I have a kind of vacation now.

This month "the leaves are falling" and we are celebrating autumn with haiku, tanka, classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) and more. For today I have a modern kigo for you taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary Of Haiku", autuumn section, sub-section terrestrial: "harvested fields".

Harvested Fields (image © Johannes Plenio)

And I have two haiku by Jane Reichhold, whom I still miss as will a lot of you, to inspire you:

autumn blooms
soft white cotton balls
a harvest field

brown harvest field
the balls of white cotton
polka dots

© Jane Reichhold

Two beauties I think to awaken your muses.

Here is one from my archives:

at dawn
farmers harvesting their fields -
overcoming winter

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope I have inspired you and if I didn't, than I hope Jane did it.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1439 mountain(s)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today, I also have a very busy day, so I have made it myself easy. As you maybe know next month we will have all classical kigo (seasonwords) for Summer. Seasonwords are words that point towards a season. In our rich history here at CDHK we have had also modern kigo based on Jane Reichhold's Dictionary of Haiku. And today, because of lack of time I have chosen a modern kigo of Spring that fits this month's theme "journey into the high mountains of the Andes". I choose a modern kigo from Jane's Saijiki as mentioned above: mountains and I have a few nice haiku by Jane Reichhold to awaken your muse.

soul shape
between soft evening peaks
a valley cradle

mountains
folding into a valley
bird wings

© Jane Reichhold

The goal is to create haiku, tanka or another form of Japanese poetry inspired on this kigo. Create your poem by using the prompt. That doesn't mean you have to use the word, but your reader must understand that the season is Spring.

Enjoy this episode and I hope it inspires you all. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 30th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.
For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1275 nakedness

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our celebration month October 2017. Today I have a nice episode for you I think. Back in the summer of 2014 we had all modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". All the modern kigo were for summer and we have seen several wonderful modern kigo than. (That episode you can find HERE)

One of those modern kigo was "nakedness" as is our prompt for today. Nakedness is maybe somewhat controversial here at CDHK, but let me give you my idea about "nakedness". We were all born naked, but as we grow up we learned that one cannot go naked through the streets. Nakedness is private, so if you love to be naked, than you have to that in your own home, maybe your garden, but not on the streets. In my opinion "nakedness" is part of nature, there are no living creatures, except us humans, that use clothing to cover their nakedness. So if we are part of nature, as we surely do, why not going naked?
I love being naked, but of course only in my home or my garden. Or on specific places outside as e.g. the nude beach. Why do we feel ashamed as we walk naked through our own home, not for or loved ones around us, but maybe for those who walk outside your window, they maybe see your nakedness.

Let us take a small peek into nature itself ... than nakedness is very common and very specific in the "world" of naked snails. I like those small creatures and I once created a haiga about it.

Haiga Snail (2014)

 Nakedness ... common in nature, but in the life of humans not that common ... well it has to be so I think.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 18th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, tranquil, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1228 sunset (CD Imagination)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is the last prompt for July 2017. this month we have explored several kigo for summer, classical and non-classical and I hope you did like this month.

Our last prompt for this month is sunset and I have made it myself easy, because I had a busy day. I will share an image of a summer sunset to inspire you.

sunset

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, the first of our "modern art"-month, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1226 swamp

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new day in our wonderful summer kigo month, July 2017. Here in The Netherlands it's raining almost all day, but temperatures are okay, around 22 degrees Celsius. So not really a summer feeling, but this sultry day is perfect for our prompt for today. A modern kigo extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku" by Jane Reichhold.

Our prompt for today I didn't associate with summer, but than I remembered a hot summer day several years ago, I was a young adult, around 22 yrs of age. I wandered around my home town and ran into a swamp-like environment just outside of my home town. Not really a swamp, but it almost looked the same. Here in my home town we call that place "the willow storage". It's a part of the polder that looks like how earth looked in the prehistory ... and it is a marvelous piece of nature to be in.
As that young adult I was exploring who I am and who I wanted to be. I had a free mind and on that hot summer day I decided to "dive" into "the willow storage", but it was really hot and very sweaty, because of the high moistured air. Well ... as a free minder I decided to took of my clothes, put them in a bag, hide it, and walk into the willow storage completely naked. It felt great, it felt like being 100% in tune with nature. I heard the buzzing of mosquitoes and bees. I bathed in the warm waters of the willow storage and laid down on a nice spot of grass somewhere in the middle of it. It was a real nice day ... I even tried to create a haibun about this beautiful day several years later.

The Willow Storage

The willow storage is a wonderful place and as I was preparing this episode I thought back to that wonderful day.

Today our prompt is swamp and I don't hink it needs further explanation, so here is a haiku Jane wrote as an example for this modern kigo:

black cypress
draining into the swamp
strands of color

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Awesome haiku I would say. Here is another haiku this time written by myself:

hot summer day
wandering through the swamp
mosquitoes buzzing

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope I have inspired you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 30th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, waiting for autumn (Aki tikashi, Aki wo matsu), later on. For now ... be inspired and share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with us all.

Carpe Diem #1222 Beach

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our daily haiku meme Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This month we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for summer and today we have an other nice modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern Saijiki.

Today our prompt is beach and I think this kigo doesn't need any explanation, so here are a few haiku by Jane which she wrote for this modern kigo.

Beach

darkening beach
the warmth of a person's eyes
for the sinking sun

scattered in sand
embers of a saltwood fire
face to face with stars

shell beach
wind blowing through
a train whistle

a windless day
the beach colored
sea foam

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Four beauties I would say. Jane was in my opinion, one of the best modern haiku poets. She was renown all over the globe and has been my co-host for two years. She is still missed. Her spirit is moving here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

And here are a few haiku created by myself, maybe not that clear for summer, but very clear for beach:

snow?
the beach covered with foam
last night's storm

torn apart clothes
thrown against a beach pole
a winter's love

© Chèvrefeuille

Beach Love

hot summer night
the sweet scent of Honeysuckle
arouses the senses

the sound of waves
accompanies hot steamy love -
seagulls cry

© Chèvrefeuille

And to conclude this episode about the beach, I have another haiku for you to share:

a whisper of rain
awakens me gently
morning on the beach

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope I have inspired you with this episode full of the beauty of the beach.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Raspberry (Kiichigo), later on. For now .. just have fun!

Carpe Diem #1216 moonlight

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai in which we are enjoying the writing of Japanese poetry. As I started back in 2012 I wouldn't have thought that this daily haiku meme would have a long life, but ... well we are almost five (5) years of age and I still enjoy being your host. Of course it isn't always easy to bring an every day post, so that's one of the reasons that I at the start of this year decided to take the weekends off and present to you the "weekend-meditation" in which I share posts to think over, to meditate about and contemplate about.

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend, I had a great weekend. We had wonderful weather here in The Netherlands and I have enjoyed it a lot. I could relax and do activities with my family. And now it's Sunday, the weekend is almost over and it is time to bring our next regular prompt for this month. This month we are exploring the beauty of classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) and today I have a nice modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku".

Moonlight

 Today I love to inspire you with "moonlight" ... This prompt we have had here several times I think, but it's just nice prompt to become inspired through. As you maybe know I am a "moon-lover" and I have written several haiku (and tanka) with "moonlight" in it. Especially on my personal WP blog I have shared more than once haiku about moonlight.

The moon however is a classical kigo for autumn, but in our western world the moon is from all seasons, but here in The Netherlands it is said that our winter moon is the most beautiful, but I think the moon, my love, is beautiful in every season.

Of course we are exploring kigo for summer, so I have to create a summer haiku (or -tanka) with the moon in summer, must be easy I think ....

First a few from my archives:

she is lovely
the first full moon of Summer
the sound of the sea

the day ends
buttercups share their golden light -
the moon rises

like a nightflower
I stretch towards the moon
she … the one I love

one night stand
making love on the beach –
sand on my buttocks
silent witnesses of love on the beach
beneath the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is one fresh from my pencil:

after a hot day
cleansing my body and soul
in the moonlight

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 14th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, Cormorant fishing (Ukai), later on. Have fun!