Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday #11 family tombstone

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again ... time for a new Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday, that special feature in which I challenge you to complete a Tan Renga with a given haiku by a classical or non-classical haiku poet.

Your task is to add your two lined stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) through association on the scenes and images in the given haiku. This week I have chosen a haiku by a modern haiku poet, Nicholas Virgilio.

Tombstones

Here is the haiku to work with:

adding father’s name
to the family tombstone
with room for my own

© Nicholas Virgilio

And now it's up to you to create a Tan Renga with this haiku by adding your two-lined stanza. Enjoy the challenge.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 4th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (4) crystal dewdrops (hineri / with a twist)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Tan Renga Wednesday again, that nice weekly feature in which I ask you to create a Tan Renga with a given haiku. This week I love to challenge you a little bit more with a "Tan Renga Wednesday Hineri" episode, or a Tan Renga Wednesday with a twist.

I will give you the two-lined stanza and you have to create the haiku, the first three-lined stanza, to complete the Tan Renga.

Morning Glory

Here are the two lines of the 2nd stanza to work with:

pink morning glory in full bloom
covered with crystal dewdrops                       

© Chèvrefeuille

So now it is up to you to complete the Tan Renga by adding your three-lined first stanza.

This Tan Renga Wednesday Hineri is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 12th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be ceative and enjoy this challenge.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday #1 wedded rocks

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring back a weekly feature about Tan Renga. This new feature I have titled "Tan Renga Wednesday" and as the title already says, this feature will return every Wednesday, so a new weekly feature has been born.

As you all know Tan Renga is a short renga of two stanza, similar with the Tanka, but instead of been written by one poet, the Tan Renga is written by two poets. The first stanza has three lines (approx. 5-7-5 syllables) and the second stanza has two lines (approx. 7-7 syllables). The goal is to create the second stanza by associating on the scenes and images in the first stanza.

In this new weekly feature Tan Renga Wednesday, I will give you the starting verse, or "hokku", your task is to create the second stanza. Ofcourse sometimes I will create a "hineri" version, in that version I will give you the second stanza and than you have to create the first stanza, but for starters ... this time I will give you the first stanza.

Oku No Hosomichi (Narrow Road Into The Deep North)

In the logo of this new feature you see a Japanese Woodblock Print of the so called "Wedded Rocks", a Shinto religious place. The first haiku to work with in this new weekly feature is a haiku by my master, my sensei, Matsuo Basho:

hamaguri no   futami ni wakare   yuku aki zo

a clam
torn from its shell
departing autumn

This is the last verse in Basho's 'Oku no Hosomichi' 'The Narrow Road to the Far North'. Because there are several word plays at work here, the Japanese maintain that there is no way for the poem to be rendered into another language. So here goes: hama (beach); hamaguri (a clam) however 'guri' is also (a chestnut) or (a pebble). And that is only the first line! 'Futami' (place name of the port where the famous Wedded Rocks (two large rocks considered to 'married' which are considered to be sacred) are such an attraction) is made up of the words 'futa' (lid, cover, shell) and 'mu' (body, meat, fruit, nut, berry, seed, substance, contents). The word 'wakare' can be either (to part or to split) or (to leave). Added to the last line (departing autumn) 'wakare' can mean either that it is autumn which is leaving or a person who is departing. In Ogaki, Basho was met by many of his disciples, including Sora who rejoined him, for the end of the trip back to Tokyo. This verse, and the second one in 'Oku no Hosomichi' are considered the 'book-ends' of the work with partings of Spring and Autumn.

This haiku is in my opinion a masterpiece. Re-read all those different words and their different meanings again above and let them guide you to your second stanza.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1671 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (18) lightning flash

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of this wonderful Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. It was really a joy to create this month and I am glad to see all your responses. Thank you all for being part in this Tan Renga Challenge.

For this last episode of our TRC month I have chosen a haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho. This haiku is extracted from his renown haibun "The Small Road Into The Deep North", one of the most beautiful pieces of Japanese literature.

Here is the haiku to work with:

lightning flash–
what I thought were faces
are plumes of pampas grass

© Basho (Tr. unknown; taken from "The Small Road Into The Deep North")

Lightning Flash (above Athens, Greece)

What a spectacular photo this is. It fits the haiku by Basho in a great way and makes it easier to create your 2nd stanza to this Tan Renga I think.

This was the last episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month and I hope you are inspired to complete the Tan Renga task.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 6th at noon (CEST). I hope to publish our new (and first episode of June 2019) later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1670 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (17) sun-dried grass

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. This month was a real joy, but time wasn't always at my side, so I am behind with commenting on all your responses. I hope to catch up this week.

For this penultimate episode I have another beautiful haiku by our dear friend, who we still miss, Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) for you to work with and create a Tan Renga with ... a twist ... a hineri episode.

Here is the haiku ("hokku") to work with. The goal is to create a Tan Renga by adding your 2nd stanza of two lines and ... you have to add another three-lined stanza and another two-lined stanza. So at the end of this task you have created a four stanza "short" renga.

evening sea fog
descending into sun-dried grass
sweaty lovers

© Jane Reichhold

Sun Dried Grass (image found on Pinterest)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your responses and will remain open until June 5th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1669 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (16) white crane

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our TRC Month May 2019. This month is almost over and I am looking forward to June, than we will be challenged to create Troiku, that creative way of haiku-ing I invented back in 2912, but now it's still Tan Renga.

Today I have a beautiful haiku by a classical master, Kikaku, an apprentice and very close friend of Basho. The loved eachother dearly.

Here is the haiku to work with, it's a haiku Kikaku wrote to comfort Basho because he was very ill, a few days later Basho died.

How I wish to call
A white crane from Fukei,
But for this cold rain.

© Kikaku

White Crane (Japanese Woodblock Print)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your responses. Create your Tan Renga by adding the two lined second stanza. This episode is open until June 4th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1667 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (14) Hibiscus Red ... Raymond Roseliep

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome a the last week of our TRC month May 2019. I hope you all have had a wonderful week and a wonderful weekend. I had a very busy week, so I was glad that I had taken a week off. But today we are going on with our TRC month. This month I challenge you to create Tan Renga with a given haiku by classical and modern haiku poets.

Today I have chosen a nice haiku by a not so well known haiku poet, Raymond Roseliep (1917-1983). Let me give you first a short overview of his life:

Raymond Roseliep (1917 – 1983) was a poet and contemporary master of the English haiku and a Catholic priest. He has been described as "the John Donne of Western haiku."

Raymond Roseliep

Born on August 11, 1917, in Farley, Iowa, to John Albert Roseliep (1874-1939) and Anna Elizabeth Anderson (1884-1967). In 1939 he graduated from Loras College with a Bachelor of Arts, in 1948 he received a Master of Arts in English from Catholic University of America, and in 1954 he received a Doctor of Philosophy in English Literature from Notre Dame University. He was ordained, June 12, 1943, at St. Raphael’s Cathedral, Dubuque, Iowa.

For Raymond Roseliep the two most sacred themes were creation and love, so it was only natural that he would explore both in his haiku. In an interview first published in 1979, Roseliep was asked how a priest could be writing such evocative, sometimes erotic, love poetry. “To talk about that,” Roseliep said, “I should return for a moment to that Catholic-poetry period of mine, and I can briefly tell you how it was inevitable that I needed a fresh theme. In those early days I was writing about the Mass, the sacraments, parish experiences, religious encounters of all dimensions — in people, nature, anywhere.” He added: “I needed a new outlook. I knew that religious poetry and love poetry are the hardest of all to write, and since I hadn’t attained full success in one, I would try the other. And I have been exploring the love theme ever since. It’s wonderful. It keeps me alive and young and remembering; and always with feelings that are deepest and most sacred in all of us.”(Delta Epsilon Sigma Bulletin24:4 (December 1979);A Roseliep Retrospective: Poems & Other Words By & About Raymond Roseliep (Ithaca, N.Y.: Alembic Press, 1980), 13.)

Morning Glory

He won the Haiku Society of America Harold G. Henderson award in 1977 and 1982. In 1981, Roseliep's haiku sequence, “The Morning Glory”, appeared on over two thousand buses in New York City:

takes in 
the world 
from the heart out 

funnels 
our day 
into itself 

closes 
on its own 
inner light

© Raymond Roseliep

I have to admit ... I never had heard of this haiku poet until today, but his haiku are really gorgeous and mostly written in a nice "free-styling" way ... a way of haiku-ing I like as you all (maybe) know. At the end of this episode I will give you a few links to more information about him, but first I will give you the haiku to work with:

unable
to get hibiscus red
the artist eats the flower

© Raymond Roseliep

More about Raymond Roseliep you can fnd at:

https://livinghaikuanthology.com/index-of-poets/livinglegacies/2690-raymond-roseliep.html

https://terebess.hu/english/usa/roseliep.html

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 2nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1666 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (13) dangling prayer beads

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Yesterday I gave you a hineri episode with gorgeous haiku crafted by Jane Reichhold. Today I have chosen a beauty by one of the Big Five Haiku Masters, Kobayashi Issa, to work with.

During lack of time I will give you only the haiku to work with:

prayer beads dangling
a harvest moon prayer...
mountain home

© Kobayashi Issa

Prayer Beads Dangling

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1665 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (12) "special" Basho "Miscanthus bud"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a "special" episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Today I have a few nice haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) for you to work with. You may choose a haiku to work with of you can use them all. Why is this episode "special"? Well I realised today that this year Basho's birth and death are celebrated. He was born 325 years ago and died 375 years ago, so in my opinion this is "special".

I will give you a short overview of his life hereafter:

Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), born, then Matsuo Chūemon Munefusa, was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest master of haiku (then called hokku). Matsuo Bashō's poetry is internationally renowned; and, in Japan, many of his poems are reproduced on monuments and traditional sites. Although Bashō is justifiably famous in the West for his hokku, he himself believed his best work lay in leading and participating in renku. He is quoted as saying, "Many of my followers can write hokku as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses."

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

Bashō was introduced to poetry at a young age, and after integrating himself into the intellectual scene of Edo (modern Tokyo) he quickly became well known throughout Japan. He made a living as a teacher; but then renounced the social, urban life of the literary circles and was inclined to wander throughout the country, heading west, east, and far into the northern wilderness to gain inspiration for his writing. His poems were influenced by his firsthand experience of the world around him, often encapsulating the feeling of a scene in a few simple elements. (Source: wikipedia)

Here are the haiku to work with:

the Dutchmen, too,
kneel before His Lordship --
spring under His reign.

by my new banana plant
the first sign of something I loathe --
a miscanthus bud!

Miscanthus

another year is gone
a traveler's shade on my head,
straw sandals at my feet

now then, let's go out
to enjoy the snow ... until
I slip and fall!

© Basho

Four very nicely crafted haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho. You may choose from these four to create Tan Renga with or you can use them all. That's up to you.

This "special" episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1663 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (10) snap of an icicle

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. This month I challenge you to create Tan Renga with a given haiku and today I have chosen a haiku by one of our long time members and gifted haiku poetess ... Kim M. Russell.

As you all know a while ago we started our Quest for a New Masterpiece and the haiku for today is a Masterpiece in my opinion. It's a haiku that can become an "evergreen".

Icicles (image found on pixabay)

Here is the haiku, this masterpiece, by Kim:

muffled and silenced
the snap of an icicle
engulfed by fresh snow

© Kim M. Russell (16th December 2018)

A wonderful haiku to start the Tan Renga with I would say, however I couldn't come up with a nice 2nd stanza. Maybe later I will publish my own Tan Renga ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 20th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

PS. I have published a new task on tanka at Tanka Splendor. You can find Tanka Splendor through the link at the right side of our Kai. You are invited to participate.

Carpe Diem #1662 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (9) Watching a Snail

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend, I had for sure a nice weekend. Welcome at a new episode in our TRC month May 2019. As you all know I see Basho (1644-1694) as my sensei, my master therefore I have chosen a haiku written by myself in honor of him, my master,

As I discovered haiku back in the late eighties I hadn't heard of Basho, but after reading one of the most popular haiku books in Dutch ("Een Jonge Maan", by J. van Tooren; "A young Moon" by J. van Tooren) I was caught by the beauty of the haiku written by Basho ... I read all haiku that are known by him and so I am ... influenced by Basho's way of writing haiku. I owe a lot of my haiku skills to him and of course to Jane Reichhold, who has given me the opportunity to read all the haiku by Basho in her "Basho, The Complete Haiku".

Snails in the Moonlight

And here is the haiku to work with. It's part of a cascading haiku I created back in February 2012:

I bow to my master
Matsuo Basho told me the way
to watch a snail

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... a nice haiku I would say (how immodest) in honor of my master Matsuo Basho. And now it is up to you to add the 2nd satnza of this Tan Renga ... have fun!

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

Carpe Diem #1661 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (8) Beginning of Autumn

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. During lack of time I will give you only the haiku (by Jane Reichhold) to work with. So here is the haiku to work with:

cricket silence
between scraping sounds
autumn begins

© Jane Reichhold

And now it is up to you to create the second stanza of this Tan Renga.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1660 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (7) Wisteria

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019. Today I have chosen to challenge you with a haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784), one of the "Big Five" haiku poets. As Buson started creating haiku he used his own way of writing, because he wasn't a "fan" of Matsuo Basho (whom is seen as the "father of haiku"), but in his later life Buson went back to the way of Basho. He even illustrated the first published edition of Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North" with his beautiful haiga-qualities.

Bird and Wisteria (Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858).

The above Japanese woodblock print shows you a nice composition of a bird and wisteria crafted by Utagawa Hiroshige. This woodblock print points you already the way to the haiku to use for your Tan Renga Challenge.

Here is the haiku by Buson to work with:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.

© Yosa Buson

A fragile scene I can imagine it before my eyes. The soft light of the moon shines upon the wisteria. The wisteria's colors faint a little towards white and grey and with losing its color it also loses its scent... and the last line makes that scene very strong.

To create a Tan Renga with this haiku will not be an easy task, but I have given it a try:

In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.                                                       © Buson

the sound of the thundering waves
makes the silence stronger                                      © Chèvrefeuille

Not a strong second stanza in my opinion, but I like how with this 2nd stanza there is another sense present ... hearing and the realisation that through sound the silence can become deeper. It makes the scene even stronger ...

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

Carpe Diem #1659 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (6) chestnut

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our TRC month May 2019 in which we are creating Tan Renga together with known and unknown haiku poets. Today I have a nice haiku written by Matsuo Basho for you to work with. There is a small story behind this haiku and I hope you can appreciate that I tell you the background of it.

As you maybe know, Basho was interested in man, he was homosexual common for his time homosexuality was accepted. Maybe you can remember that I told you about "Wakasu" (this was a common way of same-sex culture in the ancient Samourai class. It was a common use for adult man to have a relationship with minors. Of course in nowadays Japan this isn't an accepted habit as far as I know.) and as you maybe know Basho was a son of a low ranked samourai and maybe he was once a "wakasu" himself. There is however no reference towards that in the stories of his life.
Basho was once in love with the son of good friend of him. The boy was 14 years of age and had a warm relation with Basho.

Chestnut Tree in full bloom

In several of his haiku Basho is referring to his homosexuality. The haiku I have chosen to work with is such a haiku. I will not give you further explanation about this haiku ... I leave that to you.

Here is the haiku to work with:

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

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

It's a wonderful haiku, even if you don't know the background on it this is a beauty. I have given it a try to create the 2nd stanza to this one. Here is my attempt:

autumn moonlight --
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut                                             © Basho

at the crack of the day
birds start to praise their Creator               © Chèvrefeuille

I think this is a very nicely crafted continuation of the haiku by Basho. Maybe there is even a small reference to the background of the haiku by Basho.

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

PS.: I try another linking widget (again). Click on the CDHK logo below to find the linking widget.

Carpe Diem #1658 Tan Renga Challenge Month May 2019 (5) Wintry gusts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new TRC episode here at CDHK, the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry. This month we are creating Tan Renga with eachother. Tan Renga looks similar with Tanka, but instead of being written by one poet it's written by two poets.

A Tan Renga has two stanza. The first stanza is 3-lined ("hokku") and the second stanza is 2-lined ("ageku"). To create the second stanza you have to associate on images and scenes in the first stanza. Together the both stanza are called Tan Renga or Short Chained Verse.

Today I have a nice haiku for you to work with. The haiku for today is written by a not so renown haiku poet, Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927). Let me tell you first a little bit about him and after that I will give you the haiku to work with.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927)

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

A Japanese writer active in Taisho period Japan. He is regarded as the "Father of the Japanese short story", and is noted for his superb style and finely detailed stories that explore the darker side of human nature.
... Akutagawa published his first short story Rashōmon the following year in the literary magazine Teikoku Bungaku ("Imperial Literature"), while still a student. The story, based on a fantasy from late Heian period Japan, with a sharp twist of psychological drama, was largely unnoticed by the literary world, except by noted author Natsume Sōseki.
It was also at this time that he started writing haiku under the haigo (or pen-name) Gaki, Hungry Ghost. (Source)

Sardines

Here is the haiku to work with:

kogarashi ya mezashi ni nokoru umi-no iro

Wintry gusts:
on the sardine still lingers
the ocean's color.

© Akutagawa Ryunosuke a.k.a. Gaki (Tr.: Ueda)

A wonderful haiku as I may say so. I however couldn't come up with a good 2nd stanza to complete the Tan Renga, but maybe you are more inspired.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 13th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new TRC later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1657 Tan Renga Challenge May 2019 (4) Ocean Sanctuary

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge (TRC) Month May 2019. This month it's all about short chained verses also known as Tan Renga. A Tan Renga looks very similar with Tanka, but instead of being written by one poet, the Tan Renga is written by two poets.

The goal of TRC is to complete or continue a given haiku (3-lined verse) by adding a 2-lined stanza through association on the scenes / images in the given haiku. Today I have chosen a haiku by Jane Reichhold to create a Tan Renga with.
As you all know Jane Reichhold died in 2016 after a period of extreme pain and discomfort. She was one of the most famous modern haiku poets the world ever has known. And she was a co-host here at our own Haiku Kai.

Waves Kneeling On The Beach

sunday morning 
all the waves in white
kneeling on the beach

© Jane Reichhold (Taken from "Ocean Sanctuary" an anthology of haiku inspired on the North Coast of California)

"Ocean Sanctuary" was never published and that's a sad idea, because Jane had gathered a lot of wonderful haiku fitting this theme. Really worth to read them ...

Here is my Tan Renga that I created from this beautiful haiku by Jane. She is still missed.

sunday morning
all the waves in white
kneeling on the beach                                    © Jane Reichhold

without loosing their virginity
monks bow in front of Mother Mary            © Chèvrefeuille

A little bit of humor maybe, but also spirituality, because monks choose to be virgin always. They give their lives to their God and live their lives in chastity.

I hope you did like this continuation and I hope that you don't see this as sacrilege. The scene of the bowing monks was the first thing that came in mind as I read this haiku by Jane Reichhold.

This TRC is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new TRC later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem #1656 Tan Renga Challenge May 2019 (3) Dandelion and Butterfly

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to create this month full of TRC's created from modern and classical haiku. Today I have a nice classical, not so renown, haiku by one of the most famous female haiku poets, Chiyo-Ni.
As I discovered haiku back in the late eighties I only read haiku created by male poets, but at the start of this century I discovered that there were also female haiku poets. Chiyo-Ni was one of the first haiku poetesses I discovered I was immediately in love with the beauty of her haiku especially that gorgeous one themed "morning glories", that renown one.

I think I have read the most of her haiku, but the haiku to work with today I wasn't familiar with so I am looking forward to your responses on this haiku.

Butterfly on Dandelion

Here is the first stanza of today's TRC, a haiku by Chiyo-Ni:

a dandelion
now and then interrupting
the butterflys dream

© Chiyo-Ni

Well ... it's now up to you to create a Tan Renga with this one. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 9th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1655 Tan Renga Challenge (2) Beautiful Ugliness

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the 2nd episode of May 2019. This month we are creating short chained verses or Tan Renga. Tan Renga looks a lot like tanka, but instead of written by one haiku poet it is written by two haiku poets and therefore it's the smallest form of a chained verse.

For today's Tan Renga Challenge I have chosen a haiku by a not so well known haiku poet and contemporary of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Yozakura better known here at CDHK as the Unknown Haiku Poet.

Basho Tree or Banana Tree

In the Spring of 1681 a disciple of Basho, called Rika, presented him a banana tree (a Basho). From that moment on he changed his name to Basho and his home was called 'Basho-an' (the banana tree cottage).

As Basho he became a famous haiku master. His earlier haiku, which he wrote under several pseudonyms, are now also known as haiku written by Basho. The first haiku he wrote as Basho was the following one (according to Jane Reichhold):

basho ue te    mazu nikumu ogi no    futaba kana

planting a banana tree
more than ever I hate
sprouting reeds

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

The above haiku isn't the haiku to work with by the way. It's another beautiful haiku created by Yozakura, the Unknown Haiku Poet:

banana-tree

unworthy to look at

beautiful ugliness

© Yozakura

Thistle in Full Bloom

And here is my attempt to create a Tan Renga with this beauty by Yozakura:

banana-tree

unworthy to look at

beautiful ugliness                                         © Yozakura

thistles in full bloom
dewdrops shimmer at dawn                        © Chèvrefeuille

or this 2nd stanza:

dewdrops on thistles in full bloom
making them stunning at dawn                   © Chèvrefeuille

I couldn't decide which 2nd stanza to use. I prefer the second, but I don't know it for sure. What's your idea? Share it with me through the comment-field.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new Tan Renga Challenge later on. For now ... have fun!