Carpe Diem #685, first flowers (of spring)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Spring is almost starting and if you look around you you can see already trees starting to blossom, flowers starting to bloom and bushes starting to blossom. Even a faint greenish can be seen already at the bare branches ... spring is almost there.
Today I love to invite you all to write/compose haiku on first flowers and share them in haiga with us all here at our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

As I look around me in my neighborhood than I see already Crocuses, Narcissus's, Tulips and the first Plum blossoms appearing. Yesterday I saw that the Almond trees and Magnolia trees are almost bursting from their buds ... and than I know "yes spring is here again". Spring .... finally the dark part of the year has gone and the light has returned ... spring is my season ...

Forsythia

on bare branches
yellow flowers of Forsythia -
Ah! that sweet perfume

© Chèvrefeuille

The Forsythia's perfume is really fragile, but it becomes stronger after the rain ... I like their beautiful and fragile yellow blossoms and I always enjoy it as I see them ... spring is there almost.

Credits: Yellow Crocus

between the last snow
the yellow flowers and green leaves
of a snow-crocus

© Chèvrefeuille

It's amazing to see how much yellow flowers and blossoms there are as spring is almost there ... it seems like Mother Nature is preparing us for Easter ... Look at this gorgeous Narcissus.

Credits: Narcissus

Narcissus ...
bows its yellow head to the pond
like that youngster

© Chèvrefeuille

I think you all know to which youngster I am referring in the above haiku ... yes ... that youngster Narcissus which fell in love with his own reflection. An awesome story which I like very much. The above haiku I have used in a haiga.

narcissus ...
bows its yellow head to the pond
like that youngster

© Chèvrefeuille

Unfortunately I hadn't a picture made by myself to use for this haiga so I found this incredible photo which I have used. (Credits photo).

Of course there are a lot of first flowers to bring up, but because of the fact that we are on our way to Easter (this period of the year is called Lent or Lenten) I decided to only use yellow flowers.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until March 16th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, Magnolia, later on. For now .... have fun and enjoy the first flowers of spring while we are on our way to Easter.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #75, MMT's "first yellow blossom"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to make another Tan Renga Challenge (TRC) for you. I can't even believe that it is already Friday again. Time flies. As you all maybe know ... last week I started with my new task at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie by writing the Fairy Tale prompt ... so I have a little bit less time for CDHK, but of course CDHK will stay my most important "job" (next to my work as an oncology nurse).

This week I have chosen a haiku composed by MMT of Tales from a Sonoran Desert Classroom and she wrote that haiku in response on our Time Machine prompt "yellow" (hosted by Jen). Why have I chosen for her haiku this week? Well .... recently I saw the very first yellow blossoms of the Forsythia ... and short after that I read this wonderful haiku by MMT. Coincedence? No I think not her haiku needed to be used for our Tan Renga Challenge ... and so it will happen.

Here is MMT's haiku which is the starting verse (hokku) of this week's Tan Renga Challenge:

first yellow blossom
sprouting from a slender branch—
Buddha bows his head

© Magical Mystical Teacher

Credits: Forsythia

It's a very nice haiku, but it will not be easy to write a second stanza (two lines, 7-7) towards it to complete or continue it. As I look at myself ... I have to contemplate a little about this haiku to "re-form" it into a Tan Renga ... so I leave this episode of our Tan Renga Challenge without writing my own second stanza towards it at this moment.

This episode of our TRC is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday March 6th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Machine #4, Yellow

Hello, this is Paloma once again, helping our host Chèvrefeuille today while he enjoys some extra time with his family and friends.  

For this episode of Time Machine we are looking at “Yellow”, which is revisiting November 2012. For that prompt, Chèvrefeuille featured Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Yellow House”.

Vincent Van Gogh. The Yellow House, 1888.

Here are Chevrefeuille's haiku in response to the painting:

the yellow house
a sturdy rock in a man's life -
the cry of a child

the cry of a child
seeing the rainbow for the first time
'I want to cross that'

Very sweet, right? 

For today, Chèvrefeuille mentioned that he was interested in Van Gogh’s yellow bridge, the Langlois Bridge at Arles.  Vincent loved this bridge because it reminded him of both Hiroshige and a bridge in his homeland. 

The Great Bridge.  Hiroshige (L) & Van Gogh (R)

Here is Van Gogh’s Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing (1888):

Vincent Van Gogh.  Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing, 1888. Wikimedia.

Here is my effort at haiku inspired by the painting:

morning washing –
the scent of yellow grass
clinging to my hem 

long into morning -
the scent of mud and green things
baked on yellow stones

Perhaps not my best (!) but I keep thinking about the smell of the mud and the grass.  What sense memories does the painting awaken in you?

**

This episode is open for your submissions from February 20th at 7 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 23rd at noon (CET).   

Carpe Diem #37, yellow

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are halfway our special Rainbow-week and today yellow is the color which must be our inspiration source to write a haiku on. It's easy to choose and write a haiku with the color in it .,. yellow chrysanthemums, yellowish grass, so much ideas and images are coming up in my mind. But today I have sought the Internet for some deeper meaning of the color yellow.

Yellow is the color of our 3rd chakra Manipura (this is the Solar Plexus, close above your navel) it stimulates your creativity and brings happiness. I gives fulfilment, courage and self-confidence. Yellow is a strong color and stands also for transformation ... so let's go do some transformative haiku writing.



The Yellow House - Vincent van Gogh (1888)

the yellow house
a sturdy rock in a man's life -
the cry of a child

the cry of a child
seeing the rainbow for the first time
'I want to cross that'

This prompt will stay on 'till November 7th 11.59 AM (CET). Our green line of the rainbow is our next 'goal' and I will publish it today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Have fun, be inspired and share your colorful haiku with Carpe Diem ...