Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Our new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge will not be published today because of lack of time. I will try to post it tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience ....
Namaste,
Chèvrefeuille, your host.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Carpe Diem's New Tan Renga Challenge delayed!!
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Our new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge will not be published today because of lack of time. I will try to post it tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience ....
Namaste,
Chèvrefeuille, your host.
Carpe Diem #575, Spearflower (December 2012)
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Today another "flash-back" into Carpe Diem's history. Today we have a prompt which I had in December 2012, the last month of that year. In that month I decided to try Carpe Diem for another year and ... I am glad I did go on with this wonderful weblog. As I look at how Carpe Diem Haiku Kai has evolved to a haiku-family with an awesome group of regular contributors ... wow ... I couldn't have dreamed that as I started.
In December 2012 I had the first month with classical kigo (seasonwords) for winter and it amazed me how much response I got on all those wonderful classical kigo. And in that month we had all haiku by Yosa Buson as our featured haiku-poet. It really was an awesome month than. It was also the first month in which I sometimes had not enough time to publish a daily prompt ... and than I realized ... "O.M.G. what have I started?"
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| Carpe Diem Logo December 2012 |
If you want to read this "re-prise" post again than click HERE than you can read that episode again. For today however I have chosen to only share a nice picture of the Spearflower or Manryoo (as is the classic Japanese kigo) and a haiku by Yozakura, our "unknown" haiku-poet of our last Wednesday GW-post. I happened to find a picture of him which I also will share with you here.
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| Spearflower (Manryoo) |
tempting the sparrows with their color -
graveyard in the mist
© Yozakura (1640-1716)
And here is a picture of him which I recently discovered:
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| Yozakura (1640-1716) |
spearflower
berries
sparrows picking them from the snow
in my backyard
sparrows picking them from the snow
in my backyard
© Chèvrefeuille
The above haiku I shared in the post to which this episode refers ... I hadn't the inspiration to compose an all new one ...
This episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our first CD-Special of this month, a haiku by Shiba Sonome, later on. For now have fun!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Carpe Diem #574 Fire
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
As you all could read yesterday Jane has provided us with a first episode of "Ask Jane ...", and I hope that you have enjoyed, and especially Hamish Gunn, her article. I am still excited that Jane does this for our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. It's really a honor to have her here at CDHK as a co-host.
As you all know we celebrate our second anniversary this month and during this month we will look back to the past years of CDHK. Today our prompt is fire and I had this prompt in November 2012. I remember that I was still a bit insecure about CDHK. Did I make the right decision to host a daily haiku meme? Will it be a success? Deep inside I always have known that it will be a success and as I look now what CDHK has become ... than I am grateful and proud to be your host. CDHK is alive and kicking and that I have to thank you all for.
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| Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Logo November 2012 |
Ah! This song brings great memories back to my youth. I was discovering the world and myself. I than wasn't a haiku-poet and I had no idea about what I would become. And ... I had certainly never heard of haiku ... Nowadays as a haiku-poet I cannot understand that haiku came along in 1988 and not earlier ... This little poem from Japanese origin is just an awesome way to say what you feel, an awesome way to be part of the nature that is around us ... haiku is ... a tribute to all nature has to give us, a tribute to us being a part of nature ...
she ... the full moon
sets my heart on fire
behind the curtain
© Chèvrefeuille
behind the curtain
© Chèvrefeuille
at the seashore
the horizon starts burning
clouds on fire
© Yozakura
It really was a joy to create this re-prise episode and I hope it will inspire you to write an all new haiku. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 5th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, Spearflower (December 2012), later on. For now ... have fun!
Carpe Diem "Little Creatures" #7, Sokan's "Reciting Frog"
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
You all will certainly know the "frog"-haiku by Matsuo Basho, it's one of his most famous haiku.
furuike ya kawazu tobikamu mizu no do
the old pond:
a frog jumps in, -
the sound of the water
© Basho (Tr. R.H.Blyth)
The pond is old, in an old garden. The trees are ages old, the trunks green with the moss that covers the stones. The very silence itself goes back beyond men and their noises. A frog jumps in. The whole garden, the whole universe contained in one single plop! - sound that is beyond sound and silence, and yet is the sound of the water of the old pond.
Well ... it's a told story, but this haiku by Basho is even known by non-haiku-poets.
And than there is that haiku by Sokan (1465-1553), a not so well known haiku poet from the 15th and 16th century, but he wrote wonderful haiku in my opinion.
te wo tsuite uta moshiaguru kawaza kana
placing his hands on the ground,
the frog respectfully recites
his poem
© Sokan (Tr. R.H. Blyth)
Unless one has seen the costume of the aristocracy of Old Japan, the full aptness of the comparison is lost. He is dressed in the Japanese style with his kamishimo, stiffly sticking out and exaggerating the shoulders. Bowing low from the squatting posture, he begins his recitation in a strangely frog-like, sepulchral voice.
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In the Kokinshu (10th century) we can read the following lines about frogs:
[...] "The nightingale that chants in the flowers, the frog that dwells in the water - are not both makers of poetry?" [...]
Sokan's poem is a kind of joke on the frog, but in addition, and what makes it poetry, it shows us something of the real frog, something of its essential nature.
Yozakura (1640-1716) wrote the following haiku about frogs:
danro kounotori no sakebi no maede kaeru no kareno seishitsunitaishite
against his nature,
a frog in front of the fireplace -
the cry of a stork
the cry of a stork
© Yozakura
And now it's up to you my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, to write an all new haiku inspired on this episode of "Little Creatures". Have fun ...!
This episode is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Thursday October 9th at noon (CET).
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Carpe Diem's "Real Renga", an introduction and a proposal
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Just a few minutes ago, I was sitting in the frontyard contemplating about Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, I heard beads falling. My neighbor's granddaughter had broken her bead-necklace. She was crying her heart out. Her grandmother (my neighbor) tried to comfort her and said: "Don't be sad sweety. We will repair your bead-necklace together. First granny will do a bead and than you will do a bead". The little girl laughed and clapped in her hands. "Yeah! Granny we are going to make my bead-necklace together!"
This sweet (and sad) scene brought an idea into my mind for our Haiku Kai. I love to introduce it and propose to you all if we will do this. It's just an idea, so let me know what you think about it.
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| Credits: The Great Chain |
This is the idea. I will make pairs of haijin, for example Georgia and Jen, and I will give you all a 'hokku' (starting verse of a renga) to start a "Real Renga" with. The pairs of haijin, in this example Georgia and Jen, have to compose a renga together by taking turns to write a stanza for the renga. The renga has to become a chain of at least eight (8) stanza and at the most sixteen (16) stanza. The one who writes the 'ageku' (closing verse with a reference to the hokku) of the renga links the renga to Carpe Diem's "Real Renga"- feature.
I think this will be fun and it makes us more a haiku family.
What do you think of this "Real Renga" idea? Let me know ... and maybe we can start a.s.a.p. with this new feature.
Namaste,
Chèvrefeuille, your host.
Carpe Diem Ask Jane ... #1,
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
It's my pleasure to publish the first episode of our new Carpe Diem Haiku Kai feature "Ask Jane ..." I just received it by mail. In this episode Jane answers a question by Managua Hamish Gunn. Have fun!
PS. Do you have questions for Jane Reichhold? Than you can email them to our special emailaddress:
carpediemhaikukaiaskjane@gmail.com
I will take care for forwarding it to Jane.
Chèvrefeuille
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Hi Jane,
I have read a lot from Jane's website over the years, but I was wondering what definable concept, makes a haiku. Is it definable? Is almost any verse of three lines definable as a haiku, or should the reader experience more than three lines that have a certain style? As I said, I read a lot on her website - and followed as possible many of the suggestions, but was wondering at what stage a haiku can be termed thus. Managua Hamish Gunn
Dear Managua,
Yes, I believe it is possible to define what a haiku is. The problem comes when each of us has a different definition of the form and we are liable to change our minds from month to month depending on what we have read and admired. That makes it hard to chisel it in stone! and brings grief to publishers or leaders who only want one definition.
I feel it is best if each serious writer of haiku becomes acquainted with the various styles and methods in which others have written haiku and then, from this knowledge creates his or her own haiku parameters.
Here is the article with the 65 various “rules” of haiku (http://www.ahapoetry.com/AHI%
You also ask “Is almost any verse of three lines definable as a haiku, or should the reader experience more than three lines that have a certain style?”
The answer is firm no. I find other kinds of poetry written in three lines which I do not consider to be haiku such as aphorisms, anagrams, and short poetry which includes one-line haiku which keep none of ‘my’ rules.
1. To be a haiku I feel the poem must be written in two parts which I call the phrase and fragment. You can read the complete article on the subject at: http://www.ahapoetry.com/AHI%
2. A haiku is written in the present tense and handles only one point in time – the now of the action.
3. Some facet of nature is included or even the focus of the poem.
4. The poem uses at least of one of your own senses – hearing, touching, smelling, tasting, seeing, and less often –thinking, feeling, knowing.
5. Haiku avoids personalization which means making some aspect of nature into an activity done by a person – ‘the moon dances on the far hill.’
6. If you find yourself using persons in your haiku, you might think of using this inspiration for a tanka where this kind of thinking fits better.
7. My opinion only for my work - I believe haiku should be used to uplift the spirits. Not everyone agrees with me and that is okay, but I feel the world offers us so much beauty, it is a shame to ignore it. Haiku opened my eyes to the wonder of the world so I tend to keep it there.
The marvelous aspect of haiku is, being such a short form of poetry, it has the most rules, options, and variations of how to do it. Thus, there is always something new to learn!
Blessings on your journey!
\o/ Jane
Carpe Diem #573, Rough Sea (Oct. 2012)
Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Today I will bring you our first regular episode of our second anniversary month October 2014 and as you could have read in the introduction to our prompt-list for this month (see above in the menu line) I will look back to the previous months and years of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
I started this daily haiku-meme in October 2012 to give my passion, haiku, a place to be on the WWW and as I started Carpe Diem Haiku Kai wasn't the title of this weblog, but it was just Carpe Diem. I remember that I first thought this will be not a very big success. So the first idea was to do Carpe Diem until the end of 2012, but ... as I saw the responses I thought "this could be a success so I will go on with it for another year".
And ... well Carpe Diem is still here and has become a success. At the start of this daily haiku meme I had not that much response, but I re-call that MMT, Björn, Mark Redfearn, Amrit (Greenspeck) and Carol and ArtMuseDog were contributing to Carpe Diem from the very start. During the first months I tried to bring great prompts and I even had the CD-Specials. The first featured haiku-poet was Basho whom I see as my master.
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| Logo Carpe Diem October 2012 |
the rough
sea
flowing toward Sado Isle
the River of Heaven
flowing toward Sado Isle
the River of Heaven
© Basho (1644-1694)
Sado was an isle for banishment.
What I like about this haiku is the contradiction between the "rough sea" and the "River of Heaven" (the Milky Way), because the sea is rough and the Milky Way sounds soft and sweet. It's a wonderful haiku I think.
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| Credits: Woodblock print Rough Sea by Hiroshige (19th century) |
#mediaviewer/File:Hiroshige,_Rough_Sea_at_Shichirigahama_in_Sagami_Province,_1852.jpg){kind=link}
Our Ghost Writer of yesterday Yozakura (1640-1716) has also a haiku written about Sado Isle and I love to share that one here also:
an outcast I am
day dreaming along the seashore;
Sado Isle beckons
© Yozakura
What a strong feeling I get from this haiku by Yozakura ... a feeling of loneliness and despair. Yozakura, shortly after becoming an orphan, is wandering along the seashore and sees in the distance Sado Isle ...
Here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on "rough sea", will not be an easy one, but I have to try of course:
"save our souls!"
ships struggling with the storm
the rough sea
© Chèvrefeuille
I remember that a few weeks ago a ship almost sank in a heavy storm. Sadly one of the sailors lost his life as he was trying to save one of his friends. He was hit overboard by a big wave.
This episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 4th at noon. I will publish our new episode, fire, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai were we are celebrating our second anniversary.
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