Tokubetsudesu #50 one-bun

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present a new episode of Tokubetsudesu (former Ghost Writer feature) to you and as you can see in our logo ... it's the 50th episode ... a little celebration worth. Without you all I couldn't do this ... so thank you all for being part of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Maybe you can remember our special CDHK feature "Little Ones" in which I presented other little poetry form as for example tanka and cinquain, but there was never a kind of "little" haibun-like form until Hamish introduced kikobun to us in one of our Ghost Writer posts.

This week's Tokubetsudesu episode is inspired on an article I read in this year's summer edition of "Vuursteen" (Fire stone) the seasonly magazine of the Dutch Haiku Circle (Haiku Kring Nederland). In this summer edition, one of the editors, discusses the one-bun invented by Jim Kacian. The one-bun is an ultra-short haibun which has just one line of prose (including the title) and a (one-line) haiku. I will give an example of this one-bun written by Jim himself.

Credits: Universal Light

The light

of the most distant stars, which describes for us the size and age of the universe, won't reach us for aeons, leaving us to imagine ...

dark space the red shift of my mind

(c) Jim Kacian

A wonderful one-bun, but it leaves us with more questions and riddles. For example: What does Jim mean with "the red shift of my mind"?
I am not that familiar with physics, but I know the idea of "red shift"; it means that the red color of the stars shows us that the universe is expanding and that the light of the stars takes more time to reach our beautiful planet, but what does Jim mean with his words "the red shift of my mind"? Can our mind shift from us? Or our soul, our spirit? Or our mood or our attention? Can our thoughts depart from us? Or our memories, our feelings? I don't know .... I will give it a thought, maybe I will come up with an explanation ... or will I let go this idea and leave you with the mystery?

Isn't it a beautiful new "haibun-form"? I had to try it myself and here is my first ever one-bun:

Honeysuckle

shares its sweet perfume as this summer day runs to an end, while I enjoy the coolness and the warmth of her naked body next to mine ...

hot summer day the sweet scent of Honeysuckle and the one I love

(c) Chèvrefeuille

I found another example of a one-bun written by Jim Kacian which I love to share here too, to conclude this Tokubetsudesu episode.

The second week

traveling by myself I cross the continental divide, and everything that once ran in one way now runs in another, down and down

on the surface of dark water my face

(c) Jim Kacian

Well .... I hope you did like this 50th Tokubetsudesu episode and maybe you are caught by the one-bun as invented by Jim Kacian.

This Tokubetsudesu episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 3rd at noon (CET). Have fun ... be inspired and share your one-bun with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem #766 departing summer

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is our last episode of June ... it makes me a bit sad, but it also makes me happy. For sure it was a lot of work, but it was really worth it. You all are great and gifted haiku poets/esses and it's really a pleasure to be your host here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Thank you all for being part of this wonderful loving haiku family ... without you all I couldn't make Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Really ... I am your host, but we are making CDHK together and that's something to be grateful for ....

Our last prompt is departing summer ... but here in The Netherlands summer has started last weekend. We are heading towards a heat wave, the weather guys (and girls) say we will have tropical heat this week, almost 40 degrees Celsius ... so for us Dutchmen ... summer isn't departing, but June is. We have had wonderful modern kigo as compiled by Jane Reichhold in her saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" and it was a joy, it was really a joy. I am grateful to Jane because she has given me the opportunity to use her saijiki and her haiku ... so ... I bow to you Jane and honoring you with my love and gratefulness ... you are really the best haiku poetess I know.

a shriveled leaf
still hanging on
to summer's end

end of summer
beyond the garden gate
mist turning to rain

end of summer
in the cool morning air
at the open door

end of summer
tall and bright in the fields
of thistle

summer passing
the path to the beach
where no one goes

(C) Jane Reichhold

Credits: Blue Thistle

Tears are rolling over my cheeks I feel the departure of summer deep in my guts, my heart and soul are aching ... summer has gone ... we say goodbye to this wonderful month, goodbye June .... see you again next year.

abandoned beach
finally I can find peace
summer has gone

(C) Chèvrefeuille

I am looking forward to our next month in which we will explore classical Japanese kigo (seasonwords) for summer ... and I hope you all will be there too.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 2nd at noon (CET). I will publish our first new episode of July later on. That will be an episode of our Tokubetsudesu feature and I think I have a wonderful theme for that new Tokubetsudesu episode ... you will see.

Carpe Diem Time Glass #33 The Wall Berlin

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our time challenging feature for this Sunday, June 28th, Time Glass, is The Wall Berlin. Why? My youngest son was at Berlin this weekend, because a friend of him has his bachelor-party there. They had fun and unknowingly he (and his friends) brought me this Time Glass prompt. You have just 24 hours to respond on the prompt given, The Wall Berlin, and the given photo with a haiku. Have fun!

Prompt: The Wall Berlin

Credits: The Wall Berlin

Open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open for just 24 hours until Monday June 29th at 7.00 PM (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #765 leaves

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful month we have had all those wonderful modern summer kigo as compiled by Jane Reichhold in her saijiki "a dictionary of haiku" and what we have in front of us next month .... wow I think ...
Kigo or seasonwords are essential for haiku they give the reader the opportunity to really be in the same moment as the poet, at least in the same season. Haiku is the only poetry form who uses that seasonword, however ... tanka is also known for its use of seasonwords, but not that specific as with haiku.

We have still a few days to go in June and today we enter a little bit a new season, autumn, because our prompt for today is leaves. Leaves has multiple meanings, it can mean "leaving" or "leaves of trees" so this prompt we can use in a different way in the haiku ...

Credits: summer leaves

Let us take a look at the haiku Jane shares as example for this kigo, this seasonword:

smoke shaking
from its folds leafy trees
along the railroad

summer departs
all the warmth left
in leaf fires

out of earth

the heart shapes
leaves

(C) Jane Reichhold

All three are favorites of mine, but that second haiku is in my opinion the haiku who says it all. It has summer in it, but also a little bit of autumn, really awesome haiku. Jane is really one of the most gifted haiku poets I know.

Here is my attempt to compose an all new haiku inspired on this wonderful prompt leaves:

waves come and go
like the seasons
summer leaves

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Hm ... I am not satisfied with this one, but in a way it says all what I would like to say ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 1st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, departing summer, later on.

Carpe Diem Utabukuro #3 how it all started

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am a day late with this new episode of "Utabukuro", but I just had to make a new episode. As you all know this special CDHK feature is about haiku (or tanka) you like. Use a favorite haiku or tanka and explain why it's so special for you and to write an all new haiku (or tanka) inspired on your favorite. No prompt or something, but this time a theme "how it all started".

I discovered haiku in the late eighties and I remember that I wrote my first haiku themed Honeysuckle. I became addicted to haiku and several years later, as I became more known worldwide I choose the "nom de plum" Chèvrefeuille, French for Honeysuckle. I think I have written a lot of haiku (and tanka) during the years and so my archive grew to at least 10.000 haiku (and tanka) I think. So a rich archive as I may say it myself (smiles).

In 2005 I wrote my first English haiku, which you could have read in our first episode of "Utabukuro". That haiku brought me in a way worldwide fame, but that's not my place to say so, sounds to immodest.
As the years went and come I realized that there was more to promote haiku, my beloved haiku, and so I started several weblogs on haiku, but the greatest development was our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai which I started in October 2012. I love to share the first haiku I wrote for CDHK here again.

waterfall of colors
leaves whirl through the street -
departing summer

(c) Chèvrefeuille

I wrote it to inspire my first visitors at Carpe Diem (as CDHK was titled than) with the first prompt ever "waterfall".

waterfall of colors

It was the start of one great adventure and that adventure is still going on. We are running towards our third anniversary .... as I started with CDHK I didn't know it would become as great as it already is and of course I hope that CDHK will grow further. There were several occasions that brought to a point to stop with CDHK, but I couldn't, I just couldn't. Why stop with a great formula?

During the years of CDHK I created several special features and since late 2014 I have built my own publishing house "Chèvrefeuille's Publications" and I started to make/create e-books. Of course I was delighted as I got the exclusive rights to publish the e-books of Jane Reichhold at CDHK .... yes CDHK has grown to a community in which unknown and wellknown haiku poets and poetesses have opportunity to share their haiku, tanka, haiga and haibun ... isn't it awesome. This is not only my merit, but we have accomplished it together and that makes Carpe Diem Haiku Kai the place to be if you like to write and share haiku (and other Japanese poetry forms).

As I told you above I have an outgrown archive of haiku and I just love to share here several haiku which I wrote on Honeysuckle. Hamish once wrote "Chèvrefeuille's favorite theme for his haiku are Cherry blossoms". That's very true, but next to the Cherry blossom I have another favorite theme ... yes Honeysuckle. I have written a lot of haiku themed Honeysuckle and so here are a few examples from my archive:

Honeysuckle (in French Chèvrefeuille)

midsummer night -

the scent of Honeysuckle
tickles the senses

fortuneteller touches
the heart of Honeysuckle
the path to wisdom

midsummer night
Honeysuckle in full bloom
Ah! that perfume

scent of Honeysuckle
the smell of dew on her flowers
Holy incense

my dreams wander
along the path of my life ...
Honeysuckle blooms

Honeysuckle blooms
sharing her sweet perfume
I dream away

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Of course I have to create an all new haiku inspired on this favorite(s) ao here I go:

closing the garden
no one to disturb my thoughts -
Virginia Creeper

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Virginia Creeper

All haiku themed with Honeysuckle. I will make a compilation of all my haiku on Honeysuckle this month and will make it available here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

This episode of Carpe Diem Utabukuro is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Saturday July 4th at noon (CET). Have fun! Share your favorite haiku, tanka or haibun with us all and write an all new one inspired on that favorite haiku (or tanka, or haibun).

Carpe Diem #764 stones

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

June is almost at its end, we have just three days to go and than a new month will start. I am busy with creating our new prompt-list for July and maybe you can remember one of my earlier posts. Next month we will go on further with exploring summer kigo only this month all our prompts will be classical Japanese kigo. (OUR NEW PROMPT LIST IS READY ABOVE IN THE MENU)

Today our prompt is stones I had some difficulties to relate to summer with this prompt, but finally, as I was walking along the seashore I saw why Jane has chosen this modern summer kigo. Wet stones are looking fabulous and like gems or crystals. As the sun shines on the wet stones the stones shimmer like diamonds and I think that wonderful sight you can only have in summer. Jane has chosen very well here are a few of her haiku she uses as an example for this prompt:

words of god
spoken softly by
river stones

moonset
where the water was
a white stone

beach nap
the afternoon covers me
with stone shadow

(C) Jane Reichhold

I especially like the first one of these examples, but that's personal of course.

Credits: stones

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 30th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, leaves, later on. For now .... be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Time Machine 10 Indian Summer (Koharu)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time for another trip along memory lane with our Carpe Diem Time Machine in which we will re-visit prompts we have had earlier in our rich history. Today we go back to December 2012. Back than Carpe Diem Haiku Kai started it's third month, a month with classical Japanese kigo, and Indian Summer or Koharu is such a classical kigo. I will reproduce a part of that episode here:

An Indian summer is a heat wave that occurs in the autumn. It refers to a period of considerably above-normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, usually after there has been a killing frost. Depending on latitude and elevation, it can occur in the Northern Hemisphere between late September and mid November.
The expression 'Indian summer' has been used for more than two centuries. The earliest known use was by French-American writer John Hector St. John de Crevecoeur in rural New York in 1778: "Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer."In British English St. Martin's Summer was the most widely used term until the American phrase became better known in the 20th century. In the United Kingdom, the term Indian summer is used loosely for a period of unseasonable warmth and sunshine in late September, October, or November. In former times in English-speaking regions of Europe, 'Indian summer' was called Saint Martin's Summer, referring to St. Martin's day, November 11. An alternative was Saint Luke's summer. Another alternative was "All-hallows summer", as All Hallows' is November 1. In the United Kingdom Indian summer is often used to describe warm weather that comes late in the year after unusually cool summer months.In the Netherlands it is sometimes called "oudewijvenzomer" or "sint-michielszomer" ("St. Michael's Summer"), although the term "nazomer" ("late summer") is used more often.

after a warm day
a thin layer of fresh fallen snow
covers the garden

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Indian Summer

Well this was our little trip along memory lane and I hope that it will inspire you to write/compose all new haiku and share them here.

I love to share a few haiku which were written in response on this prompt Indian Summer back in 2012:

the lazy bones yearn,
late summers refuse to move
winter knocks on door

(C) Nimue

on a wintry day,
summer blooms in my heart-
the radiance of hope

(C) Loredana

Warm fingers
Plunged in icy pool
Hummers rove

(C) Becca

Indian summer—
brief respite from the burden
of firewatch at night.

(C) Mark M. Redfearn

Logo Carpe Diem Haiku Kai December 2012

Wind from Lake Michigan
Hitting trees in November
Foliage still bright red

Steady wind, no rain
Bright colors of the Indian summer
Soft sound of falling leaves

(C) Rheumatologe Lothar

 As you can see Mark M. Redfearn was already participating than, so he is one of our very first CDHK family members.

This episode of CD Time Machine is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and will remain open until June 30th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #763 outdoor concerts

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have two different episodes for you all. First there is this regular episode outdoor concerts and second we have another episode of Carpe Diem Time Machine, the feature in which we dive into the rich history of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Indian Summer (Koharu). This is our regular episode.

"Outdoor concerts" are really something for summer. Here in The Netherlands we have that kind of concerts very often and not only in summer, we have them also in spring and autumn of course if the weather is good.

One of the most known outdoor concerts is Woodstock back in the late sixties and I love to share a video of this outdoor concert hereafter.

It just brings memories back ... sweet memories and a lot of joy. I wasn't there of course, but as became a teenager I enjoyed the music of Woodstock very much.

Here are the haiku which Jane uses as examples for this modern kigo of summer:

after the concert
my souvenir is the tune
I can hum

call of the flute
answer of drums
among redwoods

flute concert
in the surf sea stones
move at sunset

flute concert
speaking Japanese fluently
the shakuhachi

island fishermen
singing with foreigners
learning to clap

shakuhachi
calling through the trees
with two notes

© Jane Reichhold

All wonderful haiku inspired on the theme "outdoor concerts". To close this episode I love to share a piece of shakuhachi music:

Awesome ... I love the sound of the Shakuhachi to me this is really Japanese culture, next to haiku of course. I think this kind of music can inspire to write new haiku too. So here I go ....

sultry summer night
the sound of the shakuhachi
deepens the silence

(C) Chèvrefeuille

I can see the above picture, the scene, in front of me .... I hope we will have such summer nights this summer ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, stones, later on.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #91, Basho's boiled rice slop

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Friday again and so it's time for a new Tan Renga Challenge, in which the goal is to write/compose the second stanza of the Tan Renga to continue the scene or complete it. This week I have chosen a haiku by Basho to inspire you for this Tan Renga challenge.

This is what Jane says about this haiku which will be the first stanza ("hokku") of this Tan Renga Challenge:

[...] "1694-summer. Basho uses less than elegant terms to describe both the rice dish and the man's wife. Notice how the sense varies as the second line twists so that there are two meanings. This is what Basho considered "lightness" or karumi." [...]

meshi angu kaka ga chiso ya yu suzumi

boiled rice slop
his old lady fans the treat
with evening coolness

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Let me give it a try to make this Tan Renga complete:

boiled rice slop
his old lady fans the treat
with evening coolness                            (Basho)

together with friends
enjoying a summer night                         (Chèvrefeuille)

Not as strong as I had hoped, but well ... I have tried.

This Tan Renga Challenge is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open for one week, until next Friday July 3rd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #153, Rallentanda's fifth "a beautiful peace"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies if you have fun or very busy with all the things you do and have to do. Today I have our last Carpe Diem Special for your inspiration. As you all know Rallentanda was our first time winner of our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Kukai "Wisteria" and she won the chance to be our featured haiku poetess. Rallentanda is a very gifted and talented haiku poetess and I hope to see a lot of her wonderful haiku in the future. I love to thank Rallentanda for the opportunity to use her haiku for these CD-Specials in June and I hope you all did like them as I did.

Before I share her 5th haiku here I have an announcement to make. As asked by several of you, my dear haijin, I have created a special page about the KUKAI. You can find that page above in the menu. At that page you can find the explanation of the kukai and you can find the anonymous list of haiku of our second CDHK Kukai "summertime".
As this episode of CD Special is published than the judging of our second kukai starts too. You have until July 10th 2015 to judge the entries of our second kukai. You can email your points (including the numbers of the haiku of your judging) to our email address:

carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com

Please write "summertime kukai judging" in the subject line !!!

Ok ... back to our CD Special. As you all know the goal of this CD Special is to write an all new haiku trying to catch the same sense, tone and spirit as the given haiku. The last CD-Special by Rallentanda is the following haiku:

a beautiful peace
I sit quietly with them
feeling their presence

© Rallentanda

This haiku you also can find in her e-book "A Carpet of Purple" which is available for downloading at the left side of our Haiku Kai.

The above image goes with the haiku by Rallentanda and maybe it well your inspiration a little bit. Here is my attempt to write a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given by Rall. By the way I have tried the karumi style in this one:

shadows
graves seem to move
spirits dance

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this episode of our CD Special. I am looking forward to our next winner of our CDHK kukai, because he/she will be our featured haiku poet/ess for next month (if the voting goes well, otherwise the winner will be our featured haiku poet/ess of August 2015)

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, outdoor concerts and a new episode of our CD Time Machine, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem "On The Trail With Basho Encore" #6 autumn night

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am glad to present to you an all new episode of our "On The Trail With Basho Encore" feature in which I share haiku written by the master. Basho was, as you all know, a traveling poet and the haiku for this episode he wrote while visiting two of his disciples in September 1694. It is one of his last haiku he wrote.

Jane Reichhold tells us the following about this haiku:

[...] "1694-autumn. This verse began a half renga (18 links) done at Shioe Shado's house on September 21st, in Osaka. One of the reasons Basho had made the trip to Osaka, in spite of his illness, was to mediate between two of his disciples, Shido, a merchant from Osaka, and Shado, a doctor. When both disciples showed up for this renga, they completed only eighteen links. Here, with the associative technique, the autumn night, an abstract idea, and the conversation have been dashed to bits" [...]

aki no yo o uchi kuzushitaru hanashi kana

autumn night
dashed to bits
in conversation

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Basho shows here that he had heart for his disciples and that he tried to keep the harmony between them. This "hokku" shows in my opinion, not only the associative technique, but also the karumi style, Basho's task for life in his last years.

Credits: Kinkakuji Temple Osaka in Fall

And now I have to try to write an all new haiku with the same mood and spirit as the given one to pay tribute to Basho's poetry skills.

on the porch
a moment of silence
the sound of rain

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice one I think. This episode of Encore is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 2nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

!! The judging of our second kukai "summertime" will start tonight at 6.00 PM (CET) as I publish our regular episode !!

Carpe Diem #762 lagoon

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I started to prepare this new episode, lagoon, the first thing which came in mind was the motion picture "The Blue Lagoon", with Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins in 1980. I remember that there was a lot to do around this motion picture, because of the nudity scenes in this movie. As a teenager, in 1980 I was 17 yrs, I remember that I was excited, because nudity in such an American movie wasn't done until than.

The above video was the official trailer of this movie. As I watched it it brought back a few sweet memories of me being a teenager.

Our prompt for today is lagoon and here are a few haiku which Jane has used in her saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku".

bridge
at the edge of the lagoon
the wind stops

lagoon
the name makes kayaks wiggle
with laughter

© Jane Reichhold

Not a long episode this time and also no haiku by my self ... lack of time and inspiration ... I hope this episode will inspire you however.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, the last CD Special by Rallentanda, later on.

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #49 at the seashore (Vision Quest reprise)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Wednesday again and that means ... time for a new Tokubetsudesu episode. Instead of what I wrote in our prompt-list of this month (drought) I have chosen for another theme at the seashore. This has all to do with the choice of the special feature.
Tokubetsudesu gives me the opportunity to bring back special features we have had here at our Haiku Kai. This week that 'former' feature will be Carpe Diem's Vision Quest.
Do you remember that feature? Three days on a row to write haiku inspired on a theme and for every part only 24 hours to respond and if possible with a slight sauce of cohesion to bind the three haiku together.

So for this Tokubetsudesu episode I love to challenge you to go on a Vision Quest with me. There is only a slightly little difference with the original feature. You have to use the three prompts, all with the same theme, in three different haiku and there has to be some cohesion that binds the three haiku together.
For this challenge I will give you 24 hours extra time to respond. Here is the theme: at the seashore and these are the three prompts you have to use:

1. waves
2. seagulls
3. sundown

Credits: at the seashore

This new challenging episode of our Tokubetsudesu feature is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 27th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, lagoon, later on.

Carpe Diem #761 Pines

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I wasn't aware that pines were a seasonword for summer, because I only had the imagination that pines were more of winter, but Jane Reichhold puts them here in summer. We are exploring the modern kigo for summer as gathered by Jane in her saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" and these are a few examples of her haiku on this modern summer kigo:

a tearing sound
a pine cone opens
to the heat

friendly
the pine shares its fragrance
mid-day shade

reaching for the sun
the great pine's shadow
shapes the tree

the tea
in a pine needle cup
coolness

© Jane Reichhold

And of course I just had to share a few "pine"-haiku by Basho:

pine and cedar
to admire the wind
smell the sound

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Or this beauty:

pine wind
needles falling on the water's
cool sound

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

And than there is this wonderful haiku on pine by Issa:

new summer robes--
listening to the pine breeze
they emerge

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. David Lanoue)

Pine Tree Bonsai 

All wonderful haiku on pines, our prompt for today. What to do with this prompt myself? Let me think ... maybe I have to try the "baransu" technique to come up with a haiku on pines.

in the fireplace
crackling pine wood
Ah, that perfume

© Chèvrefeuille

And I love to share a cascading haiku which I wrote back in 2012, short before I started Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, and after I had read Basho's "Narrow Road Into The Deep North".

anxious to see
the twin pine of the stories
once told

once told
a tale on pine trees
bonsai like

bonsai like
the islands of Matsushima
covered with pines

covered with pines
but the wondrous twin pine
I have never seen

© Chèvrefeuille

To bring this episode to its closure a last haiku from my archives (also based on "Narrow Road":

covered with pines
the place of my dreams
Matsushima

© Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Matsushima (Pine Islands) woodblock print

Well .... a lot to handle, but it was really a joy to create this post. I hope it will inspire you to write an all new haiku. Ok ... another haiku "hot off the press" (smiles):

seeking shelter
beneath the giant pine
midsummer rain

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 25th at noon (CET). I will publish our next episode, a new Tokubetsudesu post, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Time Glass #32 "Dukes of Hazzard"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I was a bit sad as I ralized that I wouldn't have the time to create a new CD Time Glass episode and so I decided to try to find a few minutes ... and I succeeded in that .... so here is a new episode of this time challenging feature in which the goal is to write an all new haiku (or tanka) inspired on a given prompt and image, within 24 hours.

This week I have chosen the prompt "Dukes of Hazzards" that famous TV show from the seventies and eighties.


Credits: Title "Dukes of Hazzard"

This Time Glass episode is open at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open for only 24 hours so this episode you can respond on until June 25th at 7.00 PM (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem 760 stargazing

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I like to gaze at the stars, not only in summer, but through the whole year, but especially in summer stargazing, as is our prompt for today, is a great activity. Together with the one you love for example, or just with friends, No clouds at the night sky, the sultry summer night, the sweet perfume of trees, flowers and bushes. Just an awesome feeling ... surly worth doing sometimes (or more than sometimes).

On Shamrock Haiku I found a wonderful haiku written by Konstantin Kedrov about stargazing:

tired of stargazing,
I look down –
puddle full of stars

© Konstantin Kedrov

And I remember a beautiful tanka by Greg Wolford, one of our CDHK family members, which he wrote in response on our first episode of "On The Trail With Basho Encore":

upon bale of hay
stars twinkle in the distance
memories flash by
times filled with our hopes and dreams
and innocence reigned supreme

© Greg Wolford

Stargazing it looks like everyone likes it and so do I as I told you above. There is no night for me without gazing to the stars. I love to point my children and grandchildren to the constellations and the individual stars like e.g. Venus.

Of course the classical haiku poets like Basho, Buson, Issa and Chiyo-Ni for example wrote haiku about stargazing especially around the Tanabata Festival (a traditional Japanese stargazing festival) on July 7th for example this one by Issa:

kakurega mo hoshi machi-gao no yo nari keri

at the hermit's hut, too--
an upturned face awaits
the stars

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. David G. Lanoue)

And I just had to share a haiku by Basho, which he wrote while gazing at the stars on Tanabata:

sazo na hoshi   hiji kimono ni wa   shika no kawa

surely star-lovers
using as a rug
a deer skin

© Basho

full of stars

Well ... we are still discovering the beauty of the modern kigo as gatered by Jane Reichhold in her saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" and today our prompt is stargazing and these are her examples:

coming inside
after star gazing
my glow

our galaxy
in a folding chair
a star gazer

© Jane Reichhold

Awesome to read all those wonderful examples of haiku on stargazing ... all those different styles ... thoughts and ideas behind it .... just awesome.

I had to share a haiku by myself, but I wasn't inspired enough, so I have an "oldie" for you all which I wrote in response on a haiku by Kala Ramesh (one of our featured haiku-poets):

late summer night
wind chime resonates through the night -
stars shine bright

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it's up to you my dear friends. I hope this post will inspire you all to write an all new haiku or tanka.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until June 24th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, pines, later on.

!! PS. There will be no Time Glass episode this Sunday (06/21) because I haven't time !!

Carpe Diem #759, long day/summer solstice

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

nagaki hi mo saezuri taranu hibari kana

even a long day
is not enough for the singing
of a skylark

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

The above verse says it all ... Today our prompt is long day/summer solstice and it points to the beginning of summer (on the Northern hemisphere). Today it's June 21st and that's the real start of summer. At last ... summer has come ... after a long period of cold and semi-cold weather .... summer is here.

I am busy with preparing our list of haiku which are submitted for the second CDHK kukai "summertime" and I hope to mail it to the participants this week, but during lack of time and being in the nightshift, I can not guarantee that. I have read wonderful haiku submitted for this kukai and I am looking forward to your judging.

Ok ... back to our prompt for today long day/summer solstice ... Jane shares the following haiku for this modern summer kigo (seasonword):

longer days
I love to go to sleep
with sky in my eyes

long day
the reading lamp stays
unplugged

© Jane Reichhold

And these she shares on summer solstice:

a bluish shadow
our shortest night
in Norway

solstice splits
between the peach halves
a red stone sun

summer solstice
the gypsy wagon bright
with music

© Jane Reichhold

All wonderful haiku as I may say so ... it will not be an easy task to write/compose an all new haiku inspired on these beauties. So, forgive me, I have ran through my archives ... and I found this one:

Summer Solstice
the longest day of the year
welcomed with music

© Chèvrefeuille (You can find the whole story at Chèvrefeuille's Haiku on WP)

Observatory Robert Morris, near my home-town

celebrating
and welcoming Ra -
summer solstice

© Chèvrefeuille

*) Ra is the Egyptian Sun God

I hope you did like this short episode and that it inspires you to write/compose all new haiku and share them here with us at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 23rd at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, star gazing, later on. For now have fun!

Carpe Diem Utabukuro #2 theme: summertime

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last Saturday I started a new feature here at our Haiku Kai. In this new feature you have no prompts or something it's just for sharing your favorite haiku or tanka with us all here at our Haiku Kai and put them into the "poem bag" or Utabukuro.

For this episode however I have a theme. That theme has to be found in the shared haiku or tanka and this week I love to ask you to share your favorite haiku or tanka about "summertime". This favorite haiku can be from a modern haiku poet or a classical haiku poet.
As you have found your favorite haiku or tanka than please tell us why you have chosen that specific haiku or tanka and than write an all new haiku or tanka inspired on the haiku or tanka of your choice.

For this episode of Carpe Diem Utabukuro I have ran through my archives and found the following haiku which I wrote back in 2012 as spring was departing and summer almost started. This is a cascading haiku about sunflowers. I like sunflowers, because I associate them with summer, even when the sun is not there through the sunflowers I can feel summer.

Sunflowers - Vincent Van Gogh

hopeful new day

available in yellowish
a great sunflower

a great sunflower
desirable to bright sunlight
bows its head to earth

bows its head to earth

a possible new flower opens
promising dreams

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is my all new haiku inspired on this cascading haiku written by myself:

bruised sunflower
it bowed its head to deep -
departure of summer

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as strong as I had hoped, but I like the opposite scene ...

This episode of Carpe Diem Utabukuro is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Saturday June 27th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #152, Rallentanda's fourth "friday flowers"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know this month all our CD Specials are haiku written by Rallentanda, our first kukai winner. And today we have a new CD Special, it's the fourth by Rallentanda and this haiku she wrote a week ago. I love to share it here for your inspiration:

winter - friday night
faces glow like flowers in
soft lighting at the pub

© Rallentanda

A beauty I would say. It's a haiku in which a whole story is told. A story of the gathering of people in a warm cozy pub on a winter night. I think you all can imagine the scene Rall has painted with her words and now it's up to you to try to write/compose an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one by Rall.

Here is my attempt to write/compose an all new haiku inspired on the one by Rall:

warm summer night
drinking together with friends
perfume of Honeysuckle

© Chèvrefeuille

This CD Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 22nd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, long day (summer solstice), later on. For now .... have fun, be inspired and share your inspired haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #90, Allen Ginsberg's "on the porch"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This week's Tan Renga Challenge, in which I challenge you to write a second stanza towards the given first stanza ("hokku"), is very special in my opinion. I was running through my archives and my library and ran towards a well known poet, Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg is one of the poets from "The Beat Generation" as was e.g. Jack Kerouac. I was reading about Ginsberg and I discovered that he had written haiku once. His haiku were never published, so this is a very special Tan Renga Challenge.

Let me first introduce Allen Ginsberg to you. Irwin Allen Ginsberg (1926 – 1997) was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture that soon would follow. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem "Howl", in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States.

In 1957, "Howl" attracted widespread publicity when it became the subject of an obscenity trial, as it depicted heterosexual and homosexual sex at a time when sodomy laws made homosexual acts a crime in every U.S. state. "Howl" reflected Ginsberg's own homosexuality and his relationships with a number of men, including Peter Orlovsky, his lifelong partner. Judge Clayton W. Horn ruled that "Howl" was not obscene, adding, "Would there be any freedom of press or speech if one must reduce his vocabulary to vapid innocuous euphemisms?"

Ginsberg was a practicing Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines extensively. He lived modestly, buying his clothing in second-hand stores and residing in downscale apartments in New York’s East Village. One of his most influential teachers was the Tibetan Buddhist, the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa, founder of the Naropa Institute, now Naropa University at Boulder, Colorado. At Trungpa's urging, Ginsberg and poet Anne Waldman started The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics there in 1974.

Credits: Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997)

And I love to share a few haiku (never published in print) written/composed by Ginsberg.

Looking over my shoulder
my behind was covered
with cherry blossoms.

I didn't know the names
of the flowers—now
my garden is gone.

I slapped the mosquito
and missed.
What made me do that?

© Allen Ginsberg

Nice haiku. As I selected these I really saw/read the classics in them. For example that third haiku brought a haiku by Basho in mind:

a mosquito
aiming noisily -
the sound of one hand

© Basho (?)

A few other haiku by Ginsberg:

A frog floating
in the drugstore jar:

summer rain on gray pavements.

On the porch
in my shorts;
auto lights in the rain.

Another year
has past—the world
is no different.

The first thing I looked for
in my old garden was
The Cherry Tree.

© Allen Ginsberg

In this 'series' of haiku by Allen Ginsberg brought also a haiku in mind by one of our classic haiku poets, Buson:

a frog floating
in the water-jar:
rains of summer

© Buson

Allen Ginsberg was a "fan" of the classical haiku poets and the above haiku he wrote, so is said, he wrote while reading one of the four volumes "haiku" by R.H.Blyth.

So it is really a pleasure to share these haiku by Ginsberg with you. Ok ... back to our Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge. I love to challenge you all to complete the following Tan Renga starting with a haiku by Allen Ginsberg:

on the porch

in my shorts;
auto lights in the rain

© Allen Ginsberg (1955)

Well ... let me see what I can do with this haiku. To complete the Tan Renga I have to associate on the images shared in the haiku above. As I look at the complete scene than I think it's a summer haiku. It has been a hot day, he sits in his shorts on the porch; and it rains. It's late evening, because of the "auto lights". So how to complete this Tan Renga ...
In the above short biography of Ginsberg we can read that he was a Buddhist ... so can I use that for my second stanza. In the above biography we can read Ginsberg was homosexual ... can I use that maybe?
Hm ... to many thoughts, to many images and associations to choose from, so I decided to complete this Tan Renga in a very simple way ...

on the porch
in my shorts;
auto lights in the rain                             (Allen Ginsberg)

after a lonely ... hot day
lips on mine ... together again               (Chèvrefeuille)

Hm .... I like this completion. It completes the scene. After a long hot day alone finally together again, no more tears to shed (the rain), but only intense happiness (auto lights). A warm loving scene I think.

Well .... it's up to you now. Make this Tan Renga complete by writing the second stanza of two lines with approximately 7-7 syllables. This Tan Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions an will remain open until next Friday June 26th at noon (CET). Have fun!