Carpe Diem's Universal Jane #1 Introduction "all my years"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our very first episode of our new tribute special feature for Jane Reichhold. As you all know Jane meant a lot to me, but also for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She once said "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the best website about haiku and other Japanese poetry forms on earth". I was (of course) delighted as she told me that and it made me humble. Who am I to get such a wonderful compliment, I am just a guy who love haiku and promoting it with whole his heart.

I know that Jane was not only important to me, but also important to several of you, my dear haijin. Jane died at the end of July 2016 in the age of 79 year. She couldn't longer cope with the pain of fybromyalgia and decided to end her life on her own will. I was shocked as I heard about her passing away and in a way I am still in shock. As you know earlier this year (March) I lost my dad and a few months later Jane, my dear friend and mentor, passed away. I hadn't recovered from the shock of losing my dad and than I lost her ... Jane ...

cliffs

As I heard the news of Jane's death I decided to create a special Carpe Diem Theme Week immediately and as you know I also created a "tribute to Jane month (September 2016)". As I was creating and preparing that "tribute to Jane month" I got to know her even better than I already did. Jane was not only a gifted haiku poetess, but was also a very gifted tanka poetess and she was one of the leading modern haiku and tanka poets. With her death the world of haiku and tanka lost her Queen.

Jane was not only my dear friend and mentor but also co-host of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. I am grateful that she shared her knowledge and beautiful articles and poems with me, with us this warmhearted family of haiku and tanka poets. She granted me permission to use all her work and she gave me the exclusive rights of her e-books ... Jane was my inspiration and still is.

I believe that her spirit is still here and through her spirit she will be always part of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and that's the reason why I created this new special feature "Universal Jane", to stay in contact with her spirit, but also to keep her beautiful mind, her beautiful poetry and all her knowledge alive. Jane will be, through this new special feature, always part of our warmhearted family our Haiku Kai.

Jane Reichhold

I hope to create every Wednesday a special episode in honor of and as a tribute to Jane Reichhold. In this special feature I will share haiku, tanka, articles and her wonderful art-work to inspire you all and to keep her memory alive.

For this first episode I love to share a few haiku I recently found written by her. Five wonderful haiku to inspire you and to remember her gift ...

Flutes
echoing each other
two crows

winter solitude

the cat washes again

the tip of her tail

love songs

in the flute player’s face

grief

all my years

floating in the river

a childish heart

a new language

written in my oldest books

mildew

© Jane Reichhold

Listen to that music it's not only in the tune the flute player plays, but also in the haiku by Jane ... listen carefully and let the music of the Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) inspire you.

follow your dreams

dreams come alive
the old monk plays the bamboo flute
becomes young again

© Chèvrefeuille

In this haiku I sense the thought, the dream I once had ... to create a daily haiku meme ... At that time (October 2012) I was almost fifty, and of course feeling so much younger, but creating Carpe Diem Haiku Kai to share my passion for haiku, the shortest poem on earth, made me young again and I hope CDHK will stay alive for a long time and that I will feel young as long as I can.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 9th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, the first CD Special of our third featured haiku poet Herman van Rompuy, former President of the EU, later on.