Carpe Diem #1421 desert (extreme haibun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of our story telling month. Today we end a wonderful month full of marvelous stories, or better said ... marvelous haibun. The last prompt for this month it desert and I love to challenge you to create an extreme haibun ... meaning that your haibun may have a maximum of 55 words (including the haiku).

To help you to awaken your muse I have a few images of the desert.

Caravan in the desert

African desert

Love in the desert

I remember it well. It was my first visit to the desert. I was part of a caravan and I met a gorgeous woman. She looked like a goddess. In the middle of the desert we fell in love.

desert heat
arouses the senses
sand on buttocks

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this was our Kamishibai month. Next month we will go on a journey straight through the Andean Mountains.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 6th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, the first of May 2018, later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #30 Revise That Haiku ... Soen Nakagawa's "mountain peak"

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation. It's time again to meditate and contemplate about revising haiku. This weekend I have two nice haiku written by Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984), maybe you remember him, because in our history (April 2014) we had a month in which we explored the beauty of his haiku in the Carpe Diem Specials.

Soen Nakagawa

Sōen Nakagawa  (1907 – 1984) was a Taiwanese-born Japanese rōshi and Zen Buddhist master in the Rinzai tradition. An enigmatic figure, Nakagawa had a major impact on Zen as it was practiced in the 20th century, both in Japan and abroad.

Here are the two haiku to revise this weekend:

one note of the shakuhachi
resounds endlessly
piercing the winter clouds

disappearing
snow on mountain peak
unfurls a Rainbow

© Soen Nakagawa (1907-1984)

This Weekend Meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 6th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last episode of this month, desert, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1420 Tears (one-bun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate (regular) prompt for this month. This month it was all about story telling or as they call it in Japanese "kamishibai". We explored several kinds of haibun and I think you all have enjoyed this month a lot. I enjoyed making it and I am already looking forward to our new month.
In May I love to go on another journey. This time we will visit South America and we will travel by train through the Andean Mountains. It will be an adventure and we will visit the highest station on this railway ... Galera, on the Ferrocarril Centro Andino at 4781m above sea level. During this journey we will dive into the ancient history of this wonderful continent.

Mayan Art work

But ... before we go on a new journey we have to pass two regular episodes and one weekend-meditation episode. Today I ask you to create a one-bun themed tears. The "one-bun" is 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.

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

© Jim Kacian

Today's theme is "tears" and I am looking forward to your responses.

You all will be aware of our feuilleton about Yozakura "Wandering Spirit". I am busy with the new episode of this story, but recently I read it again and I ran into a nice example (extracted from the story) of a "one-bun" ... it even fits our theme for today, tears ...

After a few days 

at the Wisteria flowers lodging house I went into Edo on my way to meet my soon to be haiku master Basho, but before that I visited my mother's garden.

tears fall on this lonely grave Wisteria blossoms

© Yozakura

It's a re-done part of the story. I wasn't aware that I could create a one-bun from another story, but this one is amazing (how immodest).

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 3rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1419 Rose Garden (kikobun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have a wonderful theme for you ... rose garden. The rose is in my opinion the Queen of flowers. I love the colors, the smell, how she looks and I even like her thorns sometimes. Her thorns remind me that I have to be careful with her as I cherish her. She is like a woman, or a man, and she (he) needs our care.

Today I have chosen for the theme "rose garden" and I love to ask you to create a kikobun (above in the menu on the page of our April prompt-list, you can find what a kikobun is) in honor and as a tribute to the beauty of roses, the rose garden. And please try to create your haiku in the classical way (above in the menu you will find the page CDHK Lecture 1, there you can find some classical rules).

Rose Garden (Woodland Park)

By the way I couldn't retrieve the photographer of the above photo, so if you know him or you are him, please let me know.

a wild rose
red delicacy in nature -
my sweet love

red roses
all that remains
after the storm
between the walls
and my heart

© Chèvrefeuille

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

Carpe Diem #1418 true love (haibun extreme)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new (short) episode of our wonderful Kai. During circumstances and lack of time I have a short episode for you. Today I challenge you to create an extreme haibun with a maximum of 55 words (including the haiku) themed "true love". To inspire you I have a nice classical song for you.

Enjoyed this classical song? I hope it will help you to awaken your muse.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 1st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, rose garden, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1417 apprentice (one-bun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize for being late with this new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I had a very busy day and couldn't publish earlier. Than this ... mom is still in hospital, but she is becoming healthier every day. So I hope she can (and may) leave the hospital today.

Today's prompt is "apprentice" and I think we all know what an apprentice is. We all once were and still are apprentices I think. As I look at myself I am learning every day new things. As you all know I see Basho as my sensei, so that means I am his apprentice. I love creating haiku and I am striving to become as good as my sensei.

early morning (image found on Pinterest)

Today I love to challenge you to create a "one-bun" (an invention by Jim Kacian) with our prompt for today. More about "one-bun" you can find above in the menu on the page of CDHK April 2018.

My sensei

still takes time for me to teach me and I am grateful for his lessons

listening to his soft toned voice, full of love, a bird's song

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 30th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, true love, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Crossroads #7 this autumn sky (Sōgi)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Well ... it wasn't really what I wanted to do today, but I have a third post for you today. It is time again for a new episode of our "crossroads" feature, the feature in which I challenge you to create a so called "fusion-haiku" based on two given haiku. Today I have two haiku for you by a not so renown classical haiku poet Sōgi.

Sōgi (1421–1502), was a Japanese poet. He came from a humble family from the province of Kii or Ōmi, and died in Hakone on September 1, 1502. Sōgi was a Zen monk from the Shokokuji temple in Kyoto and he studied poetry, both waka and renga. In his 30's he became a professional renga poet.

During his travels to almost every corner of Japan, he was welcomed by the most powerful political, military and literary figures of his day. He attracted more disciples than any other poet of his generation. After traveling throughout Japan, he returned to Kyoto where he commanded great respect.

Sōgi

He is best-remembered for his renga, wherein two or more poets collaborate to create a poem, by writing alternate stanzas. In Sōgi's day, such renga were typically 100 verses in length. Arising from the court tradition of waka, renga was cultivated by the warrior class as well as by courtiers, and some of the best renga poets, such as Sōgi, were commoners.

Sōgi is considered the greatest master of renga, his two most famous works being "Three Poets at Minase" (Minase sangin hyakuin, 1488) and "Three Poets at Yuyama" (Yuyama sangin hyakuin, 1491).[3] This outstanding poet left more than 90 works (anthologies, diaries, poetic criticisms and manuals, among others). Before his death, he wrote "Sōgi Alone", which mostly includes his memoirs.

Here are the two haiku to create your "fusion-haiku" with:

ah, for coolness,
it rivals the water's depth -
this autumn sky

© Sōgi

And this one, in a translation by myself:

abandoned house
the garden taken over -
butterfly home

© Sōgi (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

Woodblock print Orchid and Butterflies (image found on Pinterest)

And here is my "fusion-haiku":

in the autumn sky
vague silhouette of a butterfly
first raindrops fall

© Chèvrefeuille

Have fun!

This episode of "crossroads" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 29th at noon (CEST). See you ....!

Carpe Diem Romancing Haiku #2 mountain

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy ... a new episode of our brand new feature "Carpe Diem Romancing Haiku" for you all. As I stated in the first episode of this feature "I think haiku can be a love poem too, as tanka once was meant to be". In our first episode I had chosen the theme "beach" for you. For this episode I have chosen the theme "mountain".

Here at CDHK we have often seen the theme "mountain" so I think it will not a big problem to create love-haiku themed "mountain".

An example by myself:

watching a geisha
monk from high up in the mountains
he's also a man

© Chèvrefeuille

Mount Fuji

Or this one, more a love-poem without bringing love up actually, but in the deeper layer this is also a love-haiku:

drinking tea

on the porch of a mountain hut -

the almost full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... enjoy this challenge to create a "love-haiku" themed "mountain". 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 29th at noon (CEST). Have fun ...!

Carpe Diem #1416 Conquest (haibun free-style)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Haiku Kai. This month we are writing all kinds of haibun. We all are storytellers, not only with our haibun, but also with our haiku, tanka or other form of Japanese poetry. Storytelling is in our blood so to say. Everyone can tell stories and you my dear haijin, visitors and travelers, are awesome story tellers.

I hope you all have had a nice weekend. My weekend wasn't that great, because my mom became hospitalized through her diabetes. Her bloodsugar was really disrupted, but after a few days her bloodsugar seems okay again. Godwilling she will be going home tomorrow.

Today I have a nice challenge for you I think and I hope you will like it. Today's pormpt is conquest and your task (if I can call it a task) is to write a free-style haibun themed conquest. So no rules, just fun to tell your story.

To give you a little bit of extra inspiration I love to share a wonderful piece of music by Vangelis with you. I think you all know this masterpiece. It was written for the movie 1492 about Columbus.

Well ... a wonderful piece of music and I think it will help to awaken your muse.

conquering the world
a small verse from a faraway country
the sun rises

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 29th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, apprentice, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #29 Use That Quote ...

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 22nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and it was a marvelous week, because the weather was awesome, almost temperatures of Summer in The Netherlands ... and I had a week off ... so I had a wonderful week. Today however wasn't a great day. My mother again had to go the hospital and is now in the hospital. She had cardiac problems, but the biggest problem today was her glucose, she is diabetic, and her sugars are extremely disturbed. So this day was a day to ... forget, but of course I cannot forget this day, because I became 55 yrs. Yes it's my birthday today.

As you all know I am writing haiku since the late eighties and I see Matsuo Basho as my sensei therefore I have chosen a quote by Basho for you to become inspired through.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

At the time of his death, in 1694, Basho had more than seventy disciples, and about two thousand associates who had accepted and aligned themselves with his teachings. On the one-hundredth anniversary of his death the Shinto religious headquarters honored him by canonizing him as a deity. Thirteen years later the imperial court gave him similar status. He alone is known as a haisei, the saint of haiku. Today he is a recognized genius. (Source: Basho, The Complete Haiku by Jane Reichhold)

Basho is the saint of haiku and he was declared holy by the Shinto religion and was given the name Haisei Basho.

Here at CDHK I have often written about the beauty of his poetry. We read his "Oku-no-Hosomichi" (The Small Road Into the Deep North) and learned his haiku writing techniques. He really is a saint in my opinion and it makes me proud that I can and may say that he is my sensei, my master, my teacher.

Cherry Blossoms around Lake Biwa

For this weekend meditation I have chosen a not so renown quote by Basho, but I think this quote will inspire you ...

Here is the quote to work with:

[...] "There is nothing you can see that is not a Bashoflower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon."[...]  Matsuo Basho

In this quote I read the "greatness" of Basho. His look at nature ... the simple words he used to give an image to his thoughts.

miraculous
entwined by bare branches
the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

While I was preparing this episode sad news arrived ... one of the best and renown dj's of the world, Avicii, has died ... he was 28 years young.

I love to share a music video to give tribute to him.

I hope you did enjoy the read and the music by Avici.

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 22nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remian open until April 29th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, conquest, later on. For now ... have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1415 Perfume of Spring (one-bun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month it's all about haibun (prose and poetry). We have already seen a few different kinds of haibun here at CDHK and today I love to challenge you to create a "one-bun" inspired on our prompt "perfume of spring".

More about "one-bun" you can find in our promptlist for April 2018 (above in the menu).

During circumstances I have chosen to only give you the prompt and the task for today.

perfume of spring

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 26th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1414 Nakedness (kikobun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are all born naked, but through the Fall of Mankind we became aware of our nudity and started to make clothing to cover our nakedness. Why? It's how we are raised and of course there will be several of you that have been raised in an other way. I had the privilege that my parents were wonderful. They first raised me with religion and the love (and respect) for God, or how you will call it. As I grew up and found my own ways, my own paths, they always were there to help me. They respected my choices and applauded my free reason, my free thought, and that has made me who I am now. I appreciate all humans, female and male, I can say that from the depth of my heart ... I love all and everthing ...

Why this introduction? I don't know, maybe I thought it had to be told, but maybe it was something or someone that guided me I don't know.

Today our theme is Nakedness as you already have understood I think. Imagine ... how would the world look as Eve hadn't taken the apple? Than we hadn't know that we are naked, than we would have no need for clothes or clothing. So ... here it goes your task for today is to create a kikobun inspired on our prompt nakedness.

Here you can find the story of Eve.

I remember that I have done this theme earlier here at CDHK and I once shared a haiga in which you can find "nakedness" in an other way than I described above.

Well ... I think you all love to start writing so I will end this episode. Enjoy this theme. By the way above in the menu you can find our "prompt-list" for this month on that page you also can find an explanation of the kikobun.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 25th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, perfume of spring, later on. Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1413 Loneliness (Haibun in the classical way)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to wander along the beach, only the sound of waves and seagulls, all alone. I love to sit down in the backyard on my own, only nature and my own thoughts and feelings. I love being alone sometimes. I think I need that ... I have a busy life, my family, my work as an oncology-nurse, being your host and being myself, the haiku poet Chèvrefeuille. Loneliness is something you can choose for, but mostly loneliness is not something that we choose. There are enough humans that are alone, who live their life in loneliness but didn't choose for it. Loneliness ... our theme for today. I think we have had this theme earlier here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai:

Here are a few links to earlier posts:

Carpe Diem #405
Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #17
Carpe Diem #886
Carpe Diem Namaste, The Spiritual Way #6

Loneliness

Loneliness ... what does it mean for you. Do you choose loneliness sometimes, to find new inspiration and new energy? Loneliness ... a strong emotion with a strong task today, because I love to challenge you to create a classical haibun. In other words, the haiku (or tanka) have to be written in the classical way. (More about this classical way of haiku-ing you can find above in Carpe Diem Lecture 1) Your haibun may have a maximum of 300 words.

Here is a (non-classical) haiku from my archives about "loneliness":

in front of the fireplace
an empty bottle and broken wine glasses 
after the quarrel

© Chėvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 24th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, nakedness, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1412 Daisies (extreme haibun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This mnth it's all about haibun and this month got the subtitle "go and tell your story". And you really did and (i hope) will do this. You have told your stories ... you are all wonderful storytellers and that makes me proud, but also humble, because I am not that good with haibun.

Today I have a new task for you all. The prompt for today is "daisies" and you are invited to create an extreme haibun or in other words "your haibun may have a maximum of 55 words including the haiku (or in this task ... tanka).

thousand daisies
around the farmer's house -
lowing of a cow

© Chèvrefeuille

A nice haiku I would say extracted from my archives, maybe it will help you a little bit to become inspired.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, loneliness, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem's Crossroads #6 A Leafless Tree (Soseki Natsume)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature "crossroads" in which I challenge you to create a "fusion" haiku from two haiku given. I love this feature, and I think you all do love it, because I have read wonderful "fusion"-haiku in the episodes before this one.

This week I love to challenge you to create a "fusion" haiku from two haiku written by Soseki Natsume, a haiku poet we have seen here at CDHK in one of our "theme-weeks" back in 2016. Let me first tell you a little bit more about him.

Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke, was a Japanese novelist of the Meiji period (1868–1912). He is best known for his novels Kokoro, Botchan, I Am a Cat and his unfinished work Light and Darkness. He was also a scholar of British literature and composer of haiku, kanshi, and fairy tales. In Japan, he is often considered the greatest writer in modern Japanese history. He has had a profound effect on almost all important Japanese writers since.

Soseki Natsume

Born as Natsume Kinnosuke in the town of Babashita in the Edo region of Ushigome (present Kikui, Shinjuku), Sōseki began his life as an unwanted child, born to his mother late in her life, forty years old and his father then fifty-three. When he was born, he already had five siblings. Having five children and a toddler had created family insecurity and was in some ways a disgrace to the Natsume family. In 1868, a childless couple, Shiobara Masanosuke and his wife, adopted him until the age of nine, when the couple divorced. He returned to his family and was welcomed by his mother although regarded as a nuisance by his father. His mother died when he was fourteen, and his two eldest brothers died in 1887, intensifying his sense of insecurity.

In 1887, Sōseki met Masaoka Shiki, a friend who would give him encouragement on the path to becoming a writer, which would ultimately be his career. Shiki tutored him in the art of composing haiku. From this point on, he began signing his poems with the name Sōseki, which is a Chinese idiom meaning "stubborn". In 1890, he entered the English Literature department, and quickly mastered the English language. In 1891 he produced a translation into English of the classical work Hōjōki. Sōseki graduated in 1893, and enrolled for some time as a graduate student and part-time teacher at the Tokyo Normal School.

Basho once said: "Go to the pine-tree and learn from it".

I love his work and I remember that in that "theme week" I mentioned I told you about two haiku by him that gave me the idea that he was familiar with the work of Basho. Those two haiku I love to give you here for our "crossroads" episode.

the crow has flown away:
swaying in the evening sun,
a leafless tree.

over the wintry
forest, winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow.

© Soseki Natsume

Two wonderful haiku that show that Soseki was familiar with Basho's haiku, because you can easily "see" two renown haiku by Basho in this set by Soseki Natsume.

a leafless tree
sways in the autumn wind
no sound is heard

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... what do you think of this "fusion" - haiku? I like this one (how immodest) but has it brought in the idea of fusing the two haiku by Soseki?

This episode of "crossroads" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 23rd at noon (CEST). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Spring Retreat 2018 "The Light Of The World"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the new Carpe Diem Spring Retreat 2018. The CDHK Retreats are a period of 30 days in which you have to write a haiku or tanka every day on a chosen theme. This Spring Retreat 2018 I have chosen the the "The Light Of The World". This theme sounds religious or spiritual, but I think it's more than that. "The Light Of The World" can also be nature, art-work, happiness and more. So it's not only a religious theme ...

As we look at the true meaning of "The Light Of The World" than we all will say something like "the light of the world is Jesus Christ", but ... of course that's not the only meaning ... think out of the box and try to create haiku or tanka themed "the light of the world" from the heart and not from the mind.

Daffodils, the light of the world (painting by Debra Argosy)

Daffodils, the first sign of spring ... those wonderful yellow flowers are in my opinion also "the light of the world". I think "the light of the world" is a broad source of inspiration and I am looking forward to all of your responses. Enjoy the Carpe Diem Spring Retreat 2018.

Natural light of the world

first sunlight
cherishes her naked body
her sweet perfume

© Chèvrefeuille

The Carpe Diem Spring Retreat 2018 "The Light Of The World" is open for your submissions tonight at 10:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 15th 10:00 PM (CEST). Share your haiku and tanka inspired on the theme every day, 30 days period, with us all.

Carpe Diem #1411 praying (one-bun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and that it has given you the inspiration you needed. Today I have a short episode for you, because I have to create our post on the Spring  Retreat 2018 also today. So I will give you the theme "praying" and the task ... create a one-bun. I will give you the meaning of "one-bun" here again.

The "one-bun" is 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.

Praying

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

Carpe Diem's Romancing Haiku #1 beach

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a nice weekend this will become I think. I was inspired and I have a new feature for you to work with. Again a feature for only haiku, as are the roots van CDHK. You all know that tanka is THE Japanese poetry form for love. Tanka we know mostly as a love poem, but I think (and I have said this often here at CDHK) that haiku can also be a love poem that's why I have created this new feature "Romancing Haiku".

For this first episode of Carpe Diem's Romancing Haiku I have chosen a theme. I think that the beach is one of the best places to find romance. And I even have written a few haiku themed beach in which I think romance was the second theme.

torn apart clothes
thrown against a beach pole
a winter's love

bare footed

wandering about the nude beach

in heart of winter

Beach Love

the sound of waves

accompanies hot steamy love -

seagulls cry

a whisper of rain

awakens me gently

morning on the beach

© Chèvrefeuille

I think really that haiku can be a love poem too. So that's were this new feature is about ... romancing haiku ...

I hope I have inspired you to create romancing haiku ... so let's go create ....

This first episode of "romancing haiku" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish this new feature weekly.

Carpe Diem Weekend-Meditation #28 Revise That Haiku ... Yosa Buson's "Frost On The Temple"

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 15th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend-meditation here at our Haiku Kai. This weekend I have another nice Revise That Haiku task. This special feature triggers you to look from all sides to one or two classical haiku and try to "revise" them. It's a nice way to improve your own haiku writing skills.

This weekend I love to give you a task to revise two haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784). Yosa Buson, or Yosa no Buson, was a Japanese poet and painter from the Edo period. Along with Matsuo Bashō and Kobayashi Issa, Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. Buson was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province.

"Wild Horses" painting by Yosa Buson

Here are the two haiku by Buson to "revise":

the millstone has turned
thirty-three times in its course —
frost on the temple

© Yosa Buson

a branch snaps under snow
waking me from a dream of the cherries
flowering on Yoshino

© Yosa Buson

Two not so renown haiku I think, but maybe that makes it a little bit easier to "revise" them. Well ... have a wonderful weekend.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday April 15th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, praying, next Sunday too. For now ... have a great weekend with a lot of joy, love and inspiration.

Carpe Diem #1410 Rainbow (short-haibun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Kai. This month I ask you all to create haibun ... "go and tell your story" you all did a wonderful task in the first weeks April. I am proud ... it makes me humble, because haibun isn't really my "cup of tea" and I am for sure not a great haibun poet.

Today I have another wonderful theme to work with ... "rainbow". Maybe you can remember our "rainbow" Theme Week "color your life" back in 2016. We explored the meaning of the colors of the rainbow and maybe, just maybe it can help you to create your short-haibun this time.

I have a wonderful haiku by Kobayashi Issa for you, that haiku you have to use or at least a "revision" of it. Write your short-haibun, with a maximum of 100 words (including the haiku) and share it with us all.

Here is the haiku by Issa:

evening's fall colors -
the rainbow in the valley
fades away

© Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828)

A real beauty by one of the greatest haiku poets ever. Issa had a tough life, but his poems aren't affected by it.

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

Carpe Diem #1409 Broadway (extreme haibun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we will make a trip to Broadway. I think you all are familiar with Broadway, the place to be if you like musicals and more.

Broadway theatre, commonly known as Broadway, refers to the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. Historian Martin Shefter argues, "'Broadway musicals,' culminating in the productions of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, became enormously influential forms of American popular culture" and helped make New York City the cultural capital of the nation.

Broadway by Night

I haven't been there, but I hope it will once be one of my visits at the USA. I am not a big fan of musicals, but Broadway sounds like a legend. So I think Broadway can inspire you to create an "extreme haibun", with a maximum of 55 words including the haiku (or tanka).

To inspire you I have a nice piece of music for you taken from the musical "West Side Story" (1957):

Well ... it is up to you now ... create an "extreme haibun" inspired on Broadway. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 18th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our nex episode, Rainbow, later on.

Carpe Diem #1408 Gypsy (kikobun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's with pleasure that I offer you a new episode of our wonderful Kai. We are into haibun this month and we have seen already several different forms of haibun this month. Today I love to challenge you to create a kikobun. Let me first share the idea of kikobun (again) with you before I go to the theme of today, gypsy.

It is structured somewhat like a haibun, a passage of prose with at least one short poem (haiku or tanka). It features landscape and nature, and interaction between writer and the landscape. Bashô focused on exactly that, the nature and not on prescribed formulas or conceptions.
The key specification is that a kikôbun involves movement of the writer, in that it is a short travel diary. The haiku should not repeat what is in the prose, and should not attempt to ′globalise’ the prose like a conclusion.

Okay ... onwards we go. Today's theme is "gypsy". And I think you all know about gypsies. In my daily salutation I always use "travelers", and maybe you know that "travelers" are a kind of gypsies. Our haiku friend Hamish Managua Gunn has written a few posts here at CDHK about gypsies and maybe they can help you ... At the above left corner you find a "search" possibility were you can find his posts on gypsies by putting in "gypsy or gypsies" or maybe "Roma".

Gypsy woman (painting)

I am not that familiar with gypsies, but I remember that I used a kind of gypsies in my first novel "Netsach" (2007) so I think I can say I am a little bit familiar with them and of course through the posts of Hamish here at CDHK.

In one of his posts he shares with us the following haiku on gypsies (or Roma-people):

by the campfire
she dances to the violin
only the stars are still

© Hamish Managua Gunn

Maybe you can use his haiku for your inspiration to create a kikobun. Of course you are free to do so. You can also use the following video by Nagy Lehel, titled "Cigány Zene - Gypsy Music" for your inspiration.

Well ... I think you have enough to work with. I am looking forward to your kikobun themed "gypsy".

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, Broadway, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1407 opportunity (haibun without rules)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month it's all about haibun and today I will give you the "opportunity" to create a haibun without rules. Life is full of opportunities and everyone of us will (I think) agree with me in that. My worldwide career started several years ago. I took the opportunity to publish a first English haiku on the WWW and that haiku became renown all over the globe. I took the opportunity to deepen my knowledge about nursing as I decided to become an oncology nurse. I also took the opportunity to create Carpe Diem Haiku Kai for you and to start with my own publishing company. Opportunities ... one way or the other ... we have to take them.

Today I love to challenge you to create a haibun (without rules) themed "opportunity", maybe you have to use "senryu" instead of "haiku", but that's all up to you. Maybe you will create a haibun in which you use tanka instead of haiku. It's up to you. No rules ...

The Opportunity of a Lifetime

Create your haibun from your heart, look into your life, maybe you find an idea about how to create a haibun on opportunity ... and enjoy your inspiration and creativity.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, gypsy, later on. For now ... just have fun!