Carpe Diem #1654 Tan Renga Challenge (1) Smoldering Fireplace

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This is the first episode of May 2019. This month it's Tan Renga Challenge Month again. So this month all the prompts are haiku by modern and classical haiku poets to create Tan Renga with.

Tan Renga looks like a tanka, but instead of being written by one poet the Tan Renga is written by two poets. Tan Renga is a short chained verse of two stanza. The first stanza has three lines and the second stanza has two lines. More about Tan Renga you can find above in the menu, but I think that you all know how Tan Renga is created.

For this first Tan Renga Challenge of May 2019 I have chosen a haiku that I recently created. It's up to you to create the second stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) through associating on the scene(s) in the given haiku.

Smoldering Fireplace

Here is the haiku to work with:

smouldering fireplace
the sweet perfume of burned herbs
loneliness grabs my throat

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think this one is great to work with, but it will not be an easy task ... have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 7th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new Tan Renga Challenge later on.

Carpe Diem #1653 passing spring (yuku haru)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of this month in which we explored the beauty of modern and classical kigo for spring and because of the fact that this is the last episode I have chosen for a classical kigo that fits this last episode ... passing spring (yuku haru).

At the end of spring we are longing for summer, spring has passed by and has spread new life all around us. Nature is in full bloom and the bare branches are covered with blossoms and young green leaves. The meadows are sprinkled with the most beautiful flowers on earth ... isn't it exiting? Finally we can say ... the light has returned to us and now we may celebrate summer.

Spring passes
and the birds cry out—tears
in the eyes of fishes

© Matsuo Bashō (Tr Sam Hamill, taken from "Narrow Road Into The Deep Interior")

The above haiku is an example of this classical kigo, passing spring (yuku haru), isn't it a beauty?

lying on the beach
dreaming away in a midday nap
departing spring

© Chèvrefeuille

I couldn't come up with a new haiku, so I shared a beauty from my archive. 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 (first) episode of May later on. Next month all the prompts will be Tan Renga Challenges. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1652 Cherry Petals (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of April 2019. This month I took a week off and I enjoyed it. This month we have explored modern and classical kigo for spring and today I love to challenge you with a modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's modern saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku".
Today I saw the cherry petals fall from the Sakura in my backyard and that brought me the idea to give you a modern kigo related to that event ... cherry petals.

And here is an example (or two) extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" with this modern kigo:

a long journey
some cherry petals
begin to fall

garden waterfall
cherry petals float to earth
in the sound

© Jane Reichhold (taken from: "A Dictionary of Haiku".)

Two beauties I think. Both give tribute to Jane, because she was one of the best modern haiku poets I have ever known. She was renown all over the globe and was once my co-host here at CDHK. She is still missed dearly, but I know her spirit is dwelling here at our wonderful Haiku Kai.

spring breeze
rustles through the cherry trees
it seems to be snowing

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 5th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last episode of April later on. Next month it's Tan Renga Challenge month and I hope you all will join in again to create this wonderful small chained verses.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #82 Introducing a new feature ... "photo-shopping haiku"

!! open for your submissions next Sunday April 28th at 7:00 PM (CEST)  !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Introducing a new feature. "A new feature again?" I can hear you almost say or think that, but I think it's time for something new as you also will see soon in the lay-out of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I have chosen a more modern look and I hope you all will like it.
Why this upcoming change? Well ... I took a week off for the very first time at CDHK, but that doesn't mean I wasn't busy with CDHK, however ... I did like this week off and I will do that every month from now on. Maybe you think "The end of CDHK is near", but that's not what this means. It gives me the opportunity to improve CDHK. CDHK was once, according to Jane Reichhold, the best website on haiku around the globe, and that's my dear CDHK-family members, my goal ... to stay "on top of the world" so to say.

As you all know I see, Matsuo Basho, as my master and I just hope that I am worthy to be his apprentice.

Basho once said: "I tried to give up the way of fuga (poetry) and stop writing verses. But each time I did so, a poetic sentiment would tug at my heart and something would flicker in my mind. Such is, the magic spell of the life of poetry".

And that's my feeling right now. I am on a, say ..., crossroad but cannot decide which road I will take.
My dilemma is: "Do I go on with my poetry or do I leave the road of poetry. Do I go on with CDHK or will I stop and close the website. It's really a dilemma, because I love what I am creating with CDHK, but it takes a lot of my time. Creating CDHK takes from my personal time to create haiku. Back in the late eighties I discovered the beauty of haiku ... I was immediately caught by this beautiful small poem. During the years my haiku writing skills evolved to a certain quality and (how immodest) my haiku arose to the quality of Basho, but since I started CDHK it feels that I just create haiku commercially and that's for sure not how I saw haiku back in the late eighties.
Ofcourse sometimes I create haiku with quality like those by Basho, but it doesn't give me the pleasure anymore that I felt. This makes me sad, this is why I chose to take a week off. This week brought me a lot of insight. It gave me the insight that creating CDHK is my passion and I can't live without it. So I am back on track ... or like Basho I am under the magic spell of the life of poetry.

Back to the "root" of this episode "introducing a new feature".

A new feature at CDHK not easy to create, but I have found a new idea and I am trying to make it fit for our new modernised (soon the kay-out will change) CDHK.
Not so long ago I saw an episode of the TV-show "America's Next Top Model". In that episode the producers showed the public how photos are retouched to make the model look more beautiful and attractive. Something like "photo-shopping" I think or revising.
Photo-shopping sounds awfull but, I think it's possible to "photo-shop" haiku and tanka too. Just a little change can make the difference between a good haiku (or tanka) and an excellent haiku (or tanka).
I love to make photos, but I am not a photographer that likes color. I am more of the black and white and sepia photos, because in my opinion the photos are more beautiful ... more vintage.

Maybe it's because of my age (56 yrs) or of my melancholic mind I don't know, but I do know that we can re-make "photo-shop" a haiku (or tanka) into a vintage one just by retouching of a small part. So this new feature, that I first titled "vintage haiku", I have "re-titled" into "photo-shopping haiku".

Let me give you an example:

autumn has come
visiting my ear on
a pillow of wind

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

As I start "photo-shopping" this haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho, than I think 'I can bring more softness, tranquility, into it by changing a small part of this haiku into:

whispering into my ear
on a pillow of wind

In this example I only let the first line un-touched:

autumn has come
whispering into my ear
on a pillow of wind

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this "small" re-touch makes this haiku more soft, lovely and tranquil. What do you think?

The first challenge for this new feature "Photo-shopping Haiku" is: "Photo-shop" the above haiku by Basho. Good Luck!

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 28th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 5th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #81 Poetry Archive (5) ... loneliness or emptiness

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's weekend again ... so time for a new weekend meditation, our special CDHK feature for the weekend to meditate and contemplate about a theme. This weekend I have chosen for a new episode of our Poetry Archive feature. This feature is about your archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other form of Japanese poetry from your archive and share it with us all. Tell us why you have chosen for that poem from your archive and create a new poem inspired on your choice. This time I have another wonderful theme ... loneliness or emptiness ...

In an earlier post this month I told you all that I needed a week off. That week is now upcoming. I will not post new episodes this week, but of course I will give you a new weekend meditation at the end of this "free off-week". It gives me time to relax and it will give you the chance to relax too and inhale new energy.

Okay ... back to our weekend meditation ... Poetry Archive ... Loneliness or Emptiness ...

Here is a haiku from my archive(s) themed "loneliness" and one themed "emptiness":

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

an empty bowl
but in it is the spirit of emptiness -
the spring breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

Both haiku were responses on earlier posts here at CDHK. I like them both, but that second one I see as one of my masterpieces. It's a deep religious, spiritual, experience ... inspired on a "koan".

Loneliness

And here is a new one created from both of the haiku above, say a "fusion-ku":

smoldering fireplace
the sweet perfume of burned herbs
loneliness grabs my throat

© Chèvrefeuille

Have a wonderful weekend and a great week.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 28th at noon (CEST). Have an awesome weekend!

Carpe Diem #1651 dropwart (seri), Japanese parsley

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful spring day we have had here in The Netherlands. Whole day sunshine a really nice temperature ... it felt almost like a early summer day. Yes it was a gorgeous day. And I hope you all have had such a wonderful day too.

This month it's all about classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have another nice classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki, dropwart (seri) or Japanese parsley.

Dropwart (Seri) (Japanese Parsley)

Dropwart is part a broad range of herbs, there are a lot of species of this parsley family. It's a spring kigo that is (was) used all spring, because it grows and blooms in all spring.

I have found a nice example for this classical kigo, a haiku by Yosa Buson (one of the "big five" haiku poets):

furudera ya houroku suteru seri no naka

By an old temple
a broken clay kitchen pot
in a field of water parsley

© Yosa Buson

And here is another "parsley"-haiku:

This is all there is;
the path comes to an end
among the parsley.

© Alan Watts

Two wonderful haiku I think as an example for this classical kigo for spring.

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 weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1650 Breakfast (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai were we are exploring the beauty of classical and non-classical kigo for spring. Today I haven't enough time to create a large episode, but I think I can make you all happy with a new "Renga With ... Jane Reichhold" episode.

Today I have chosen a modern kigo taken from her modern saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" ... We have to do it every morning, but as I speak for myself ... I do not take breakfast every day. So today I challenge you to create a Renga With Jane Reichhold by adding your two-lined stanza between the haiku of Jane. In her modern saijiki she gives us six examples of haiku with the modern kigo "breakfast" and those six haiku I will give you to create your Renga With Jane.

Here are the six "breakfast"-haiku by Jane. You may choose your own "line-up":

flood waters crest
someone by the river puts water
in a coffee pot

breakfast coffee
the excitement of an ocean
in my cup

threads of smoke
breakfast fires of neighbors
tied together

pale spring sunshine
spread over breakfast toast
quince jelly

beating egg yolks
two yellow butterflies
twist in the fog

early morning rain
the dry sound inside the cabin
of oatmeal cooking

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

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 later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1649 shining wind (kaze hikaru)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form, and share them with the world. This month we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring, And today I have another nice classical kigo for spring taken from the Shiki Saijiki, "shining wind (kaze hikaru).

It's a not so renown kigo and it needs a little bit of explanation. Shining wind (kaze hikaru) refers to  the sparkling of spring sunshine and a gentle wind on a sunny spring day.

Here is an example of the use of this kigo in a haiku:

kaze hikaru makoto no nata ni hanagoro mo

Wind shines
around truth's flag
and the symphony of flowers as well

© Taeko Watanabe. (*1960 -)

Katsushika Hokusai- Plum Blossom and the Moon

fragile green leaf
whispers in the shining wind
in early sunlight

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I am looking forward to your responses. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 23rd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1648 skylark (hibari)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful spring day we had here in The Netherlands. It felt almost like early summer, I even could stay a while outside in the garden enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. Yes ... it was an awesome spring day.

This month we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo for spring and today I have another wonderful classical kigo extracted from the Shiki saijiki for you all to work with. Our classical kigo for today is Hibari (Skylark).

Skylark (woodblock-print by Bijutsu Sekai (1803-1896)

And here are a few haiku from my archive:

mezzo-soprano sings
a love song by Chopin -
cry of a Skylark   

in touch with the gods
pine trees reaching for heaven -
skylarks sing their song

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is another example with this classical kigo created by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), my sensei:

hibari naku naka no hyoshi ya kiji no koe

through the skylark's singing
comes the beat
of pheasants' cries

© Basho

Ofcourse I had to create a new one and that wasn't an easy task, but I think I succeeded with the following haiku:

high in the sky
the faint shadow of a skylark
hear! he praises the Creator

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1647 Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend full of inspiration. I am looking forward to all of your wonderful "new masterpieces". Maybe you have written that masterpiece just a few minutes ago or maybe you have written it a while ago, but weren't sure of it was a masterpiece. Well ... in my opinion every haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form is a masterpiece, because you have written it. It was your experience with nature, that moment short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water.

This month we are exploring the classical and non-classical seasonwords for spring. Spring is the season of new life. Everywere you look you can see that new life, young green leaves, a diversity of blossoms and flowers ... birds creating their new nest ... to create new life.

wakaba shite    om me no shizuku    nuguwa baya

young leaves
I would like to wipe away
tears in your eyes

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

Young Green Leaves

But let us take a look at our new spring kigo. Today I have chosen for a classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki, Japanese-radish flower (daikon no hana), but what kind of plant this is? I have ran through the Internet and found the following description of this plant.

Daikon literally means ‘big root’. This long white crunchy vegetable looks like horseradish, but it’s mild-flavored, similar to watercress. Daikon is also known as winter radish, oriental radish or Japanese radish. By itself, daikon radish is a superb vegetable. It’s a staple of Japanese food culture,  whether pickled, garnished, or served steaming in miso soup. Traditionally know as a yin food, it cools and calms the body.

Japanese-radish flowers (daikon no hana)

Here are a few examples for this classical kigo by my master Matsuo Basho:

kiku no ato daikon no hoka sara ni nashi

After the chrysanthemums,
Apart from radishes,
There is nothing.

mononofu no daikon nigaki hanashi kana

samurai's gathering--
their chat has the pungent taste
of daikon radish

© Matsuo Basho (1644-94)

And now ... it is up to you my dear CDHK family-members. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #80 Quest For A New Masterpiece ... summer grasses

!! open for your submissions next Sunday April 14th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Really time flies and certainly this week time wasn't on my side. I have had a very busy week, but could find some peace and relaxation in creating our wonderful Haiku Kai. What an every day joy it is to create CDHK for you my dear CDHK family members. And what a joy this month is, we are exploring classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring ... yes it's a joy.

This weekend I love to challenge you (again) to create your masterpiece. Yes I have for you a new episode of our special feature "Quest For A New Masterpiece". As you all know there are several haiku that are renown all over the world, those haiku, like for example Basho's "Frogpond" and "Crow on a bare branch" are such masterpieces, but I know for sure that we all have the talent to create our own masterpieces.

Summer Grasses (canvas by Home Comforts)

This weekend I love to challenge you to create your masterpiece inspired on an other renown haiku by Matsuo Basho ... "summer grasses"

summer grasses
all that remains
of warriors’ dreams

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

Maybe you remember a haiku that I wrote inspired on this renown haiku by Basho:

ancient warriors ghosts
mists over the foreign highlands -
waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

You all know I am more of the "freestyle" way of haikuing, but this one is according to the classical rules. That makes this "Quest" a little bit more difficult, because I love to challenge you to create your classical haiku in which you use the rules as you can read above in the menu in CD Lecture 1.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 14th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 21st at noon (CEST). So I hope you are inspired and for closure all that remains now is to wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem 1646 Puddles (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of CDHK were we are exploring the seasonwords (kigo) for spring. I have given you already a nice selection of classical and modern kigo for spring. Yesterday we had a modern kigo and today I have another nice modern kigo for spring extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". I think we have had today's theme, puddles, here earlier at CDHK, but that's no problem I think.

In Jane's saijiki she shares wonderful examples for every kigo so she also did that with this modern kigo. Here are a few examples:

floating clouds
down from the mountain
a puddle of rain

in mud puddles
in a strange sky over
a stranger land

in puddles
the pattern of raindrops
dyes the hills green

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from her "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Puddles

feeling a kid again
jumping in the puddles of spring -
soaked 'til the bone

in the puddle
the fragile beauty of clouds
a broken rose

© Chèvrefeuille

Two examples from my own archives about puddles. And here is a new one:

your reflection
smiles at me from beneath
driven by clouds

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 18th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1645 Abalone (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A new episode in our journey through the classical and modern kigo for spring and today I have (again) a nice modern kigo by Jane Reichhold, extracted from her saijiki "a dictionary of haiku". As you all know Jane was an awesome and renown modern haiku poetess and she was once my co-host here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

I can say she was a real friend and I still miss her every day, but I believe that her spirit is dwelling here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, because she loved CDHK and said about CDHK "it's the best website on haiku, tanka and other Japanese poetry forms on the World Wide Web".

Abalone shell

shades of art deco
lying on the beach
abalone shells

colors of seafoam
in the abalone
a cup of fog

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from: "A Dictionary of Haiku")

As you can read and see our modern kigo for spring is "abalone" and I love to challenge you to create haiku or tanka according to the classical rules. (See CDHK Lecture One).

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1644 Hail (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy it is to create a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month it's all about modern and classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring. Today I have chosen a nice modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". Today it's 'hail' what you need to use and maybe you can bring in a kind of love as Jane did in one of her haiku examples:

after lovemaking
hail falls between us
she buttons her blouse

© Jane Reichhold

What a wonderful kigo this is ... and what a wonderful haiku Jane has created, Isn't it a extraordinary haiku? To bring the hardness of hail in a love scene. Jane was really a great haiku poetess.

the sound of hail
mixed with the warmth of love
I kiss my love

© Chèvrefeuille

Hail (I couldn't retrieve the owner of this image)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our next episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1643 beach combing (shiohigari)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Before I start this new episode I have an announcement to make. As you all know I love creating our wonderful Haiku Kai, but as you all know too, it takes a lot of my time. I don't have a problem with that, but my family has. Every day I am busy with creating CDHK through research, conceptual posts and so on. So my wife and kids sometimes tell me to put away my laptop and give time to them. Ofcourse I am willing to do that. So earlier today I decided to take a week of this month. This means, one week there will not be a new episode every day. The only thing I do in that week is creating the "Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille" episode at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie. I will take a week off every season from now on. My first week off is this month April 19th until April 27th. I will publish our weekend meditation before that week off on Friday 19th and at the end of that week I will "restart" on Friday 26th with our weekend meditation. I hope this will give me some time to relax and giving more time to my family. I hope you all don't have a problem with that.

beachcombing (image © Marge Lachmuth)

Maybe you think "beachcombing? that sounds modern", but that isn't true, it's a classical kigo for spring taken from the Shiki Saijiki. Beachcombing is a wonderful acitivity, it's a kind of treasurehunt along the beach at low tide. Let me give you the Japanese description of beachcombing (shiohigari):

The Shiohigari is a popular Japanese tradition during spring and summer. In the literal sense of the word, it means "tide hung-out-to-dry hunt". It is an outdoor leisure activity of clam digging that is usually enjoyed by families and group of friends. It is in the months of March to June that it is normally done, but it is best to do it in May and June due to air temperature and water condition. It is also during the golden week that the beaches are the most crowded.  Annually, thousands of Japanese drive down to the beaches to hunt down Asari or Japanese littleneck clams. Then, the clams will be enjoyed later in a sumptuous meal.

Beachcombing (image found on Pinterest)

Here is an example haiku with this kigo by Chiyo-Ni:

On the low-tide beach,
Everything we pick up
Moves.

Or this one created by Basho:

A green willow,
Dripping down into the mud,
At low tide.

And to conclude this episode about "beachcombing" a haiku by a not so renown haiku poet, Rofu:

Ebb-tide;
The crab is suspicious
Of the footprint.

Well ... I think you all understand the meaning of this kigo and how to use it. So have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 15th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1642 wild rose (yamabuki)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a busy weekend I have had. I had to work and our oldest son and his kids were visiting us including sleep over. And today it was a real warm spring day here in The Netherlands, almost 22 degrees Celcius, so also this day could have been a summer day, but ... well it's spring.

This month we will explore the kigo for spring, modern so well as classical and today I have chosen a classical kigo from the so called "Shiki Saijiki" in which you can find 500 classical kigo. Our kigo for today is Wild Rose (Yamabuki).

rippling water
as frogs jump into -
yellow roses bloom 

© Chèvrefeuille

The yellow rose in the above haiku is named "Yamabuki", so this classical kigo means not only "wild rose", but also "yellow rose".

Yamabuki (Yellow Roses, Kerria Japonica)

What a wonderful flower this is. There is an old story about Basho's "old pond" that he first thought of "yamabuki" as third line instead of "the sound of water". In the above haiku you can easily find that world famous haiku by the master, Matsuo Basho.

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

Well ... enough to work with I think. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 14th ay noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #79 Poetry Archive (4) rain

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

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at CDHK. This weekend I love to challenge you again to dive into your Poetry Archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetryform themed "rain" from your archive and share it with us all.
Maybe that poem has a special meaning for you and I love to hear that too ofcourse. After sharing your poem from your archive create a new poem inspired on your choice poem.

Ofcourse I also took a dive into my archives and I ran into a few rain haiku:

the moon hides
behind clouds while witches dance
begging for rain

ah! that coolness
raindrops on my naked body
hot Summer day

© Chèvrefeuille

The above haiku I composed several years ago. We had a heatwave here in The Netherlands and we celebrated our holiday in our mobile home somewhere in our country. It was really hot and I was reading a novel by Paulo Coelho titled Brida. Brida is about a girl who is searching for a mistress or master to teach her about witchcraft. I created that first haiku inspired on Brida.
The second haiku created at the end of the heatwave ... finally it started to rain, but it was still warm, so I decided to go outside totally naked to feel the rain on my skin. It felt wonderful, but ofcourse after a while the coolness of the rain faded ... but that hot Summer Day I can still remember.

Dancing In The Rain (Leonid Afremov)

Well ... I have to create an all new haiku ... so here is my new haiku themed "rain":

dancing around the fire
after a hot summer day -
expecting rain 

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as strong as I had hoped, but I like the painted scene in this one.

Now it is up to you. Take your time, you have the whole weekend to meditate and contemplate on the theme before you submit your poetry.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday April 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 14th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1641 a modern kigo ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the daily meme about Japanese poetry forms like haiku, tanka or for example sedoka. This month we are exploring one of the classical rules of Japanese poetry, the use of a kigo (seasonword).

We have already seen several classical and modern kigo and today I have another wonderful modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". As a child I had a kite, ofcourse made by myself, and I enjoyed playing with it. Now I am a granddad and now I can make kites with my grandchildren. You all will understand what our theme, our kigo for today is ... yes ... kite.

I have only wonderful memories about kites ... so I hope to read your memories with kites also.

watercolor class
the painted blue sky
becomes a kite

flying a kite
gulls above the beach stare
at the old couple

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Here is one taken from my archives:

'look there grandpa'
my grandson points to the sky -
yellow dragon kite

against the blue sky
climbs an ancient dragon-kite
towards the sun

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it's up to you now. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 11th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation later on. For now have fun!

Carpe Diem #1640 Light (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful month this already is, but it can become even better. Today I have a nice modern kigo for you taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijiki. Today I have chosen the modern kigo "light", maybe not special for spring, but in my opinion is the light of spring the most beautiful light I know.

In her "A Dictionary of Haiku" Jane gives several examples for this kigo. That brings me to the challenge for today. I have chosen six haiku by Jane from her saijiki, spring section, subsection celestial. The challenge is to create a Renga With Jane by adding your two-lined stanza. Ofcourse you can choose your own "line-up" as is usually for this feature.

Here are the six haiku to work with:

a range of light
morning colors flow
out of the high Sierras

morning light
the sound of waves
on your sleeping face

without lights
the brightness of a blue sky
full of stars

Blue Sky (image© rmosesbvb)

dawn's faint hour
squeezes in heart-run veins
light in every limb

light touching
where only rain goes
trespassing

tides
light comes and goes
as ocean

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

Isn't it wonderful to create a renga together with Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)?

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 10th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1639 blossom haze (hanagumori)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Spring ... my favorite season (next to autumn). I love spring and I am always glad to see the first signals od spring. For example: first cherry blossom and snowdrops. Yes spring ... nature leaves its hibernation state and comes alive again.

This month we are exploring the classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have a wonderful classical kigo for you to work with. Today our classical kigo is blossom haze (hanagumori). I will try to explain the meaning of this kigo.

A clouded sky during the Cherry blossom season, blossom haze, is "hanagumori", only in this season used as a kigo for late spring and never used for other flowers in haze or clouds. (Source: Gabi Greve's World Kigo Database)

An example by Shiki:

hanagumori miyako so sumi no Asukayama

blossom haze -
in a corner of the capital
is Asukayama 

© Masaoka Shiki

And another one, more of modern times, by Ayabe Jinki (1929-2015)

tenpura ni kagiru sakana ya hanagumori

this fish is best
as Tempura . . .
cherry blossom haze 

© Ayabe Jinki

blossom haze (hanagumori)

Of course I have given it a try to create a haiku with this classical kigo about blossom haze:

against dark clouds
more fragile than they aready are
cherry blossoms

© Chèvrefeuille

And I found a few other haiku on blossom haze in my archive:

blossom haze -
walking in the middle
of falling petals

Ah! those cherries
have to let go their blossoms -
blossom haze

© Chèvrefeuille (2013)

All beautiful haiku on blossom haze. I hope I inspired you with this new episode on blossom haze, a classical kigo for spring.

This episode is NOW OPEN and will remain open until April 9th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1638 (delayed post) tranquil (nodoka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a delayed episode of our Spring kigo month, April 2019. I had a busy evening shift so I hadn't time to create a new episode on time. So my excuses for that.

This month we are exploring modern and classical kigo for spring and today I have a classical kigo for you, tranquil (nodoka). Spring has started and I enjoy this season with an intensity I cannot describe. I like seeing how nature comes alive again, but what I love the most is the tranquility of an early spring morning. The sun is slowly rising, birds praising their Creaor and slowly but certain the tranquility fades away. The world comes alive again after a tranquil night.

tranquility
the first torii (*) in the middle
of the barley field

© Shiki

(*) A Torii is the sacred archway of a Shinto shrine. Every Shinto shrine had three of these Torii, which weren't direct in front of the shrine, but quite in a distant. This Torii in Shiki's haiku was the first and stood in the middle of a barley field. It's a wonderful imagery of the tranquility of Spring.

tranquility -
finally I have found peace,
blossoms have fallen

© Koyu-Ni (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

[...] Koyu-Ni died in 1782, her family name was Matsumato. She is one of the more prominent woman poets of the Edo period. She learned haiku from Songi the First. [...]

Well ... I hope I have inspired you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will reamin open until April 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!