Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1364 Heat Wave

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month I have chosen the theme "Let The Sunshine In" and today our theme is "Heat Wave".

Here in The Netherlands we are expecting a "heat wave" next week, but today it's already very warm, around 25 degrees Celsius. To hot to work, but well ... as you all know I am a nurse, so I have to work, even when it is "crazy" hot.

after the summer heat
raindrops kissing my naked body
Ah! that coolness

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 16th at 10:00 PM (CEST). have fun!

Add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1363: Summer Has Arrived

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Finally Summer has arrived at the Northern hemisphere and I am glad to find time to create a new episode in our wonderful Haiku Kai. It has been a strange time. The World is at stake and all around our wonderful planet we see still the results of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ofcourse there are several ideas according to this pandemic, but ... well that's not our business here at CDHK.

As you all know I am a healthcare worker and at the moment we have a small covid-19 outbreak again, not only our patients, but also a lot of  my co-workers are suffering from it. So that's why I had again to less time to create a new episode. I had promised you to be back soon, but I don't think I can publish an every day episode of our Haiku Kai. Forgive please.

As you can "read" in our post-logo I have chosen the theme Summer 2022, Let The Sunshine In. That theme brought this wonderful song from the musical/movie "Hair" into my mind. A wonderful song that was created back in the sixties as the so called "Flower Power" was running. I really love this song it gives me a feeling of joy. And that ... JOY ... we need!

I remember that we had a "Light Retreat" back in 2014, a period of 30 days to create haiku or tanka themed "The Joy Of Light". One of the haiku I wrote for that retreat fits this episode so well I think.

thousand orange leaves
counting my blessings every day -
I light a candle

© Chèvrefeuille (2014)

Well ... I hope I have inspired you to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 13th 10:00 PM (CEST). Have fun!

You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1362; Summer Is Almost Here

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create Haiku, Tanka or other Japanese poetry form. Today I love to challenge you to create a so called "Pi-Ku". Maybe you know that there is an international day about Pi, that mathematical phormula that is known as the Greek letter "Pi" or 3,14. That international day was on March (3rd month) 14th ... so that explains why it is called "Pi-day".

A "Pi-Ku" has three lines (as every haiku has), but you have to follow another series of syllables. A "Pi-Ku" follows the next rule:

1st line: 3 syllables
2nd line: 1 syllable
3rd line: 4 syllables

Let me give you an example from my archives (Nov 2012) inspired on the above image of Rodin's The Thinker:

the Thinker
lone
no more thoughts

© Chèvrefeuille (2012)

It is not really my "cup of tea? But it looks like a nice challenge.

So for this episode the challenge is to create a "Pi-Ku" on the theme "Almost Summer". 

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Friday June 3rd 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Weekend Meditation Summer 2022: #1 Sunrise (Crossroads Challenge)

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is almost Summer 2022 (on the Northern Hemisphere) and to give you all the opportunity to create haiku this summer I have created this CDHK Weekend Meditation Summer 2022. I will create every weekend, mostly on Friday evening, an episode of this Summer 2022 Weekend Meditation, 

For this first Summer 2022 Weekend Meditation I have chosen the theme Sunrise (a Crossroads Challenge). A Crossroads Challenge means that I will give you two haiku. With those two haiku you have to create a new haiku. With that "third" haiku I challenge you to create a Troiku (more about the Troiku you can find above in the menu or by clicking HERE).

Here are the two haiku to work with, both are created by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) and are extracted from her online "Dictionary of Haiku":

dream dancer
sleeping without a pillow
on scarred boards

© Jane Reichhold

slipping into the pool
naked divides the night
sun-warmed waters

© Jane Reichhold

Try to create a "fusion" of the both haiku to create the third haiku to work with, ofcourse you can also create a new haiku associated on the two given haiku. With that third haiku you have to create a Troiku. In short that means, create a new haiku with every separated line. The result of this Crossroads Challenge will be "four" new haiku in total.

This Summer 2022 Weekend Meditation is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Monday May 23rd at 10:00 PM (CEST). Have fun! You can add your submission to the Linking Widget hidden in our Logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1361: A New Month starting off

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It seems that I am not capable of continueing CDHK as I wanted last month. There is always a kind of not having time enough. So I am trying it again. This new month, May 2022, I have chosen the theme "New Horizons". In this month I hope to post new CDHK episodes with a "look into the future" idea.

We are living in a world that is "on fire", not only through the war in the Ukraine, but we are also in a world that is in an endemic called Covid-19. Everywhere on this world we have to deal with this "new" illness and it gives us the opportunity to look into a new future, but what kind of future?

As you all know there are a lot of conspiracies going on and the most important is the silent threat of what is called "The New World Order" initiated by the wealthy Elite and several other worldwide institutions like the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organisation and the European Union and maybe you know a few others.

I am not a conspiracy thinker, but I have my thoughts and concerns about it. 

For today's challenge I have chosen for a so called "Crossroads-Haiku" and a "Troiku". To give you the challenge I have chosen two nice haiku written by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016), one of our best modern haiku poets.

Here are the two haiku to work with:

the night is shortened
by your letters on the pillow
here beside me

the road before us
departing clouds bright
with a rising sun

© Jane Reichhold (extracted from: A Dictionary Of Haiku (online version))

The goal is to create a new (third) haiku from these two haiku. You can fuse the actual lines of the haiku, or create a new haiku through association on the both haiku.

With that new haiku I love to challenge you to create a Troiku (more on Troiku HERE)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will stay open until Friday May 6th 10:00 PM (CEST). Have fun! You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1360: New Life

New Life, Spring Is Here

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while, more than a month, that I published an episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I really hope to change that from today on, but ... well I can't guarantee that.

As you see I have chosen a new theme for this month: New Life, Spring Is Here. Maybe a bit controversial because of all things happening in the world right now. We have the Covid-19 endemic and we have the Ukraine war. Both are not really things that we could associate with New Life, Spring Is Here, but we have to hope that there will be better times soon.
I pray every day for Unconditional Love and Peace ... and yes it's not always easy to pray for it every day again, but I have, we have to pray. We need positive energy to bring the world back to what it once was ... a place were we can live in full happiness.

Next to all this there is that bigger plan (maybe). All resonating around the globe ... are we walking into what is called the New World Order? I don't know, but everything that is happening ... sounds not okay.

As you all know we also have a haiku-place on Twitter and I really try to tweet sometimes a haiku, but everything what is happening right now in our world seems to keep me busy. So I use our twitter-account to give words to my thoughts and feelings. Sometimes in English, sometimes in Dutch.

Our twitter account was never meant for that, but it helps me to cope with the things I see and hear. There is a lot going on ... is it a positive thing or a negative thing? Again ... I don't know.

As I look at things happening in my own country, The Netherlands, I only have "anger" and "sadness". Our government is creating a totalitarian state, they even use secret surveillance on just normal people. They are following our socials, they "listen" to the critical people and if you don't tell or say what our government wants you to say ... than you are an enemy of the state and they will censure you.

A lot of my fellow dutch are speaking out, without holding back. We try to "awaken" the people that are still "sleeping" and follow only what our government wants. It brings polarisation into our community and that ... that makes me sad and angry.

The Netherlands was once an example for the world, we had a wonderful democratic country, but that ... that is all gone. Ofcourse our government tries to keeping up appearances that The Netherlands are still a democracy, but ... My gut-feeling tells me ... there is something wrong, really wrong.

The TRUTH IS OUT THERE ... and I really hope these thoughts and feelings are wrong. I really hope that it is all very different than we thought.

clouds moving
caressing the meadows
raindrops fall

© Chèvrefeuille

What are your thoughts about what is happening in the world? Will there be New Life, because Spring Is Here?

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 10th 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below. Enjoy!

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1359: The Beautitudes

 

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of of wonderful Haiku Kai. Maybe you can remember that back in the years we had a special feature "Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu", back in time it was the new title for our former feature "Ghost Writer".

I remember that I loved creating those posts and I remember that we once had a "Tokubetsudesu" episode about the Beautitudes. Today I love to "reprise" that episode to inspire you.

For this episode I have chosen to share The Beatitudes as described in Matthew 5: 1-12 with you all for your inspiration. It fits really our central theme for April, Peace of Mind, and it's based on several ideas from Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions or life-philosophies.

I love to challenge you to bring The Beatitudes back to haiku or tanka or into a haibun ... no need to copy The Beatitudes, they are only used here for your inspiration. 

The Beatitudes

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

It's wonderful and I think The Beatitudes will inspire you to compose haiku, tanka or haibun to share with us.

This "reprise" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 8th 10:00 PM (CET). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Sunday Time Challenge #4: War

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special feature "Sunday Time Challenge", that special feature in which you have to respond within 24 hours. As you have noticed I have chosen a (maybe) strange theme for today ... "War", but we are at War, not only against Covid-19, but since a few days we have a real war "just around the corner" at the East borders of Europe. Russia started a war against the Ukraine. It's sad to see this happening and it makes me a little scared. As I said this war is taking place "just around the corner".

I never could imagine that this kind of terror could take place at the European borders ... All European citizens are holding their breath at the moment ... What's going to happen in upcoming weeks? Does this "terror" signal a 3rd WW?

A few days ago I decided to sign out of our CDHK Carpe Diem Twitter account, which I used to respond on the things happening all around the world, next to publishing haiku. I really signed out, but within a day or two I decided to login again, just to stay posted on the things happening around us.
What news is true and what news is false/fake? I don't know. That feeling I have since the start of the C-pandemic more than two years ago.

Ancient Warrior From Thailand

Is this so called "Great Reset" (as said by the World Economic Forum (WEF)) really happening? It feels so unreal this whole ... what do I say? This "conspiracy"? Is this a "real" plan? Our future is at stake if this "Great Reset" is real. Than a New World Order will take over, than we will have a Global Government that decides everything, than we will be enslaved!

I really don't know what I have to believe, I don't know how long the "Free World" will stay free. I, ofcourse, hope this is just a Nightmare and that we will awaken in the world as we have known it, but ...

WAR is not what we seek for, we seek for PEACE and LOVE ... I really hope this is a Nightmare ...

Maybe you remember these haiku:

summer grasses
all that remains
of warriors’ dreams

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

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

© Chèvrefeuille

WAR ... can be an inspiration for poets as you can read in the above two haiku. There is nothing wrong with being inspired by such a theme, but in our real life ... WAR is not welcome ... I pray for both Russia and Ukraine and I hope this war will be a short one. I really hope we will awaken from just a Nightmare.

This episode of our Sunday Time Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will close on Monday February 28th at 3:00 AM (CET). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Sunday Time Challenge #3: Hurricane

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A little bit early, but I love to share our new Sunday Time Challenge already today. As you all know the goal is to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form on a given theme within 24 hours, because of this early publishing you have now 48 hours to create your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

At the moment I am in the nightshift at the nursing home for the elderly people were I am working. We have, how sad, a new covid-19 outbreak at our health facility and that makes that I am very busy (again). But ... well as you have seen, the theme for today (this weekend) is "hurricane" and that's inspired on a very heavy storm we have here at the moment. We have a heavy storm with Bft 10 to 11 and a lot of damage all over the country, even a few deads. So I thought ... this is a "great" theme for our Sunday Time Challenge.

Uprooted Trees

The goal is to create a haiku (or other Japanese poetry form) themed "hurricane". Here is my haiku ...

the old oak in the backyard
as strong as he always was
now ... uprooted ... tears flow

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

Hurricanes are awfull, but on the other hand ... it shows the power of nature. A power we never can equal.

This Sunday Time Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Sunday February 20th at 10:00 PM (CET). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem haiku Kai: Sunday Time Challenge #2: rainbow

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A few months ago (Oct 2021) I started a new feature here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create haiku and other Japanese poetry forms. That new feature "Carpe Diem's Sunday Time Challenge" is challenge to create a haiku, or other japanese poetry form, inspired on a given theme within 24 hours.

For this Sunday (February 13th) I have chosen the theme "rainbow". I think you all know what the "rainbow" means, that gorgeous rainbow with it's wonderful colors, a sign placed by our Creator at the sky to remember us at the "Flood". 
Nowadays we all know that the "rainbow" is more than only that sign ... it's also used for the LGTBQ community. So you can also create a haiku, or other japanese poetry form, inspired on that meaning of "rainbow".

rainbow

I love that colorful rainbow it makes me happy. And it's happiness we all need in a time of insecurity.

To inspire you a little bit more I have a nice haiku for you, it is a haiku written by Issa, one of the four great haiku masters:

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

© Issa

A wonderful theme to work with. This Sunday Time Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Sunday, February 13th at 10:00 PM (CET). have fun! You can add your submissions to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1358 Clouds

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I will try to post more regular, but it is not always possible to create a new post. We have still cases of Covid (mostly Omicron) at the health facility were I am working, Today we have two, maybe three, new cases, so we have to test a very big group next day. 

Today I have chosen to give you a haiku written by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) to inspire you. As you (maybe) know Jane has compiled a nice dictionary of haiku-kigo for our times. The "modern" kigo for today is "Clouds" and it is taken from the Winter kigo, sub-category Celestial.

The goal for today is to create a Tan Renga inspired on the given haiku by Jane. That means, you have to use the haiku by Jane and you have to create the "second" stanza of two lines with approx. 7 syllables.

Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Jane, once, was a co-owner of our Haiku Kai and she taught us a lot about haiku (and other Japanese poetry forms). She is still missed and her spirit is still here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Here is the haiku to work with:

roaring down the beach
at the height of winter waves
mist clouds

© Jane Reichhold (source: A Dictionary Of Haiku, online version)

A wonderful haiku to work with I think.

You can submit your Tan Renga inspired on this haiku through the linking widget hidden in our logo below. This submission can be done until February 7th 10:00 PM (CET). Enjoy this excercise.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Weekend Meditation #100: waves of love

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our wonderful Haiku Kai. I love to challenge you today, in this (restart) of the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Weekend Meditation. 

As we look at the time we live in, we can see the lack of love and peace. Covid-19 brings all kinds of emotions, for example anger and sadness. Questions like "Is this the truth?" "What is happening?" Or look at the tension around the Ukraine and Russia ... all signs of ... Yes of what? Is this the End Of Times? Is there a global revolution? 

This time is a time of despair and confusion. No one knows how our future will be. Therefore I love to challenge you to create a Tan Renga (two verses: 1st verse 3 lines 5-7-5; 2nd verse 2 lines 7-7) themed "waves of love".

I have given it a try myself (ofcourse):

teardrops fall
in the middle of the night
no more hope

the song of birds, a new day rises
waves of love warm a world in fear

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

You can submit your Tan Renga by adding it to the linking widget below (hidden in our logo) until next Friday February 4th 2022 10:00 PM (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1857: Another try to get restarted, a meditation.

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Every time I am trying to restart our wonderful Haiku Kai there is always something else coming inbetween. So I give it a try again.

Today, January 27th 2022, I am reflecting on times coming. As we all know the world is still in a pandemic "war" with Covid-19. At this moment we see an increase of Omicron cases here in the Netherlands, but there are also a few tiny lights at the end of the tunnel. A lot of restrictions are ended, so our community is starting to come alive again, but there is still that threat of the QR-code, that eID. That threat is becoming stronger and stronger here and we, the Dutch people, are uncertain about what our Government will decide. And ofcourse it's one of the biggest discussion going on between groups of people who are positive and negative about this eID.

As we look around in our society a lot of children, teenagers, young adolecents and adults are starting to become depressed and fearfull ... we have an enormous increase of suicides and mentally illness. Covid-19 is not only a physical virus, but also a mental virus. A lot of our new generations have missed a lot during all the lockdowns in the last two years, e.g. closure of primary schools, highschools and universities. They really have missed a lot.

It's so sad to see this happening around me and it has influence on me too. It really makes me sad to see what this pandemic has done and still does ..., but I have a little hope that it will all become better ...

dark clouds gather, 

a downpour breaks loose -

ray of sunshine 

© Chèvrefeuille, your host.

I really hope this "dark time" will become better soon ... we need a new rising of light to look forward ... to have a better future for our children, teenagers, young adolescents and adults. 

I pray every day for relief and new hope and love ... and I hope our Creator will bring us a new future.

These are just my thoughts, my heart is crying, but there is sometimes a smile ... one sunbeam ... is enough.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Namasté,

Chèvrefeuille

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1856: Restarting?

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First of all this: Happy New Year. I hope this new year, the 3rd in a global pandemic, will become a far better year than 2021.

The world is on fire. Everywhere on the Earth we see people rising up against their governments. All are up to make the world a better place than it is right now. Our world is no longer that world we know off, where we live in.

Every day again I wake up asking the same questions: What is going to happen with our wonderful world? Will the pandemic finally come to an end? Or ...

It makes me sad to see how our world is changing into one big battlefield of communities within communities, vaxxed and non-vaxxed stand up to each other. Families are ripped apart, our world is no longer a place of freedom and peace, but public ground of the wealthy few that are striving for The Great Reset. Covid-19 ... that global pandemic ... is orchestrated by just the wealthy few. And it's not from a recent date, no ... far before the WHO called out for the Covid-19 pandemic, this was already on the agenda.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, maybe it is not. I don't know. It gives me, as the germans call it "ein unheimliches gefull". 

As I read posts on several socials it gives me the chills. And again that question comes in mind: What is going on in the world.

Yesterday I posted a haiku on our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai twitter-account and I love to reproduce it here again:

A New Day Rises

a world in flames
reaching to regain freedom
a new day rises

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

In every haiku ... there can be a silent hope for a new world, a new day. Let us pray that this world fire will end soon ..

Feel free to submit your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this blog. You can add your submission to the linking widget below.