Carpe Diem #1812 The Day After Valentine's Day ...

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Love Month here at CDHK. Last Friday it was Valentine's Day and today I have chosen a nice theme ... The Day After Valentine's Day ... Ofcourse that was last Saturday, February 15th, but as you all know we have our weekend meditation nowadays in the weekends.

This haiku is about Valentine's day or more the day after. As you maybe know Saint Valentine's Day is on February 14th and is a holiday in almost the whole world, also in Russia. Here is a special haiku by Alexey Andreyev for your inspiration to write an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and Spirit as the one given.

Russian Icon of St. Valentine

To stay in touch with our Love theme I have used the above Icon.

РПУМЕ чБМЕОФЙОПЧБ ДОС -
ЛТБУОЩЕ МЕРЕУФЛЙ ОБ РПМХ, Й
НЕФМБ Ч ХЗМХ
                      
day after Valentine's -
red petals on the floor, and
a broom in the corner

© Alexey Andreyev

A wonderful haiku I think. As I read this haiku I thought "what happened here?" Did the young lovers have a quarrel? Or is the scene more metaphorical? Tells this haiku that the love is over after a long time? Why didn't they sweep the floor? All that kind of questions came in my mind. And with those thoughts I wrote my own haiku inspired on the one by Alexey. I even have tried to write this haiku in the classical way.

petals of roses
scattered through the living room
a ring on the table

© Chèvrefeuille

petals of roses

A sad haiku ... but that sadness is also part of haiku. Haiku is a great medium to share your emotions caught is a few lines. This also is part of Love ... breaking up.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 23rd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #588, Vladivostok (January 2014) reprise

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

Maybe you have already read the CD-Extra earlier today, but if not ... than I have an announcement to make. As I told your earlier this month, Jane reichhold has granted me the exclusive rights for two of her E-Books, and I succeeded today to make them available here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. You can find the E-Books by Jane on the left and right side of the posts. I also have made an E-Book by myself available. The E-Book by myself is a compilation of all the episodes of our Tarot-month May 2013. I hope you like these E-Books and I hope it will give you pleasure to read them.

Ok ... back to today's episode. Today we are going further on our memory lane along the first two years of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. We have now arrived in January 2014. In that month we started with our pilgrimage to the Isle of Shikoku to visit all 88 temples there. To get there we took the Trans Siberian Railroad (TSR) straight through the former USSR in January 2014. While we were on our way to Vladivostok, the end station of the TSR, we read "Aleph" a novel written by Paulo Coelho in which he describes his search to his former lives. "Aleph" is situated on the TSR and so we went on reading "Aleph" following the story-line and traveling straight through the former USSR.
I remember that it was a wonderful month and that I have read wonderful haiku, tanka and haibun. In that month Alexey Andreyev (a Russian haiku poet who lives in the USA) was our featured haiku poet. I love to share the last CD-Special haiku of January 2014, here again.

morning awakenings:
among window curtains' flowers
a blade of gray sky

© Alexey Andreyev

Our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Logo for January 2014, a picture of the TSR along Lake Baikal

As I told you above, the TSR drives straight through the former USSR from Moscow to Vladivostok. So this reprise-episode is about the end station of the TSR Vladivostok. Vladivostok was closed for foreigners until the end of the "Cold War" and in 2012, after a major International Event, it became one of the bigger cities of Russia.

I ended that episode, back in January 2014, with the following quote from Paulo Coelho's "Aleph":

As they arrive almost in Vladivostok, Paulo decides to make a walk through the Trans Siberian Express, which he sees as a city. He walks through that city,which stretched out like an ever-flowing river of steel, a city were he doesn't speak the local language. He heard all kinds of languages and sounds and notices that, as happens in all large cities, most people weren't talking to anyone, each passenger absorbed in his or her own problems and dreams, forced to share the smae compartment with three strangers, people they never will meet again. The Trans Siberian Express, is really a city ... and as in a normal city we live together with our neighbors, but ... do you know your neighbors really? 

After his walk through the train he writes a note, which I love to share here with you.

[...]I am not a foreigner because I haven't been praying to return safely home, I haven't wasted my time imagining my house, my desk, my side of the bed, I am not a foreigner because we are all travelling, we are all full of the same questions, the same tiredness, the same fears, the same
selfishness and the same generosity. I am not a foreigner because, when I asked, I received. When I knocked, the door opened. When I looked, I found. [...] (Source:'Aleph' by Paulo Coelho)

And I wrote to conclude that episode::

With this quote by Paulo Coelho I will conclude our Trans Siberian Railroad journey. Dreams you have ... you have to fullfill, they are not negotiable. So ... go for your dream and let that dream come true.

another day ends
reaching for the stars and the moon
into the dreamworld

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Credits: The Future Is Full Of Dreams

As I started with Carpe Diem I had a dream ... to be here after a half year. Now we are celebrating our second anniversary and we have become a great family of haiku poets ... Thank you all for making my dream come true ... 

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 26th at noon (CET). I will publish our new episode, Zentsu-ji (February and March 2014),later on. For now have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem Special #74, Alexey Andreyev's fifth "morning awakening"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This month of Carpe Diem is flowing to it's end and so I have to share a last haiku by our featured haiku-poet from Russia, Alexey Andreyev. I think I have selected a nice haiku written by him to conclude his featuring this month. I have found the Russian translation and will give the English translation afterwards. Here is the haiku which I love to share:

ХФТЕООЕЕ РТПВХЦДЕОЙЕ:
НЕЦ ГЧЕФБУФЩИ ЪБОБЧЕУПЛ -
ЛМЙО УЕТПЗП ОЕВБ                   

morning awakening:
among window curtains' flowers
a blade of gray sky

(c) Alexey Andreyev

Flowers in a field

The goal of this Special is to write a new haiku in the same tone, sense and spirit as the one by Alexey Andreyev.

This Special episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 28th 11.59 AM (CET). I will publish our new episode, Flight of the Eagle, later on today. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Special #73, Alexey Andreyev's fourth, "day after Valentine's"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies when you have fun ... and so it's time again for a new Special episode of Carpe Diem with a haiku written by Alexey Andreyev, our featured haiku-poet for this month. As you know Alexey is a Russian haiku-poet and so I love to share this fourth haiku in original form ... in Russian. I hope the Russian characters can be read or seen in your browser.

This fourth haiku is about Valentine's day or more the day after. As you maybe know Saint Valentine's Day is on February 14th and is a holiday in almost the whole world, also in Russia. Here is the Special haiku by Alexey for your inspiration to write an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and Spirit as the one given. (By the way ... this Special I also publish early, because of the night shift.)

Icon of Saint Valentine

To stay in touch with our Russian theme I have used the above Icon, because Icons are basically Russian.

РПУМЕ чБМЕОФЙОПЧБ ДОС -
ЛТБУОЩЕ МЕРЕУФЛЙ ОБ РПМХ, Й
НЕФМБ Ч ХЗМХ
                      
day after Valentine's -
red petals on the floor, and
a broom in the corner

(c) Alexey Andreyev

A wonderful haiku I think. As I read this haiku I thought "what happened here?" Did the young lovers have a quarrel? Or is the scene more metaphorical? Tells this haiku that the love is over after a long time? Why didn't they sweep the floor? All that kind of questions came in my mind. And with those thoughts I wrote my own haiku inspired on the one by Alexey. I even have tried to write this haiku in the classical way.

petals of roses
scattered through the living room
a ring on the table

(c) Chèvrefeuille

A sad haiku ... but that sadness is also part of haiku. Haiku is a great medium to share your emotions caught is a few lines.
This episode will stay open until January 22th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, Chita, later on today. !! This Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem Special #72, Alexey Andreyev's 3rd

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's a pleasure to share the 3rd haiku by our featured haiku-poet of this month, Alexey Andreyev. The goal of this Carpe Diem Special is to write a new haiku inspired on the one given, but it has to be in the same tone, sense and spirit. So this is a challenge. I have done this frequently on my "Basho Revisited" weblog (http://bashorevisited.blogspot.com) and loved doing it.
Here is the haiku by Alexey for your inspiration:

first snowflakes!
I love them too much to think
they'll melt by noon

(c) Alexey Andreyev

I can see this in front of my eyes and I can feel what Alexey felt as he wrote this haiku. Fresh fallen snow is such a beautiful sight, but the virginity of the fresh snow will soon be gone. I remember last year's early winter ... snow was falling gently the whole night. That morning the snow was untouched ... there came a big smile on my face, feeling a child again, and I stepped outside on bare feet ... awesome .... I think you almost can see how much joy that brought ...I had to use that scenery for my new haiku inspired on the one by Alexey.

Fresh Snow

virgin snow field
stepping into it like a child
bare footed

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Now it's up to you to write a new haiku inspired on the one by Alexey. Had to write another one ... sorry ...

snow falls gently
laying a virgin blanket on Earth -
gone in a eye-blink

(c) Chèvrefeuille

This Special episode will be open for your submissions until January 16th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next episode, going further in to the inland of the Soviet Union, ......... , later on today. !! This Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

Carpe Diem Special #71, Alexey Andreyev's second haiku "Empty Swing"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I love to share another nice haiku written by our featured haiku-poet Alexey Andreyev for your inspiration, maybe this one feels more like a senryu, but that's just a thought.


summer evening -
empty swing swaying slightly
forward ... back ...

(c) Alexey Andreyev

Empty Swing

I wasn't inspired to write a new haiku on this one, so I am looking forward to your inspired haiku on this one. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
Maybe I will become inspired later, than I will post my inspired haiku on one of my other weblogs. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will stay on until January 10th 11.59 AM (CET). I will (try) to post our new episode, Tyumen, later on today.

Carpe Diem's Special #70, Alexey Andreyev's "Evening sky"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to share our first Carpe Diem Special by Alexey Andreyev (1971- ), our featured haiku-poet from Russia. Next to his skills as a poet he has also skills as a painter and as a mathematician. He has a degree in Mathematics. By the way ... I hope you all like our new logo for the Specials.

evening sky --
over the city lights
stars hardly seen

(c) Alexey Andreyev

Of course you know what the goal is of these Specials? But I will tell it anyway (smiles), because there are a few new contributors. The goal of these Specials is to write, compose an all new haiku inspired on the one given by our featured poet in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given. Not an easy task, but it's a challenge to look in another way to the writings of fellow haiku-poets both classic and modern.



Over the City Lights Stars hardly seen

A wonderful "out of space" photograph from citylights, stars and Aurora Borealis ... a gorgeous photo which inspired me to write the next haiku in response of the one by Alexey Andreyev. I hope it's in the same sense, tone and spirit ...

at the horizon
just outside of the city
the Milky Way

Or this one, more in tune with the photo:

out of space look
city lights completely neglect
Aurora Borealis

Well ... did you like them? Let me know.

This Special episode will stay on until January 4th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode, Yaroslavl, later on today around 7.00 PM (CET).
!! This Special episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) !!