Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #23 Soseki's "gingko leaves are falling"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A little extra episode about a haiku poet which I just recently discovered. This haiku poet was a contemporary of Shiki, who also teached him the way of writing haiku. This haiku poet (also a novelist) is Soseki.

Credits: Soseki (1867-1916)

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.

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.

Credits: Calligraphy by Soseki

 Sōseki's literary career began in 1903, when he began to contribute haiku, renku (haiku-style linked verse), haitaishi (linked verse on a set theme) and literary sketches to literary magazines, such as the prominent Hototogisu, edited by his former mentor Masaoka Shiki, and later by Takahama Kyoshi. However, it was the public success of his satirical novel I Am a Cat in 1905 that won him wide public admiration as well as critical acclaim.

Much of his work deals with the relation between Japanese culture and Western culture. Major themes in Sōseki's works include ordinary people fighting against economic hardship, the conflict between duty and desire (a traditional Japanese theme), loyalty and group mentality versus freedom and individuality, personal isolation and estrangement, the rapid industrialization of Japan and its social consequences, contempt of Japan's aping of Western culture, and a pessimistic view of human nature. Sōseki took a strong interest in the writers of the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group. In his final years, authors such as Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Kume Masao became close followers of his literary style.

I had never heard from Soseki, but as I ran into his work I was immediately in love with his work. In his work (in my opinion of course) you can see the influence of Shiki, who was Soseki's teacher and friend.

Here are a few haiku written by Soseki:

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

the lamp once out
cool stars enter
the window frame

on New Year’s Day
I long for my parents
before I was born

people of my age -
with the passing of years
less impurities to cleanse

when they strike the bell
these gingko leaves are falling -
Temple Kencho-ji

the worldly desires,
all one hundred and eight are gone -
this spring morning

©  Natsume Soseki

 

It's a while ago that I published an episode of Sparkling Stars, so I will tell you the goal again here at our Haiku Kai. It's a bit similar with the CD-Specials, but there is a little difference. I introduce a 'masterpiece'  (or "masterpieces") of one of the classic haiku-poets (well-known and less-known) to inspire you to write a new haiku and here is the difference with the CD-Specials: Those new haiku, inspired on the 'masterpiece', have to follow the classical rules of haiku:

1. 5-7-5 syllables
2. a kigo (or seasonword)
3. a kireji (or cutting word, in Western languages mostly interpunction)
4. a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water
5. a deeper meaning (could be Zen-Buddhistic or other spiritual or religious thought)
6. and the first and the third line are interchangeable.

For this "re-birth" of Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars you may choose from the above reproduced haiku by Soseki for your inspiration. It's just for fun, so enjoy!

Here is my response on this "Sparkling Stars" episode:

this winter morning
the world changed into wonder -
white plum blossom

© Chèvrefeuille

I think I have caught all the classical rules in this one, but I am not sure about the deeper meaning ...

This episode of "Sparkling Stars" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 22nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

PS. I am hopelessly behind with commenting. I hope to catch up soon.

 

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #22, Basho's "where the hototogisu is singing".

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

A new episode of Sparkling Stars is ahead of us and this week I have chosen to share a haiku by Basho, as a way of preparation for our upcoming month. The haiku which I will share here comes from his world wide known haibun Oku no Hosomichi (The Narrow Road to the Deep North).

here is the context of this beauty, this sparkling star:

From here, I went to see the Death Stone. The Deputy sent me there on horseback, and the man who led the horse asked me for a tanzaku (a strip of thin cardboard, on which a verse is to be written). I was moved with admiration at his request, and composed the following verse ...

no wo yoko ni uma hikimuke yo hototogisu

riding over the summer moor, -
"ah! lead the horse that way!"
where the hototogisu is singing

© Basho (Tr. R.H. Blyth)

The pleasant thing about this is the way in which Basho shows indifference to where he is going, an to everything in fact but the cry of the bird. This is the artist and the poet, far above time and place, enduring all things for that moment when the song of the bird breaks out again.

(By the way the hototogisu is looking very similar to the cuckoo).
(For more information on the Death Stone)

Credits: Death Stone

Isn't it a beauty? In this one I see the master hand of Basho .... he catches the essence of the scene in three lines with perfectly chosen words. Basho was in his time a well known poet and he was invited to a lot of houses of the rich and poor, he had never complains. In this scene described above we also see how a haiku poet gives his poem to others. he/she will never do that without asking. And that's the strength of haiku.

The goal of the Sparkling Stars feature is to try to compose another haiku in the same spirit as the one given following the classical rules, as you can find in the CD-Lecture above or in our Haiku Writing Techniques e-book, chapter 10)

I wasn't inspired enough to compose an all new haiku, but maybe I will come up with something later than I will share it with you.

This CD Sparkling Stars episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until April 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars # 21, Buson's "I came to the cherry blossoms"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy ... my Sakura has started to bloom, a little bit later then last year, but still it's a beauty. As I told you earlier I was a bit anxious that the fragile cherry blossoms would be scattered through the first tough spring storm here in The Netherlands. And as you all know I am very proud on my Sakura ... so I have chosen a Sparkling Star about cherry blossoms composed by Buson. Buson, one of the four greatest haiku poets, was also a haiga artist as you have seen in one of the earlier post this week. However ... Basho ... stays my master, but I also learn a lot of Buson lately. He (Buson) has an eye for beauty in nature and I think that in this haiku which I have chosen ... he paints with words.

hana ni kite hana ni ineburu itoma kana

I came to the cherry blossoms;
I slept beneath them;
this was my leisure

© Yosa Buson

When we see that cherry blossoms are something to sleep under, or dance under, we have attained a state beyond that of the average artist or poet. Beauty and significance are to be imbided without strain or affectation. A life of art, like that of goodness, is to be lived as the normal, the ordinary thing, without letting the right hand know or care about what the left hand does. All aesthetic and ethical pleasure must be spontaneous, without meaning or gain, just like the fish in the water and the bird in the air.

Sakura in bloom © Chèvrefeuille

The above photo I made early this morning, the sun started to become a bit stronger, but was still hidden behind a thin veil of clouds, but the color of the leaves and those fragile cherry blossoms made me very happy. My Sakura has bloomed ...

I love to get back to the haiku by Buson, because there are a few things which are rather strange ... First Buson IS part of the haiku, and that's not according to the classical haiku rules, because one of the major rules is that haiku is free of persona, but Buson places himself in his haiku. Why? I think he felt really part of the scene he gives an impression of in his haiku. Then there is the past tense, he places his haiku in the past and that also is a violation of the classical haiku rules, but on the other hand ... Buson remembered the scene as being wonderful ... I think this haiku is not the original haiku but a re-done haiku far after the time happening. Makes that his haiku a "bad" haiku? I think not ... I even think ... bringing himself in the haiku and placing the haiku in the past makes this haiku even stronger ... a wonderful memory ... and I am very certain that Buson has turned this haiku into a wonderful haiga ... after all .... he was a haiga master.

The task for you, my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, is to compose another haiku with cherry blossom as theme (my favorite theme) following the classical rules as there are:

1. 5-7-5 syllables
2. a kigo (in this particular haiku) cherry blossom (a spring kigo)
3. a kireji (a cutting word, in Western languages mostly interpunction)
4. interchangeable first and third line
5. if possible, a deeper spiritual meaning

More about these classical rules you can find in Carpe Diem's Haiku Writing Techniques e-book (chapter 10), which you can find in the menu above.

As you all know ... I am not such a fan of the classical way of writing/composing haiku, but I had to try and this is what I accomplished:

finally dreams become true

just one peaceful spring night -
blossoms of cherry bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of our Sparkling Stars is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and it will remain open until next Saturday April 11th at noon (CET).

Sparkling Stars #20, Kala Ramesh's "a new moon sky"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yeah! It's Saturday again and it's time for our bi-weekly feature "Sparkling Stars" in which I introduce "sparkling stars", great haiku (in my opinion) composed by a classical or non-classical haiku poet following the classical or non-classical rules of haiku. The goal is to write an all new haiku inspired on the given "sparkling stars" and try to reach that "sparkling stars" level yourself.

This episode of Sparkling Stars I love to introduce to you all a haiku poetess from India maybe you have heard from her. I heard about her a few weeks ago through an email which I got from Jane Reichhold. She asked me to spent time on CDHK about Kala Ramesh and one of her wonderful projects, creating haiku and haiga with young people from India. Jane's email made me curious to know a little bit more about Kala and I am happy to introduce her here in our Sparkling Stars feature.

Credits: Kala Ramesh

Kala Ramesh is an Indian, classical musician, who has worked extensively on Pandit Kumar Gandharva’s style under Mrs. Shubhada Chirmulay for over 15 years, and has performed professionally in several major Indian cities.  A recently turned haiku poet (since 2005), Kala writes haiku, tanka, senryu, haibun and renku, and her work has appeared in leading e-zines and anthologies all over the world.  Kala, as director of the World Haiku Club in India, organised with the co-operation of its members, the four-day 9th World Haiku Festival at Bangalore in February 2008, which was sponsored jointly by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Ji and Sri Ratan Tata Trust. Kala is a member of the editorial team of Modern English Tanka Press’s new anthology, Take Five: The Best Contemporary Tanka 2008/2009/2010, is on the panel of the literary e-journal Muse India, for the areas of haiku and short verse Since April 2009, Kala has been the Poetry Editor at Katha, a renowned New Delhi publishing house. In this capacity, she compiled and edited the first ever ebook of haiku, senryu, haibun, tanka and haiga written by thirty five Indian poets. Currently, she is also the lead poet (sabaki) of a Kasen renku with six other international renkujin: experimenting and incorporating the traditional renku with the famed Rasa Theory of India, comprising the nine emotions prevalent in all Indian art forms (which consists of nine rasas or essence, namely: erotic, comic, sorrow, anger, valour, fear, disgust, wonder and tranquillity, traditionally known as the nava rasas).

Kala has written wonderful haiku (and tanka) and it was almost a "mission impossible" to choose from her haiku, but I succeeded I think. I have a wonderful haiku selected for your inspiration.
 

the child-like joy
seeing a star streak
a new moon sky

© Kala Ramesh

And another haiku written by her, which is even more beautiful than the first one.

howling wind —
an autumn note within
the bamboo flute

© Kala Ramesh

Both are really gorgeous in my opinion and I think these (and a lot more of her haiku) are really "Sparkling Stars".

It will not be easy to compose an all new haiku who can compete with these wonderful haiku by Kala, but (as you all know), I have to try of course.

I decided to try compose haiku inspired on each given haiku here, so first I will try to compose an all new haiku on her first haiku given:

 

a shooting star
draws a silvery line
against the black sky

© Chèvrefeuille

!! As you all can read in the comments-field Kala gave me another version of the above haiku which I love to re-produce here:

a shooting star
draws a silvery line
the black sky

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this version is stronger than my first version ... so thank you Kala to share your ideas with me and point me into the right direction.
And here is my haiku inspired on her second haiku:

spring breeze
directs the wind chimes
ah! that sweet sound

© Chèvrefeuille

And I think I will try to compose a haiku in which I will use both haiku by Kala for my inspiration, maybe I will succeed in that.

late summer night
a wind chime resonates through the night -
stars shine bright

© Chèvrefeuille

Awesome to see that one can have a goal and than can see the result of the sources of inspiration deep within our heart ... I think that last haiku that I composed is really a beauty.

This episode of Carpe Diem's Sparkling Stars is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Saturday, March 21th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #19, James A. Emanuel (1921-2013) "jazz-haiku"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for our bi-weekly feature "Sparkling Stars" in which I share haiku (or tanka) composed by classical and non-classical haiku-poets and today I have chosen for a haiku written by a modern American haiku-poet (the founder of "jazz-haiku") James A. Emanuel who has passed away in 2013. I love to honor him with this episode of Sparkling Stars.

James A. Emanuel was born June 15, 1921, in Alliance, Nebraska. He earned a B.A. from Howard University, an M.A. from Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Among his books of poetry are Jazz from the Haiku King (1999), De la rage au coeur, (Thaon, 1992, translated by Jean Migrenne and Amiot Lenganey), Whole Grain: Collected Poems, 1958-1989 (1990), The Quagmire Effect (1988), Deadly James and Other Poems (1987), The Broken Bowl: New and Uncollected Poems (1983), Black Man Abroad: The Toulouse Poems (1978), and At Bay (1969). He is also the author of Langston Hughes (1967) and the editor, with Theodore L. Gross, of Dark Symphony: Negro Literature in America (1968). Emanuel's essays and other writings have been included in many anthologies and periodicals. Among his honors are a John Hay Whitney Award, a Saxton Memorial Fellowship, and a Special Distinction Award from the Black American Literature Forum. James Emanuel has been a professor of English at the University of Grenoble and the University of Toulouse, among other universities. He lived in Paris at the time of his passing (September 28, 2013). (Biography from the Academy of American Poets website.)

James A. Emauel (1921-2013)

From: Whole Grain : Collected Poems, 1958-1989; Lotus Press, Detroit, 1991; with translations by Jean Migrenne.[…] In 1992 in “Le Barry,” the country home of the Plassard family in southwest France, where I have now and then composed poetry for over twenty-five years, I planned an apparently new literary genre, the “jazz haiku”. My “breakaway haiku” in Deadly James and Other Poems (1987) had begun my experiments with the Japanese 3-line form, adhering to its 5-7-5 syllabic pattern, but widening its sensory impact beyond the capacity of the usual single impression. My haiku added the toughness of poverty and racial injustice, the declarative emphasis made possible by narrative style, and the technical challenge of time. […] © James A. Emanuel. 
Here are a few haiku written by James A. Emanuel, this series of four (4) haiku is about Mahalia Jackson.

« I sing the LORD'S songs »
(psalms once tough to stay alive,
alarm clock on five).

Cinnamon cheeks, Lord,
cornbread smile.     SONGS     feed your ribs
when you're hungry, chile.

Washboard certainties,
soldierly grace, text and style
in her brimming face.

Your hand on your heart,
her voice in your ear:     pilgrim,
rest easy.     Sit here.

This is a wonderful modern American haiku-poet who passed away in 2013 leaving a rich oeuvre of poetry behind which you can find on several websites. I love to share this haiku with you all as a kind of tribute to James A. Emanuel, the founder of “Jazz-haiku”.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) (Dutch website)

after the fall of the wall
visiting East Berlin with my love
and all that jazz

© Chèvrefeuille

I remember visiting a Jazzkeller in East Berlin short after the fall of the Berlin Wall ... it was a great experience and it felt great to be there ... The artist than I recall played a piece of Jazz-music which I knew from Duke Ellington. A video of that piece of music you can see here after.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Saturday March 7th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #18, John Stevenson's "the train"



Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to create another episode of our special feature Sparkling Stars in which I introduce haiku written/composed by classical and non-classical haiku poets. Haiku which are in my opinion little stars, little sparkling stars.
For this episode I have sought for a non-classical haiku poet who's born in 1948 and lives in New York. After a brief biography I will share three haiku composed by him. I love to introduce to you John Stevenson.

John Stevenson (born 1948) is from Ithaca, New York. He lived in Buffalo for eight years, New York City for four years and has been living in the Albany area since 1980, where he has raised his son and worked as an administrator for the New York State Division of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (1980 - 1987) and Office of Mental Health (1987 to present).
From 1966 to 1972 John studied visual arts and theatre and from 1969 to 1975 he worked as an actor, with day jobs ranging from library aide to supervisor of a security patrol at Rich Stadium. Now he alternately bores and exasperates his son by commenting, while they are watching movies or television, “I worked with her. I worked with him.”
Since his first encounter with Playback Theatre in 1990, a form of theatre in which members of the audience tell stories from their own lives which are then enacted on stage, John has been completely absorbed with it, helping to start Pentimento Playback Theatre Company in 1992 and performing with them since then. A similar thing happened in relation to his poetry. His first publication was in 1956 and he has written poetry regularly since then. He encountered his first haiku (at a Playback Theatre conference) in 1992. Since then he has written almost nothing but haiku, senryu, haibun, rengay and renku.

John is a member of the Haiku Society of America, Haiku Poets of Northern California, the Yukei Teikei Haiku Society, and the Route 9 Haiku Group. (Source: Haijinx)

John Stevenson

Here are three haiku composed by Stevenson all three are about trains and I have tried to organize them to a little story:

the train picks up speed,
in a paper coffee cup
concentric waves

the river always
out there in the dark
late train home

coming home
on the train
... the backyards

(c) John Stevenson

An awesome trio I think ... it brought a haiku by Shiki in mind which we have used for prompt in our big five month July 2014.

smoke whirls
after the passage of a train -
young foliage

© Masaoka Shiki

All wonderful haiku with train as the theme in common, so I love to share one of my haiku with this same theme hidden in it with you all, maybe you can remember this haiku, because I wrote it earlier in July 2014 in response on the above haiku by Shiki.

under the full moon
the screech of a steam engine -
cherry blossoms shiver

© Chèvrefeuille

First Steam Engine Train

The goaL Sparkling Stars feature is to write a classical or non-classical haiku inspired on the haiku given, it's similar with our CD-Specials, but I love to challenge you all to use the classical (5-7-5) rule for the haiku. I didn't succeed in that, but maybe you can do it ... better. !! I have started a new weblog Carpe Diem's Tanka Shrine ... !!

This episode of our Sparkling Stars feature is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Saturday February 21st at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars"#17, Basho's "door of grass"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all could have read I hadn't time to publish our new "Sparkling Stars" episode last Saturday, so here it is ... sorry for the delay... (smiles).In this episode of our “Sparkling Stars” feature, I will tell you about the first verse which Basho recorded for his haibun 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North'. This haibun by Basho has become a classic piece of literature and I think there are a lot of people who know this haibun.

As you all know this “Sparkling Stars” feature is meant for introducing haiku of known and un-known, classical and non-classical, haiku poets. I hope to inspire you to write an all new haiku in response of this “Sparkling Stars”-episode.

"Narrow Road"

Basho had a lot of friends and disciples at the time that he went on his journey to the far north. They all had come to visit him and to say goodbye. many of them had presents and gifts for Basho. Things he could use on his journey.

They accompanied him on the first two or three Japanese miles, say the first 10 km. When he went off he wrote:

kusa no to mo   sumi kawara yo zo   hina no ie

this door of grass
the resident changes for a time
a house of dolls

© Basho

When Basho left his Banana tree cottage, he turned it over to Heiemon, who was married with a family. Thus, already, in Basho's bachelor quarters was the red ramp put up for the festival of the dolls for the girls of the family.

Basho and his good friend and student Sora left in this journey on May 16th. This verse fits with Basho's first sentence of the book: 'The months and days are the passing guests of a hundred generations, and the years that come and go are travelers, also'.

 

Several years ago I wrote my own version of 'The Journey to the Far North'. The first verse I wrote for 'My Narrow Road' (after the preface) was:

the last night
I couldn't sleep -
a Nightingale sings

© Chèvrefeuille

followed by a verse with farewell words:

a farewell verse
scribbled on a receipt
don't forget me (*)

© Chèvrefeuille

(*) This haiku I used in one of my novels which I have written.

I wonder ... these are for sure haiku in the Spirit of Chèvrefeuille :), but are they in the spirit of Basho?

This episode will be open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and will remain open until February 14^th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next bi-weekly feature “Little Creatures” Saturday February 10^th. For now … have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #16, Shiki's "lost in the mist"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for a new episode of our CD Sparkling Stars, the feature in which I introduce haiku (sparkling stars) of well-known and unknown haiku-poets, classical and non-classical. This time I have a nice haiku by Masaoka Shiki, one of the big-five haiku-poets.
The goal is to write an all new classical haiku (following the rules of the classics, you can find those rules in Carpe Diem Lecture 1 in the menu) inspired on the one given.

kaerimireba yuki-aishi hito kasumi keri

when I looked back,
the man who passed
was lost in the mist

© Masaoka Shiki

When we try to point at the soul-state of such a simple and profound experience we lose ourselves in words. This verse is neither a bare statement nor a symbolic representation of the instability, the impermanence of things. There is, in the mind of Shiki, a feeling that the man who was seen and who is now unseen, is the same thing; the moment when he was here and this moment when he is gone for ever are the same eternity. But this ineffable state must be expressed, and is so, in the most matter-of-fact way, otherwise we should find ourselves seeking in all kinds of "poetical" directions for what is really in the mind of Shiki as he looks back and sees nothing but the haze.

Credits: Morning Haze

It's a haiku full of Zen and in my opinion this is a koan-like haiku ... it gives us a scene which is mysterious and without a possible answer. Why this man disappeared, was it just an image or a ghost? Did Shiki really see someone or was it a hoax? This haiku gives me a feeling of despair, a feeling of loosing my mind ... it's a very strange feeling to me, because I always am in control of my senses, but this haiku ...

beheaded bushes
just the creaking of bare branches
lost in the morning haze

© Chèvrefeuille

I think I have caught the same feeling of despair as I had with the haiku of Shiki in my own haiku. It gives me a feeling of loneliness, feeling lost .... not finding my way back ... anxiety takes over, but than ... the sun rises and the haze disappears ... I feel free again.

This episode of "Sparkling Stars" is open for your submissions right NOW and will remain open until January 22nd at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #15, " Christmas Stockings"

!! I am a bit late with this episode of Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars, my excuses for that !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is time for another bi-weekly episode of our special feature Sparkling Stars in which I share "masterpieces" "sparkling stars" written by classic and modern haiku poets for your inspiration. It's somewhat similar with our Carpe Diem Specials in which I share a haiku by our featured haiku poet for your inspiration.

In this episode of Sparkling Stars I have a nice haiku to share for your inspiration written for this time of year, several years ago.

Christmas stockings
hanging above the fireplace
awaiting presents

© Chèvrefeuille

The goal of this special feature is to write a haiku (or tanka) inspired on the one given, this time a haiku by myself, trying to catch the same mood ... it's not neccessary to use the classical syllables count.
Well ... we are on our way to Christmas. I like this time of year and maybe I will write every day an extra episode with Christmas as theme. For now .... just have fun .... and have jolly good Christmas time.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 25th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" #14,

!! I hope to post our regular episode later on today. I hope to have it created and online on time !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and it's time for a new (bi-weekly) episode of Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" in which I share haiku ("sparkling stars") of classical and non-classical haiku poets. This week I have a surprise for you all I think.
For this "Sparkling Stars" I have a wonderful haiku to share with you. This haiku is the winner of our first Sea Shell Game 2014.
It wasn't easy to find the winner of our Sea Shell Game and I love to tell you first how I have done this.

First I wrote all the entries (12 haiku) on pieces of paper, which I put into a little box. I shook the pieces for a while and took one after another from the box. The first haiku I placed against the second haiku pulled out of the box and so on. In that way I had six pairs of haiku.
I studied all pairs for a while and used the following points to make my choice:

1. Is there a kigo in the haiku?
2. Did the writer use a kireiji (cuttingword, mostly interpunction or a natural stop)?
3. Is there a deeper layer hidden in it?
4. The overall image.

I did the same after the first shift, which brought me six haiku in three pairs. In that second shift I again looked at the above mentioned points to make these six haiku back to three haiku.
The third shift was the most difficult, because I had to choose from three haiku.
In the last shift there were two haiku to choose from ... in this shift I looked again and again to the both haiku with the above points and finally I decided to make my choice ... which I talked about with a good friend of mine. A friend with no haiku experience, he had just to look at the both haiku and tell me which he liked the most. He chose the following haiku and I must say ... he had a very good taste ...

The winner of our first Sea Shell Game is ... drum roll ... Sara McNulty of Purple Pen In Portland and here is her winning haiku:

Ocean tide ebbs
Sand glistens with sea treasures
Lucent blue beach glass

© Sara McNulty

I think this haiku is a beauty and I think this haiku is a great winner of our first Sea Shell Game. I will thank you all for being part of this Sea Shell Game and maybe ... maybe ... next year we will have another Sea Shell Game ... you never know.

Congratulations Sara ... I will create a haiga from your haiku and will send it to you by e-mail.

Now ... back to this episode of "Sparkling Stars" ... you have to write an all new haiku (or tanka) inspired on the haiku by Sara McNulty, our Sea Shell Game winner. So be inspired and share your haiku (or tanka) with us all.

Here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on the haiku by Sara.

walking along the beach
following the tracks of a hermit crab -
Ah! That salty air

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday December 11th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" #13, "to the dolls" by Ransetsu

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am a day to late with this episode (now bi-weekly on Thursday) of "Sparkling Stars", the feature in which we look at "masterpieces" (sparkling stars) written by classical and non-classical haiku poets. And this week's "Sparkling Stars" episode is a beautiful haiku written by Ransetsu.

Ransetsu was a disciple of Basho, and his allegiance was so strong that when he died Ransetsu is said to have shaved his head and embraced Buddhism. Basho is said to have remarked 'I cannot equal Ransetsu in poetical austerity.'" Just like Basho, Ransetsu also spent time travelling and recorded this in his dairies with haiku. Ransetsu was counted by Master Yosa Buson as one of four great haiku poets to be visited by aspiring poets.
The Haiku of Ransetsu are marked by the presence of compassion, and the most famous haiku of Ransetsu is probably this one about the childless woman:

the childless woman,
how tender she is
to the dolls!

© Ransetsu (Tr. Blyth)

It’s a gorgeous haiku full of compassion for this woman without children. He sees her taking care for the dolls as were they real children. How much pain and sadness this woman will have had as she couldn’t have children or maybe she had children, but they died ... it’s not clear.

Use your  imagination to see this scene in front of your eyes and try to write/compose an all new haiku following the classical rules:

+ 5-7-5 syllables
+ a seasonword (kigo)
+ a cuttingword (kireji, in western mostly interpunction)
+ a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown in water
+ interchangable first and third line
+ a deeper meaning


Not an easy task I think, but I know you will succeed.

This episode will be open for your submissions NOW and will remain open until next Thursday November 27th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #607, Road Side Beggar (a haiku by Nana Fredua-Agyeman)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This day is a special day I think, because I am going to introduce to you a haiku-poet from Ghana, Nana Fredu-Agyeman. He tells us the following about himself:

I have been writing poems since 1998 and Haiku since 2005. Some of my Haiku have been published in Frogpond Haiku Journal, Simplyhaiku.com, Shamrock Journal and in many other journals and ezines. I am interested in meeting anybody of sound mind, irrespective of their background. Presently, I have completed my manuscript BLACK PATHOLOGY. I keep two blogs: HAIKU, for only my Haiku postings and IMAGENATIONS for all other literary postings including Mainstream Poetry and Book Reviews.

looking at the sun
for a silver coin -
roadside beggar

© Nana Fredua-Agyeman

On his weblog Haiku you can find even more wonderful haiku written by him. This prompt, Roadside Beggar, you can see as a "Sparkling Stars" episode ... so I challenge you to write another all new haiku inspired on Nana's haiku.

Here is my attempt to write a haiku in touch with the one by Nana:

in front of the church
a beggar sleeps in his paper-box -
empty bottle of wine

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you all did like this episode and I hope it will inspire you all to write an all new haiku. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 20th at noon (CET). I will publish our new episode, an all new GW-post, later on. For now ... have fun!

!! I haven't time to publish a Time Glass episode, so this week no time challenging episode of Time Glass ... next week I hope to have a Time Glass episode again !!

Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" #12, Tranströmer's "Inner Voice"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time for a new episode of CD's Sparkling Stars feature in which I share haiku written by classical or non-classical haiku poets for your inspiration. This episode I love to introduce to you all our featured haiku-poet of November, Tomas Tranströmer (1931-). (You can find our new prompt-list in the above menu).

Tomas Tranströmer (born Stockholm, Sweden,15 April 1931) is a Swedish writer, poet and translator, whose poetry has been translated into over 60 languages. Tranströmer is acclaimed as one of the most important European and Scandinavian writers since World War II. Critics have praised Tranströmer’s poems for their accessibility, even in translation; his poems capture the long Swedish winters, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.

I have to tell you that I had never heard of him until last year. I read an article about him in the magazine of the Dutch Haiku Circle (Dutch Haiku Association). That article was about Swedish and Scandinavian haiku poets and in that article Tranström was mentioned. Not so long ago Björn Rudberg brought Tranströmer to my attention. So ... well it's faith I think, I had to do something with Tranström. I decided to make him our featured haiku poet for November.

Tomas Tranströmer (1931-)

Here are a few haiku (haiku-like, American haiku) written/composed by him:

up along the slopes
under the sun – the goats
were grazing on fire.

on the balcony
standing in a cage of sunbeams –
like a rainbow

something has happened.
the moon lit up the room.
God knew about it.

hear the sighing rain.
I whisper a secret, to reach
all the way in there.

a scene on the platform.
what a strange calm –
the inner voice

© Tomas Tranströmer

Ineer Voice

I adore his way of composing haiku or haiku-like poems. In his work you can find the strong religious feelings of him towards nature and God. I think that he had to be the Noble Prize Winner of Literature in 2011 ... his work is really awesome.

For this episode of CD's Sparkling Stars I love to challenge you to write a classical haiku based on "Inner Voice". So you have to follow the classical rules:

• 5-7-5 sylables
• a seasonword (kigo)
• a cutting word (kireji), mostly interpunction in Western haiku
• a moment as short as the sound of a pebble tthrown into water
• a deeper (spiritual/religious) meaning

I know it will not be an easy task, but ... you have a whole week to try. I (of course) have given it a try too. Here is my classical haiku inspired on "Inner Voice".

in deep silence
searching for the Inner Voice --
sound of temple bells

© Chèvrefeuille

I didn´t succeed in the given task myself ... it wasn´t easy to compose this haiku on `Inner Voice`, but it was a real joy to make it.

This episode of Sparkling Stars is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Saturday November 8th at noon (CET). For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" #11, Jack Kerouac's

!! I publish this new episode of Sparkling Stars already, because I haven't enough time next weekend to write and publish new posts !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to publish an all new episode of our "Sparkling Stars" feature. In this episode I love to take you on a "trip" along haiku written by Jack Kerouac.
Let me first give you all a brief biography of his life:

Famed writer Jack Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Lebris de Kerouac on March 12, 1922, in Lowell, Massachusetts. A thriving mill town in the mid-19th century, Lowell had become, by the time of Jack Kerouac's birth, a down-and-out burg where unemployment and heavy drinking prevailed. Kerouac's parents, Leo and Gabrielle, were immigrants from Quebec, Canada; Kerouac learned to speak French at home before he learned English at school. Leo Kerouac owned his own print shop, Spotlight Print, in downtown Lowell, and Gabrielle Kerouac, known to her children as Memere, was a homemaker. Kerouac later described the family's home life: "My father comes home from his printing shop and undoes his tie and removes [his] 1920s vest, and sits himself down at hamburger and boiled potatoes and bread and butter, and with the kiddies and the good wife." 

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)

Living in New York in the late 1940s, Kerouac wrote his first novel, Town and City, a highly autobiographical tale about the intersection of small town family values and the excitement of city life. The novel was published in 1950 with the help of Ginsberg's Columbia professors, and although the well-reviewed book earned Kerouac a modicum of recognition, it did not make him famous.

Kerouac's most famous later novels include Book of Dreams (1961), Big Sur (1962), Visions of Gerard (1963) and Vanity of Duluoz (1968). Kerouac also wrote poetry in his later years, composing mostly long-form free verse as well as his own version of the Japanese haiku form. Additionally, Kerouac released several albums of spoken word poetry during his lifetime.

Despite maintaining a prolific pace of publishing and writing, Kerouac was never able to cope with the fame he achieved after On the Road, and his life soon devolved into a blur of drunkenness and drug addiction. He died from an abdominal hemorrhage three years later, on October 21, 1969, at the age of 47, in St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Credits: Jack Kerouac's Grave

Here are a series of haiku written by Jack Kerouac:

In my medicine cabinet,
the winter fly
has died of old age.

November - how nasal
the drunken
Conductor's call

The summer chair
rocking by itself
In the blizzard

Those birds sitting
out there on the fence -
They're all going to die

© Jack Kerouac

All wonderful haiku by Jack Kerouac, last May (2014) we had Jack Kerouac as our featured haiku-poet for the CD-Specials, you can find those episodes by clicking on the beneath given links:

http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.nl/2014/05/carpe-diem-special-94-jack-kerouacs-5th.html
http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.nl/2014/05/carpe-diem-special-93-jack-kerouacs-4th.html
http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.nl/2014/05/carpe-diem-special-92-jack-kerouacs-3rd.html
http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.nl/2014/05/carpe-diem-special-91-jack-kerouacs-2nd.html
http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.nl/2014/05/carpe-diem-special-90-jack-kerouac-worm.html

And of course I have to share an all new haiku here inspired on the haiku above and from the posts. Not easy, but I have to try ...

Waterfall of Flowers

on their way home
drunken sailors bend over
to vomit

it's a strange sight
like a waterfall they fall
drunken sailors

Ah! that sight
a waterfall of flowers
when vomiting

© Chèvrefeuille 

Well .... I hope you all did like this new episode of our "Sparkling Stars" feature and that it will inspire you to write/compose an all new haiku (or more than one).

This episode of "Sparkling Stars" is open for your submissions Saturday October 25th at noon (CET) and will remain open until Saturday November 1st at noon (CET). For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.