Carpe Diem Time Machine #17 Tsuyujimo (dew frost)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

September 2015 is running to it's end and next week we will have our first day of our third anniversary. And that makes me happy. Today it is time for an all new CD Time Machine episode and this time I have chosen for a prompt which closed September in 2013. In September 2013 we had all classical kigo for autumn and the prompt than was "Tsuyujimo (dew frost)".

"Haiku isn't only a form of poetry, but it's also a way of life". And that is what haiku is ... haiku is a kind of lifestyle entwined with Zen-Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and other ancient philosophies. All those religious/spiritual ways of life are all a piece of Basho's work and life.

I remember what I wrote than and I love to share that here again. This is what I wrote and while looking back to the start of Carpe Diem ... it makes me proud that CDHK is still here alive and kicking.

Blossoming Cherry blossom

[...] "The above picture shows a cherry tree starting to blossom (photo © Chèvrefeuille '15) and that's what we are here at Carpe Diem ... just starting to bloom. As our next month starts, we start to grow further in a new year of Carpe Diem. To make that second year a way to grow I have changed our groups name a little bit. I have added "kai" to it. "Kai" means "group in Japanese", so we have grown to a Haiku Kai and that makes me happy. So from this day on our haiku-community is called: Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. And with that name I hope we will blossom further and that we will become a full grown cherry tree. [...]

Imagine ... we are here almost three years. I really couldn't have dreamed that as I started our Kai, but we are still here. Did we grow? Are we already grown up? I don't know what you think, but this is what I feel today:

I am proud that we have come this far and I think we are starting to become an adult group of haiku loving poets. In our "life" as a Kai we have seen changes come and go. We are a steady group of poets and we also can say we have published our Kai's haiku in several e-books. We have our own traditions ... think about our kukai, our renga party and all those other beautiful features. I am proud and that makes me humble too. Who am I that I may do this ... being your host and mentor ...!

a little verse
brings people together
without rivalry

© Chèvrefeuille

During the years of our existence we have accomplished a lot, and that's not only my merit, but it's your merit too. I am happy that through our Kai we have promoted haiku all around the globe. We have encountered a lot of wellknown haiku poets e.g. Jane Reichhold, Garry Gay, Jim Kacian, Michael Dylan Welch and Tom D'Evelyn. And they all are cherishing Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and are glad to be part of it. 

Dew Frost

 "Dew frost" is a kind of thin layer of frost on branches, grasses and so on. It's the first signal for the upcoming winter cold, but it also is a wonderful fragile kind of frost which changes Mother Nature's face in to a mysterious and magical world. I love to walk through nature as this dew frost occurs and the early sunlight starts to shine. The trees look somewhat like crystal or diamonds, so fragile in it's beauty. Really awesome ...

What a wonderful sight ... look at those dew drops frozen, like pearls ... nature can be that beautiful, that fragile, that transient ... just like life itself.

early morning walk
through the park that looks so fragile -
sunrise and dew frost

cobweb sparkles
prince winter has made his round
through the city-park

© Chèvrefeuille

Dew frost ... so fragile and so beautiful ... so transient ...

As I started CDHK that was one of my anxieties that this daily haiku meme would be transient like the dew frost, but ... look at us ... we are still here ....

haiku poets
write about transience ... a short moment
lasting in time

© Chèvrefeuille

I am looking forward to our third anniversary and I hope to read wonderful haiku ... tanka ... or other Japanese poetry forms ... and (I hope) according to my idea ... to open our CDHK-Merchandise webshop.

This episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until September 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, phoenix, later on today. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Machine #16

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As you all know we are running towards our third anniversary and I am glad to announce that I already have the haiku by Michael Dylan Welch and the essay by Tom D'Evelyn. It's really a joy to see how our third anniversary is getting more and more "a face". I think October 2015 will be a very festive month. I am waiting on response of a few other wellknown haiku poets, so maybe ... there is more to come to celebrate ... be patience.

Refering to the above about our third anniversary I am really happy to present to you an all new episode of our CD Time Machine in which we will look at prompts from the rich history of CDHK again. This week I have chosen to "re-do" an episode from September 2013. and this week that will be ... Wase (early rice). Back then we had all classical Japanese kigo for autumn and this is what I wrote then:

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Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we share haiku on Wase (early rice). Rice comes in several varities and therefore there are several kigo on rice. "Wase" is a mid-autumn kigo and can refer to the flowering of early rice, the fragrance of early rice or harvesting of early rice. So this kigo, you can use in several ways.

Early Rice

I found a wonderful haiku by Buson:

inekareba ogusani akino hino ataru

harvesting the rice--
upon small grasses
falls the autumn sun.

Or this one by Issa, from another angle:

michi no ku no taue mite kara kaeru kari

after seeing rice planting
in remote provinces...
the geese depart

A haiku from one of my friends at Wonder Haiku Worlds is also about 'wase' (early rice):

early rice ~
the birds know it before
the scarecrows

©  Narayanan Raghunathan

Early Rice

My attempt to write a haiku on this prompt for today, Wase (Early Rice):

watching the rice fields

coming to bloom in autumn
Ah! that fragrance ...

© Chèvrefeuille

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Wow ... what a joy to re-read that episode. I am still "flabbergasted" by that haiku by Buson. It's really one of his best haiku I think. Very strong in it's scene, but all words are chosen very well. Awesome.

As you all know ... the goal of CD Time Machine is to inspire you to write an all new haiku (or tanka) and this is what I came up with:

green sawas
every where I look
I smell rice

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this small trip along memory lane and of course I hope this CD Time Machine will inspire you to write an all new haiku (or tanka).

Rice planting, the start of Early Rice

For closure another set of haiku from my archives which I wrote back in June 2013:

over the paddy
resonates a sweet song -
rice planting girls

sowing rice plants
source of food for thousands
while singing a song

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it's up to you my dear Haijin ...

This episode of CD Time Machine is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Saturday, September 19th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Machine #15 Jade

Credits: image

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful journey we have made over The Nile and with that journey we went back to the time of pharaohs and that was a joy and it gives me the opportunity to "built a bridge" to this special feature of Carpe Diem ... our Time Machine, in which we visit prompts from our rich CDHK history. Today we are going back to November 2012. One of our prompts in that month was "Jade", you can find that episode HERE. And I love to share a few of the haiku which were written in response on that prompt:

His hanging shoulders
The jaded eyes say it all
Pocket is empty.

© Tarun Mazumdar

Or what do you think of this beauty by Becca Givens:

Jaded thoughts
Nix positive growth
Jolt of verve 

© Becca Givens

Or this beauty by Mark R. Redfearn, who already was part of CDHK at the beginning:

Wise are the women
consorting with the foxes,
coaxing jade to sing.

© Mark R. Redfearn

CDHK Logo November 2012

And for closure of this Time Machine episode my inspired haiku in which I also refer to our regular prompt “waterfall”:

roaring thunder
water colored like jade
mingles with sunlight 

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this little trip along memory lane and that it will inspire you to write an all new haiku or tanka ...

This CD Time Machine episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Saturday September 5th at noon (CET). have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Machine #14 rough sea

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again to step in our mysterious Carpe Diem Time Machine to travel back to the start of carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This episode of CD Time Machine is about "rough sea" and I think we have had this "rough sea" twice in our rich history. So for several of you this will be a well known prompt, but to others it's maybe new.

I published this prompt's post on October 19th 2012 and it brought immediately a haiku in mind by Matsuo Basho. This haiku was part of "The Narrow Road to the Deep North", one of Basho's haibun.

the rough sea
flowing toward Sado Isle
the River of Heaven

© Basho (1644-1694)

Sado was an isle for banishment.

What I like about this haiku is the contradiction between the "rough sea" and the "River of Heaven" (the Milky Way), because the sea is rough and the Milky Way sounds soft and sweet. It's a wonderful haiku I think.

Credits: Rough Sea (woodblock by Hiroshige)

Another haiku inspired on Sado, written by Yozakura:

an outcast I am
day dreaming along the seashore;
Sado Isle beckons

© Yozakura

What a strong feeling I get from this haiku by Yozakura ... a feeling of loneliness and despair. Yozakura, shortly after becoming an orphan, is wandering along the seashore and sees in the distance Sado Isle ...

Here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on "rough sea", will not be an easy one, but I have to try of course:

white caps shattered
sand rushes around on the beach
a dragon kite

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this trip back into time and that it will inspire you all to write an all new haiku or tanka and share it here with us all.

This episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until Saturday August 22th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Time Machine #11 Kawasemi (Kingfisher)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present a new trip along memory lane with our special feature "Carpe Diem's Time Machine. This episode takes you back to June 2013. In that month we had all classical kigo (seasonwords) for summer (as we have now in our present time). One of those classical summer kigo was Kawasemi or Kingfisher. This time I will not introduce the episode as I am mostly doing. Why? Well today is a very busy for me, so I have decided to share the episode of June 2013 here again as it was published than.

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(June 18th, 2013)

Are you all in for a new nice Carpe Diem episode? Well I am (smiles). Today we share haiku on Kawasemi (Kingfisher). In my opinion it's one of the most colorful water birds. For sure here in The Netherlands. This little Kingfisher is a wonderful fisherman and fast as the wind. I think this wonderful bird can inspire you all to write nice haiku.

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australasia. The group is treated either as a single family, Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey as well as fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. Like other members of their order they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction.

Kawasemi (Kingfisher)

Wow! What a wonderful bird, really a King.

colorful reflection
throws shadows on the brook -
Kingfisher attacks

Kingfisher attacks
silver comes to live in the brook -
circles in water

(c) Chèvrefeuille

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Well ... did you like this episode which I published back in 2013? I think so. I hope it will inspire you to write an all new haiku or tanka and share it with us all. I have (of course) given it a try too.

a blueish flash
in crystal clear water
only circles left

(c) Chèvrefeuille

This Time Machine episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 6th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, Tsuyu (rainy season), later on.

Carpe Diem Time Machine 10 Indian Summer (Koharu)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time for another trip along memory lane with our Carpe Diem Time Machine in which we will re-visit prompts we have had earlier in our rich history. Today we go back to December 2012. Back than Carpe Diem Haiku Kai started it's third month, a month with classical Japanese kigo, and Indian Summer or Koharu is such a classical kigo. I will reproduce a part of that episode here:

An Indian summer is a heat wave that occurs in the autumn. It refers to a period of considerably above-normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, usually after there has been a killing frost. Depending on latitude and elevation, it can occur in the Northern Hemisphere between late September and mid November.
The expression 'Indian summer' has been used for more than two centuries. The earliest known use was by French-American writer John Hector St. John de Crevecoeur in rural New York in 1778: "Then a severe frost succeeds which prepares it to receive the voluminous coat of snow which is soon to follow; though it is often preceded by a short interval of smoke and mildness, called the Indian Summer."In British English St. Martin's Summer was the most widely used term until the American phrase became better known in the 20th century. In the United Kingdom, the term Indian summer is used loosely for a period of unseasonable warmth and sunshine in late September, October, or November. In former times in English-speaking regions of Europe, 'Indian summer' was called Saint Martin's Summer, referring to St. Martin's day, November 11. An alternative was Saint Luke's summer. Another alternative was "All-hallows summer", as All Hallows' is November 1. In the United Kingdom Indian summer is often used to describe warm weather that comes late in the year after unusually cool summer months.In the Netherlands it is sometimes called "oudewijvenzomer" or "sint-michielszomer" ("St. Michael's Summer"), although the term "nazomer" ("late summer") is used more often.

after a warm day
a thin layer of fresh fallen snow
covers the garden

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Indian Summer

Well this was our little trip along memory lane and I hope that it will inspire you to write/compose all new haiku and share them here.

I love to share a few haiku which were written in response on this prompt Indian Summer back in 2012:

the lazy bones yearn,
late summers refuse to move
winter knocks on door

(C) Nimue

on a wintry day,
summer blooms in my heart-
the radiance of hope

(C) Loredana

Warm fingers
Plunged in icy pool
Hummers rove

(C) Becca

Indian summer—
brief respite from the burden
of firewatch at night.

(C) Mark M. Redfearn

Logo Carpe Diem Haiku Kai December 2012

Wind from Lake Michigan
Hitting trees in November
Foliage still bright red

Steady wind, no rain
Bright colors of the Indian summer
Soft sound of falling leaves

(C) Rheumatologe Lothar

 As you can see Mark M. Redfearn was already participating than, so he is one of our very first CDHK family members.

This episode of CD Time Machine is open for your submissions today at noon (CET) and will remain open until June 30th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Machine #9, bees

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last month while we were on the trail with Basho I haven't made CD Time Machine episodes, but this month it will return. And today is the "re-start" of this special feature in which we are diving into our rich Carpe Diem Haiku Kai history. Today we go back to our prompt bees, it wasn't a prompt specific, but we have had a few prompts in which bees occurred one of them was the prompt honey (April 2013) I remember that day quit well, because our queen abdicated from her throne in favor of her son Alexander.
In that post I referred to a mysterious illness that caused a lot of bees their life. And I remember that I wrote several haiku about that.

all over the world

honeybees are dying -
flowers never bloom again

flowers never bloom again
Mother Earth's face will be
colorless

colorless
no more fruits to eat
all over the world
© Chèvrefeuille

And I challenge you today with this new episode of CD's Time Machine to write an all new haiku, tanka or haibun about bees. Just to celebrate their beauty and their task for life.

I conclude this episode with an oldie .... a haiga ....

This Time Machine episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 8th at noon (CET). Have fun ...

By the way you can find the referred episode HERE 

Carpe Diem Time Machine #8, Perfume

It is always impressive how quickly a blind person can read with braille, and how cleverly deaf people can read lips. 

People who have lost the use of one sense often have more acute other senses. But people who lose their sense of smell lose their joy of life. With no smell comes no taste. I am not sure how I would feel stepping out among the trees and not being able to breathe in the forest aromas. I am sure I would not be able to make my pine oil.

There are women who do not wear make-up, and who do not colour their hair. But I do not know any women who do not wear perfume. Fragrance can be stronger than imagery in evoking the senses, and the traditional ingrediants to a natural perfume are remarkably similar to those of a successful haiku.

I have a strong feeling that the best way to write a haiku about perfume is to set it out as a kikôbun. Kikôbun is a literary travel journey entry; a set of notes similar in format to haibun. 

Within the time frame of 24 hours, see if you can compose a kikôbun, a haiku with literary travel notes, that leave a lingering aroma to enhance the feel of the environment. Mine is below as an example.

After the rain the sun steams raindrops off the trees, and the forest perhaps is at its most aromatic. Yesterday, after the rainfall I chose the tiniest, most directionless paths, the ones deer take and hunters sometimes find, so that I was able to lose myself in thought. 

among the birch trees
the perfume of her hair
I slow my pace

I also found a nice haiku (below) to put some notes to and make a kikôbun. Yes…it’s by a haiku poet called…Chèvrefeuille

Summer nights in Aberdeen, northern Scotland, were wonderfully long, and colourful. Walking along the lane up from the harbour, past 11.00 pm, the sun would still be casting its radiant glow over a street lined with yellow roses — my native Aberdeen is famous for its roses, and their light, intoxicating aroma in the air. I was suddenly reminded of those memories today.

sitting in the garden
the sweet smell of roses
 — the cry of seagulls

© Chèvrefeuille

Please try a short kikôbun on the theme of ‘Perfume.’ The link is ready for you at 7.00 pm Dutch time and will be open for just 48 hours.

Carpe Diem Time Machine #7, Ancient Road

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's time again for our Time Machine trip back into the history of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As you all know we have every month a featured haiku poet and those Carpe Diem Specials I started already from the start of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. At the start of our weblog it was called "Carpe Diem", but later it became Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

Today I love to take you back to December 2012. In that month our featured haiku poet was Yosa Buson, one of the four greatest haiku-masters (next to Basho, Issa and Shiki) of haiku history. Buson (1716-1783) was also a great Haiga painter and has several wonderful paintings left behind as his heritage.

Credits: Haiga by Yosa Buson

He was also the illustrator of the first edition of Basho's "Oku no Hosomichi" (The Small Road Into The Deep North) here after I have a part of that illustrated edition imaged.

Credits: First illustrated edition of Basho's "Oku No Hosomichi" by Buson.

And of course there was Buson the haiku poet who has written/composed wonderful haiku. His haiku are strong and great ... you even can see that the haiku are written by a painter ... Buson's haiku are little paintings with words. Here is (again) the haiku from that episode to which this Time Machine episode is referring.

furumichito kikeba yukashiki yukino shita

"An ancient road," they say
How charming
Though beneath this snow.

© Yosa Buson (1782)

As you can see at the year ... the possibility that this haiku was one of his last haiku written is very sure.

What is the idea behind this haiku? Let us look at it closer and maybe we can determine Buson's thoughts ... a challenging idea ...

"an ancient road", they say" ... which ancient road is meant here? It's possible the road between Edo and the new capital. Than the idea turns towards the virgin snow, and than the "ancient road" becomes in an eye blink a "new road", Buson is charmed by the beauty of the fresh snow.
Of course I wasn't there, but this could be a possible explanation of the haiku.

Logo Special feature "Carpe Diem's Oku no Hosomichi (September 2013)

Ok ... as you all know we will go on the trail with Matsuo Basho next month and in our rich history I also have had a special feature about the "Oku no Hosomichi" (see above logo) in that special feature we followed Basho's journey and as is the "theme" of this Time Machine episode "ancient road" I have a nice haiku which I composed for the start of that above mentioned special feature to share here with you again:

following his trail
on a journey through the world
to find ourselves

© Chèvrefeuille

 

And there were more haiku inspired on this "ancient road" and here are a few to inspire you ...

on a journey
seeking for ancient knowledge
deep inside myself

© Chèvrefeuille

seeking the path
walking the 'Narrow Road'
in deep silence

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this has become a wonderful Time Machine episode and it has made me even more grateful ... because I once initiated this weblog and dreamed that it would become a success ... and ... now look Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is still here and it has become a great, loving family of haiku poets. Thank you all ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until April 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, depression, later on.

Carpe Diem Time Machine #5, Kite(s)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to take you with me on a CDHK journey through time and this time we will travel to spring 2013 especially March 2013. That month we had all classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and one of them was Tako (Kite) ... and I recall that I composed a haiku with a dragonkite as theme. It was really a nice haiku than, but I don't know if I would compose such a haiku again.

against the blue sky
the devilish dragon kite
just like yesterday

© Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Dragon kite

I even can recall that I have done several episodes about kites. I also did one on my birthday (April 20) last year and I brought a reprise episode in October 2014 while we were celebrating our second anniversary as a Haiku Family.

I have something with kites I think ... so I have tried to write an all new haiku on kite(s):

happiness
kites against the blue sky
laughter of children

© Chèvrefeuille

And I found another nice "kite"-haiku on my personal weblog:

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

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this journey back in time to the earlier years of our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and I hope it will inspire you to write/compose an all new haiku, tanka, troiku or haibun. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 9th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, raindrops, later on.

Carpe Diem Time Machine #4, Yellow

Hello, this is Paloma once again, helping our host Chèvrefeuille today while he enjoys some extra time with his family and friends.  

For this episode of Time Machine we are looking at “Yellow”, which is revisiting November 2012. For that prompt, Chèvrefeuille featured Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Yellow House”.

Vincent Van Gogh. The Yellow House, 1888.

Here are Chevrefeuille's haiku in response to the painting:

the yellow house
a sturdy rock in a man's life -
the cry of a child

the cry of a child
seeing the rainbow for the first time
'I want to cross that'

Very sweet, right? 

For today, Chèvrefeuille mentioned that he was interested in Van Gogh’s yellow bridge, the Langlois Bridge at Arles.  Vincent loved this bridge because it reminded him of both Hiroshige and a bridge in his homeland. 

The Great Bridge.  Hiroshige (L) & Van Gogh (R)

Here is Van Gogh’s Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing (1888):

Vincent Van Gogh.  Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing, 1888. Wikimedia.

Here is my effort at haiku inspired by the painting:

morning washing –
the scent of yellow grass
clinging to my hem 

long into morning -
the scent of mud and green things
baked on yellow stones

Perhaps not my best (!) but I keep thinking about the smell of the mud and the grass.  What sense memories does the painting awaken in you?

**

This episode is open for your submissions from February 20th at 7 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 23rd at noon (CET).   

Carpe Diem Time Machine #3, Blue

!! I publish this episode earlier, because I am in the nightshift !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today (Saturday February 7th) I present our third episode of our Time Machine feature in which we are "playing-again" with prompts from our rich history of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. As you all know this month it's all about Impressionism and Impressions and I love to follow that also in these Time Machine episodes (our next Time Machine episode is on February 21st).
Today's Time Machine goes back to November 7th (what a coincedence) 2012. At that time, Carpe Diem Haiku Kai was only Carpe Diem a daily haiku-meme which I had started in October 2012. There were nice responses and a small group of regular visitors. In that period of November I had a whole week planned with prompts about the rainbow and at November 7th it was the color Blue as is our prompt for today's Time Machine episode. (You can find that episode HERE)

Ok ... today's "playing-again" is Blue and is inspired on the following painting:

Credits: City Garden in Blue by Mary Clanahan (digital impressionism)

I think this is a wonderful "modern" impressionistic painting digitally made by Mary Clanahan ... it shows you a city in Blue ... it's really more like an impression than a real painting ... but I like the brightness of the colors and I think this is one of her greatest paintings ever. Must be easy to write an all new haiku inspired on this painting ...

coloring sky
mysterious and magical
is it day or night?

(C) Chèvrefeuille

the blue city mirrored
in the transparency of the pond
sparkling rainbow

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think this was a nice way to "play again" with a prompt from our rich CDHK history and I hope you all did like it.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 9th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, the second haiku by our featured haiku-poetess Fuyuko Tomita, later on. For now ... have fun ... be inspired and share your haiku with us all.



Carpe Diem Time Machine #2 "Crocus"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Not a classical kigo for New Year today, because it's time for a new episode of our "Time traveling" feature Carpe Diem Time Machine in which we "play again" with prompts from our rich Carpe Diem Haiku Kai history. I realize that I am a bit early, but ... well I am a busy man as you all know.
For this new episode of "Time Machine" I have chosen a prompt from January 2013 Crocus that wonderful little flower which brings spring into our lives again.
I remember that back in January 2013 we had a very large package of snow during January, but it brought me also some concerns, because until January 2013 our Winter had been soft, to soft and warm, and there were already flowers and trees starting to bloom ... and so were the crocuses in my garden. And than that cold snow fell and covered them up. I was concerned if they would make it, but they did ... what a joy and a relief that was.

Crocus

As I recall that time I had just started with CDHK (than titled only "Carpe Diem") and it was a very exciting time. Would I survive with CDHK? Well .... as you all know and can see and read every day .... CDHK is still alive and kicking. We have become a wonderful "community" (or family) of haiku-poets and CDHK has evolved (and is still evolving) ... maybe the only thing missed is a few new names, new family-members, so if you have haiku-poets in your surroundings please point them to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write haiku (and tanka) and share them with the world.

Ok ... that was the "commercial break" ... back to our Time Machine episode of today, Crocus. This prompt to "play with again" will inspire you for sure and here are my haiku which I published in that episode back in January 2013:

fragile crocus
blooming in the ice wind
how strong will it be?

snow falls gently
covers fragile crocuses
purple disappears

early Spring feeling
a snowman melts in the sun
reveals crocuses

© Chèvrefeuille

How strong will they be those little crocuses?

snow has gone
colorful crocuses blooming
longing for Spring

© Chèvrefeuille

These haiku are really making me longing for spring ... it will take some time before it will be spring again, but as I look through the window right now ... than I already get a feeling of spring, because the sky is blue with some clouds and the sun is shining bright ... so it feels already like spring.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 19th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our next episode, Burning Ornaments (Sagichoo), later on.

!! PS. I am a little behind with commenting, but I will try to catch up a.s.a.p. !!

Carpe Diem's Time Machine #1, Orange

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to introduce an all new feature here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. I have called it "Carpe Diem's Time Machine" and it's all about "playing again" prompts from our rich Carpe Diem Haiku Kai history. This new feature will become a bi-weekly feature on Saturdays. And, as the name already says, we will "re-play" prompts from our past starting today with Orange, one of the colors of the rainbow. At the start of Carpe Diem (October 2012) we had a "rainbow-week" in November.

In my country (The Netherlands) we have our Royal Family of Orange, orange is a strong color in my country, but orange can also stand for a citrusfruit. Orange flowers and more orange to see around us ... what do you think of a beautiful sunset or sunrise ... well we shall see what I can do with this theme orange ... have to write at least one haiku.

orange chrysanthemums
in full bloom standing proudly
waving in the wind

(c) Chèvrefeuille

I have to admit that I never have had seen a orange house, but as I was surfing the WWW I ran in to a wonderful picture of a orange house somewhere in Bogota. And I had to write a haiku along going with it.

all day sunrise
what a joy to live in
my orange house

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Orange ... really my color. Here is another haiku which I wrote last year after the World Championship Soccer in Brasil, as you maybe remember our National Soccer team "the Orange Lions" lost there dream at that championship. I wrote this haiku than:

almost full moon
colors orange behind thin clouds -
scattered dreams

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I have to take the "Time Machine" back to 2015, because I love to share an all new haiku on "orange":

ah! that sweet perfume

oranges and lemons -

a cool summer night

(c) Chèvrefeuille

Awesome ... it's really a joy to look back in our rich history and "play-again" with used prompts. I hope you all like this new feature. This first Time Machine episode I publish earlier ... so today instead of tomorrow ...

this episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 17th at noon (CET). I will post our next "Time Machine" episode on that same date. For now .... have fun!