Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold (1937-2017) G.) whisper of rain

photo © Sandra Simpson

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of our special Theme Week in honor of Jane's 80th birthday. We have given her the attention she deserves and now we are going on with our lives. Jane decided to end her life last summer ... and if she would have been alive she would have become 80 on January 18th 2017. Because of that respectable age I decided to create this wonderful Theme Week to inspire you, but most of all to honor Jane. Jane has meant a lot for the haiku and tanka world, but also for several of us personally and I am proud that I can say that she was my friend, my mentor and my inspiration.

Today to close this Theme Week I have chosen a few of her haiku from her "A Dictionary of Haiku" (the online version), the following series of haiku are all extracted from the summer section of "A Dictionary of Haiku":

coming to sea cliffs
the off-shore breeze raises
a flower fragrance

curving with the land

a rainbow of clouds

moves out to sea

sunrise finds
fog in the valleys
fingers in sand

whisper of rain

on a sunny day the surf

wets my feet

sweeping the porch
bright prints of raindrops
followed by splashes

cloudy sunrise

all the bird song colors

on rounded raindrops

darkening beach

the warmth of a person's eyes
for the sinking sun

scattered in sand

embers of a saltwood fire

face to face with stars

shell beach
wind blowing through
a train whistle

© Jane Reichhold

A wonderful series of haiku themed "summer" and I hope that through this last episode of this special Theme Week to honor Jane Reichhold she will be in your heart forever ... for sure she will be in my heart forever ... and she will be here always at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai to inspire us.

a whisper of rain awakens me gently morning on the beach © Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 29th at noon (CET). Have fun !

Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold (1937-2017) F.) Sierra Mountains (tanka)

photo © Sandra Simpson

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of our special Theme Week to celebrate Jane Reichhold's 80th birthday. Jane has meant a lot for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She was co-host and she once said that Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is hte best website about haiku and other Japanese poetry forms around the globe. Of course that made me proud, but also humble. Who am I that I can and may do this ...

Yesterday I inspired you with haiku, so this day we will find ou inspiration in her tanka.

the dreamer
never dreaming
to live a dream
leaving everyone else
behind in the future

long meadow
is too short to hold
the emptiness
of leaving a family
longing for their faces

high in the mountains
suspended over the valley
even spirits
smoothing the paths
toe to heel, toe to heel

ocean breezes
a coolness blowing inland
my message
meets hers mid-air
the tie that binds

© Jane Reichhold (taken from: She Alone)

Sierra Mountains (image found on Pinterest)

In "She Alone" Jane describes a trip her daughter, Heidi, made into the Sierra Mountains. Between the stories Jane created tanka, so you can say that this is a tanka-haibun.

high up in the mountains
the air becomes thin and rich
taking my breath away
she ... the beauty of my life
brings me to a higher state

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 28th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold (1937-2017) E.) Fuji No Yama

photo © Sandra Simpson

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to bring you a new episode of our special Theme Week "Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold'. As you all know the haiku and tanka world has a lot to be grateful of and I think we can be grateful for all that Jane has meant for the haiku and tanka world. Jane was one of the best modern haiku poetesses I know and she was part of our Haiku Kai family for a few years. If she would still be alive we had celebrated her 80th birthday, but as you all know Jane died last year. So this Theme Week is special because we are celebrating her 80th birthday with a lot of wonderful poems created by her.

Today I love to share a few of her haiku to inspire you. This time I have chosen you bring a few spring haiku written by her. These haiku I have extracted from her "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijiki.

spring clouds above Fuji No Yama, the holy mountain of Japan

morning breeze
coming in the window
surf sounds

changing forms

all around the Buddha
clouds in a blue sky

clouds
flooding the river
with spring

spring cloud melt
flooding river willows
green leaves

© Jane Reichhold (A Dictionary of Haiku, spring part)

A lovely series of haiku of spring by Jane. And the image of Mount Fuji No Yama, the holy mountain of Japan, brings me also the possibility to tell you a little bit of our upcoming month. I remember that I had other plans for February, but recently I read a wonderful story, more a diary, about Japan, the land of the rising sun. That story triggered me and it brought me an idea for next month. Next month, February, we will travel through Japan. We will visit places which are important for us haiku poets, but we also will discover that wonderful country where our beloved haiku (and tanka) was born.

Image found on Pinterest

cherry blossoms bloom

in praise of the gods Fuji No Yama

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 27th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold (1937-2017) D. a rainbow bridge

photo © Sandra Simpson

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our special theme week around Jane's 80th birthday. Today I have a nice series of tanka for you which I extracted from Jane's "A Gift of Tanka". Jane was not only a great haiku poetess, but also a wonderful tanka poetess in fact she encouraged me to start tanka writing myself. As you all know I do write tanka on a regular base, but I am still very much in love with haiku and that will be my frist love forever.

desert leaving
one of my dream souls
in the lizard
patterns of his back
passport to change

waterfall
torn to ribbons
bright mist
this body someday too
a rainbow bridge

high-tide beach
blue into the clear sky
the openness
for all things to become
the rush of another wave

free to fly
the ocean flows
into a cloud
the spirit released
expands in whiteness

© Jane Reichhold (A Gift of Tanka)

A wonderfull series of tanka I would say, to inspire you to create haiku or tanka in honor of Jane Reichhold.

Here is my humble offering for this episode:

puzzle resolved
the sound of a waterfall
makes me happy
through the thin mist
I can sense her presence

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 27th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem honors Jane Reichhold (1937-2017) C.) bubbles in ice

photo © Sandra Simpson

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

My excuses for being a bit late, I am on the nighshift, so I hadn't time earlier to publish our new episode(s).
Yesterday I tried to inspire you through tanka by Jane Reichhold and today I love to inspire you with a few beautiful haiku written by her. As you all know, Jane would have become 80 if she was still alive, so therefore I have organized this special week to honor her.

deep in winter
the babbling brook
white as stone

bubbles in ice

bubbles in ice
holding till spring
the voice of the brook

the mountain brook
still with listening
winter winds

© Jane Reichhold

Three nice haiku. I love that 2nd haiku the most. The beauty of still water holding the babbling of the brook ... a little gem ... no a masterpiece I would say.

surreal
bubbles holding the voice
of the stream

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 26th at noon (CET).