Carpe Diem #1779 Cliffs of Moher ... a tribute to Jane Reichhold

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. As you all know we are over 7 years now and in those seven years there were a lot of wonderful themes to work with. You all know that here at CDHK we have a so called "publishing policy" (you can find this at the bottom of our Kai) in which we all have decided that if you are a part of this Haiku loving family and participate in our challenges and themes ... you agree with using your work for our exclusive line of E-books, but it also stated that I can use your work here ... ofcourse I will always grant your credentials.

Today I love to challenge you with a haiku written by one of our longtime members, Hamish Managua Gunn (a.k.a. Pirate). This haiku he wrote in tribute to Jane Reichhold:

the temptation
at the chalk cliff top
I throw a rose

© Hamish Managua Gunn

With this haiku he not only gave tribute to Jane Reichhold, but he also honored her for her choice. A very strong haiku with a very strong emotion in it.

Cliffs of Moher (Ireland)

As you all (maybe) know Jane Reichhold took her own life by jumping off a cliff ... she couldn't longer live with fibromyalgia. She is still missed and I know her spirit still dwells here at CDHK.

I love to challenge you to create a haiku in tribute to Jane Reichhold inspired on the haiku by Managua Gunn as given above.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 18th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, a new Tan Renga Wednesday, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1676 Troiku Month (5) the aroma of pine

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our wonderful Troiku month. I am so glad to see participants return to CDHK in this Troiku month ... it makes me proud and humble.

Today I have chosen a haiku by one of our haijin from the start of CDHK. I know that he is a great author and a great haiku poet and with this choice I hope to give him a feeling of joy. I have chosen a haiku by Hamish Managua Gunn, also know as pirate. In our CDHK library you can find an exclusive CDHK E-book created by him. The haiku I will use is taken from that E-Book.

the aroma of pine
and the young morning's fresh rain
reach my words

© Hamish "Managua" Gunn (Taken from "Shinrin Yoku, the art of forest bathing")

A wonderful haiku ... thank you my friend, thank you Hamish that you are a longtime participant here at CDHK.

the aroma of pine

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 13th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1611 Tan Renga Challenge Month 2019 (15) Full Snow Moon

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai were we are creating Tan Renga this month. I have read wonderful continuations and completions and I hope to see that again with our challenge for today.

Today I have another Tan Renga Challenge Hineri episode for you all. As you all know Hineri means with a twist, so today's challenge is to create not only the 2nd (two-lined) stanza, but also the 3rd (three-lined) stanza and 4th (two-lined) stanza through association. For today's Hineri Tan Renga Challenge I have chosen a haiku by one of our longtime members of our haiku family, Hamish Managua Gunn. Hamish is not only a wonderful haiku poet, but also a wonderful author. He was my co-host for a while and I have warm memories of him.

Full Snow Moon (Supermoon February 2019)

Here is the haiku to work with:

full snow moon
stirs the ladybug
on cold bare branches

© Hamish

A wonderful haiku that Hamish created back in 2016. This one is a beauty and I think it's a nice haiku to work with ... so I am looking forward to your responses.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 27th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge September 2018 Chained Together III (4) in the wolf's eyes

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our TRC "Chained Together III". This month is TRC month and Tagore month, but the Tagore episodes are for the weekend meditations. Today I have a wonderful haiku by one our longtime family-members, Hamish Managua Gunn. The haiku I have chosen was a winning haiku of one of our former kukai.
Next to being a gifted haiku poet, Hamish is also a gifted author. His exclusive CDHK E-book Shinrin Yoku, you can find in our CDHK Library. It's an anthology of so called kikobun. For sure worth to read and to download.

In The Wolf's Eyes

Here is the haiku to work with to create a Tan Renga:

Midwinternight
A  dark sky’s lights dance
In the wolf’s eyes

© Hamish Managua Gunn

What a beautiful haiku to work with. I have given it a try ... here is my continuation of this haiku into a Tan Renga:

Midwinternight
A dark sky's lights dance
In the wolf's eyes                        © Hamish Managua Gunn

fresh fallen snow sparkles
while we warm our hands           © Chèvrefeuille

Sounds romantic doesn't it?

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 12th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired!

Carpe Diem #1408 Gypsy (kikobun)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's with pleasure that I offer you a new episode of our wonderful Kai. We are into haibun this month and we have seen already several different forms of haibun this month. Today I love to challenge you to create a kikobun. Let me first share the idea of kikobun (again) with you before I go to the theme of today, gypsy.

It is structured somewhat like a haibun, a passage of prose with at least one short poem (haiku or tanka). It features landscape and nature, and interaction between writer and the landscape. Bashô focused on exactly that, the nature and not on prescribed formulas or conceptions.
The key specification is that a kikôbun involves movement of the writer, in that it is a short travel diary. The haiku should not repeat what is in the prose, and should not attempt to ′globalise’ the prose like a conclusion.

Okay ... onwards we go. Today's theme is "gypsy". And I think you all know about gypsies. In my daily salutation I always use "travelers", and maybe you know that "travelers" are a kind of gypsies. Our haiku friend Hamish Managua Gunn has written a few posts here at CDHK about gypsies and maybe they can help you ... At the above left corner you find a "search" possibility were you can find his posts on gypsies by putting in "gypsy or gypsies" or maybe "Roma".

Gypsy woman (painting)

I am not that familiar with gypsies, but I remember that I used a kind of gypsies in my first novel "Netsach" (2007) so I think I can say I am a little bit familiar with them and of course through the posts of Hamish here at CDHK.

In one of his posts he shares with us the following haiku on gypsies (or Roma-people):

by the campfire
she dances to the violin
only the stars are still

© Hamish Managua Gunn

Maybe you can use his haiku for your inspiration to create a kikobun. Of course you are free to do so. You can also use the following video by Nagy Lehel, titled "Cigány Zene - Gypsy Music" for your inspiration.

Well ... I think you have enough to work with. I am looking forward to your kikobun themed "gypsy".

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode, Broadway, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Extra March 14th 2018 Results of the Troiku Kukai "in the herb garden"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this Extra episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I finally have the results of our first Troiku Kukai "in the herb garden". In this Troiku Kukai we had 22 contestants and several of them voted for the best, second best and third best Troiku. The votes have been collected and I am glad to announce you all the winner and the runner-up of this Troiku Kukai, but first this:

Thank you all for participating in this first Troiku Kukai here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. It made me proud to see how many participated in this kukai based on a creative haiku form I have created, the troiku. The Troiku is based on the ancient Russian sleigh the troika, a sleigh pulled by three horses. That "image" brought me (back in 2012) the idea to create the Troiku, a haiku form in which you are challenged to create three new haiku by using the separated lines of the first haiku (the sleigh). The three new haiku (the horses) are free-styled and that makes this new haiku form such a wonderful creative way of giving words to your thoughts.

A Troika (Russian sleigh pulled by three horse, the base of Troiku)

 This first Troiku Kukai I gave you a wonderful haiku by Claire Vogel Camargo to work with:

no spring sprouts
in the herb garden
his heart attack

© Claire Vogel Camargo

The goal of this Troiku Kukai was to create a Troiku with this haiku and I have read really amazing and wonderful Troiku ... thank you again for sharing these beauties with us all.

The WINNER of this first Troiku Kukai "in the herb garden" is Hamish Managua Gunn with the following Troiku he got 8 points:

no spring sprouts
in the herb garden
his heart attack

© Claire Vogel Camargo

no spring sprouts
only a timeless watch
left under pouring rain

in the herb garden

where the bare earth lies covered
with last year's leaves

his heart attack
and the horizon's rolling thunder
—the caws of rising crows

© Hamish Managua Gunn

With this Troiku Hamish has won the opportunity to create an exclusive CDHK E-book together with Chèvrefeuille's Publications and I will create a special episode of our Tokubetsudesu feature next month about his work as a haiku poet.

Fresh Herbs

Every Kukai has of course a "RUNNER-UP", but this month I have a tie, there are two Troiku with the same amount of points. First I thought to let someone else look at the both Troiku to decide which one will become the "runner-up", but after giving it a thought again, I have decided to accept this tie and so we have two "runners-up" in this Troiku Kukai, the first of these two is created by Louise Hopewell:

no spring sprouts
we bury grandad
in the cold earth

in the herb garden

a tangle of parsley and mint
sibling rivalry

his heart attack
summer thunderstorm
rolling over the ocean

© Louise Hopewell

And the second "runner-up" is Skaidrite Stelzer with the following Troiku:

no spring sprouts

beneath the leaves
a lost glove

in the herb garden
he hates to pull even
the wild chive

his heart attack
the forget-me-nots
still bloom

© Skaidrite Stelzer

Both "runners-up" have won the opportunity to be featured in a special Tokubetsudesu episode here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Both of these episodes I will also publish next month.

To all three I say !!! CONGRATULATIONS !!!

To conclude this Extra episode I have the complete list of results for you. I will give the points and the numbers of the Troiku.

8 points: Troiku 1
6 points: Troiku 7 & 19
5 points: Troiku 6
4 points: Troiku 2, 4 & 10
3 points: Troiku 20 & 21
2 points: Troiku 3 & 8
1 point :  Troiku 14
0 points: Troiku 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 & 22

I will open a new Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Kukai soon, but I haven't yet an idea which theme to use, so I keep you all posted.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Carpe Diem #1286 Love

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of CDHK. I hope you have all enjoyed your weekend and of course I hope the music I shared has inspired you all to create haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. I am a little bit behind with commenting, but I hope to visit your posts a.s.a.p.

Today I have a wonderful prompt for you, love. It is taken form February 2016. That month the prompts were all created bij our pirate Hamish Managua Gunn. All the prompts that month had to do with our senses and ... I think it was a wonderful month.

Love ... not actually a feeling that you will expect in haiku, because love is more the terrain of tanka (or waka), but I think that haiku can be a love poem too. I even think I have said that more often here at CDHK.

Love is one of the strongest senses we have. Love for someone, love for e.g. reading and painting, but also love for nature. That love is the most important for haiku. Haiku is known as the poetry of nature and to create them you have to love nature, being in close contact with nature.

I love to share a quote from one of the Tokubetsudesu episodes:

[...] "Haiku is love, a love that grabs you by the throat and takes you into an adventure to discover the beauty of our world in all her beautiful details and bring that into the tiny form of haiku that shows us a scene, a moment that lasts only one heart beat." [...] 

And here to introduce love ... a haiku which I wrote several years ago:

the last steps taken
to find universal love -
the sound of rain

© Chèvrefeuille (2014)

Well ... enough for your inspiration I think. The episode by Hamish that mentioned was published on February 24th 2016. Sure worth to read again. The above haiku is extracted from that episode.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Ireland, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month 2017 #7 two sets of footprints (Hamish Managua Gunn)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge. Yesterday we had a classical haiku poet and today I love to challenge you to create a Tan Renga with the following haiku by Hamish Managua Gunn:

two sets of footprints
in freshly fallen snow
one pair from Kyoto

© Hamish Managua Gunn

I believe this haiku came from his E-book Shinrin-Yoku in which Hamish gathered several of his kikobun.

By the way: Shinrin-Yoku you can download for free in our CDHK Library.

Footprints In The Snow (Image found on Pinterest)

 This episode of our TRC is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will run until May 14th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #92 Hamish Managua Gunn's "the temptation "

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this new episode of Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu. In this episode I love to share poetry by our runner-up of the "tribute to Jane" kukai, Hamish Managua Gunn. I think you all have heard from him or have read his haiku and tanka.

His haiku for the "tribute to Jane" kukai brought him the runner up status and this was his haiku:

the temptation

at the chalk cliff top
I throw a rose

© Hamish Managua Gunn

With this haiku he not only gave tribute to Jane Reichhold, but he also honored her for her choice. A very strong haiku with a very strong emotion in it.

Recently Hamish writes more and more tanka and I love to share a few of his tanka here with you to inspire you of course. Hamish is a very gifted poet and I think he is becoming a great tanka poet.

His most recent post, maybe you already have read it, he published on his Tumblr Forest Bathing:

Since we bowed in Sayonara the last time I took you to the airport, there have been so many sunrises and sunsets I have forgotten which is which.
“Do not count the falling leaves,” you once told me, in your hushed voice. “What is important is that you let the tree grow big and strong.”

your origami Torrii Gate
I place at the top of the Christmas tree
and leave the forest
with the sun that always rises
and the stars, that you see too

© Hamish Managua Gunn

And I found another beautiful tanka written by Hamish, this tanka is one of my favorites, maybe because of the mentioning of the name of my own haiku master, Matsuo Basho. And as Hamish writes in this tanka ... "Basho taught me all I know about haiku and tanka, but mostly about nature".

Basho and I
share the same moon
and the same joy
of words about nature
I know - Basho taught me

© Hamish Managua Gunn

I love these tanka written by Hamish and I hope they will inspire you to create tanka yourself. Have fun!

This Tokubetsudesu episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until December 23rd at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem #1030 path

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this belated  episode of our daily haiku meme. It was to busy at work to find a moment to create this blog for you.

This month it's all about the power of words and we are exploring taht power through the quotes of known and unknown people. Today I have a nice quote by our Haiku family member Hamish Managua Gunn, I think you all know him. He has a wonderful Tumblr blog "haiku forest" from which I extracted the quote for today.

Path photo © Hamish Managua Gunn - Haiku Forest

Here is the quote by Hamish Managua Gunn for your inspiration:

[...] "Ah…and then there’s the path, always the path, there, to concentrate on.. " [...] Hamish Managua Gunn

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

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge Month May 6th "petal lanterns"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our Tan Renga Challenge Month. Today I have a beautiful haiku by one of our CDHK family members to start the Tan Renga with.

Today the starting verse is by Hamish "Managua" Gunn (a.k.a. pirate). This haiku was the title-giver of one of our exclusive CDHK e-books, Petal Lanterns.

Here is the haiku by Hamish:

petal lanterns —
a waterfall of flowers
her lips touch mine 

© Hamish Managua Gunn

I am looking forward to your second stanzas inspired on this first stanza by Hamish. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until May 10th at noon (CET). Our new starting verse for May 7th you can already find on our twitter account.

Carpe Diem Special #207 Sara McNulty's third "taste of nature"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is the third CD-Special of this month and as you all know this month our featured haiku poetess is Sara McNulty of "Purple Pen in Portland". She is a very gifted haiku poetess, but she also writes haibun and kikobun.

For this CD-Special I have chosen a kikobun which Sara wrote in response on one of the CD-Specials of February 2016. Our featured haiku poet then was Hamish "Managua" Gunn and in that same month Chèvrefeuille's Publications published an exclusive CDHK e-book with kikobun written by Hamish.
In the last CD-Special of February 2016 I teased you with a kikobun from that CDHK e-book by Hamish "Shinrin Yoku". It goes to far to include the whole kikobun which I shared then, but I think it's for sure a 'must' to share the haiku from that kikobun here, because that was Sara's inspiration for this kikobun which I have titled after the first line of her haiku "taste of nature".

Here is the haiku by Hamish:

the aroma of pine
and the young morning’s fresh rain
reach my words

© Hamish Managua Gunn

And this is Sara's response ... in my opinion a beautiful kikobun.

bumble bee

Taste Of Nature

A child in summer, carrying a tin pail, runs down a dirt hill where blackberries, fat and ripe, cluster together ready for picking. She places some in the pail, some on her tongue, where warm juices burst, and stain her mouth purple. Bzz! Bzz! Ouch! A jealous bee stings her on the leg.

taste of nature–
sweet blackberry bushes
sing to child and bees

© Sara McNulty

And here is your (our) challenge for this CD-Special: Try to create a kikobun inspired on the one by Sara or if you can't come up with a kikobun, of course no problem, a haiku or tanka is also great to read.

Here is my attempt, not a kikobun, but an older haiga which I made several years ago.

photo and haiku © Chèvrefeuille

And I have a nice haiku also from my archives:

Lavender flowers -
bumblebees collecting honey
in the backyard

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think enough inspiration ....

This CD-Special is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, rain / raindrops, later on.