Carpe Diem Special (2nd guest) Kala Ramesh's 5th "with all the stars"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is our last episode of our festive 4th anniversary month October 2016. With this last episode we enter the first month towards our 5th anniversary next year. Five years of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... awesome. I hope to create a smashing anniversary month next year because that will be our first lustrum (a period of five years), so I am already starting with the preparations of that lustrum month, October 2017.

Today it's not only our last episode of this month, but also the last Carpe Diem Special by Kala Ramesh, an Indian haiku poetess, who is renown all over the globe and who also was befriended with Jane Reichhold. Kala has written gorgeous haiku and tanka so for this last CD Special about her work I have tried to find a few beauties, haiku and tanka.

Kala Ramesh

thunderclap
the darkening sky splits
into liquid night

temple bells
the isolated raindrops
on my umbrella

spring breeze —
I catch the tune
she leaves behind *

* With this haiku Kala Ramesh won the Heron's Nest Award Summer 2006

Blossoms of the Cordia Sebestena, a beautiful tree found in India

seeing the whole

blossom contained
in a seed
I look up to the sky
with all the stars

illusions ride
on a fast fading rainbow
somewhere there
I let go of my childhood...
I must have

© Kala Ramesh

It was really a joy to have Kala Ramesh as our guest here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She has written wonderful haiku and tanka and I am glad that she could inspire us through her haiku and tanka.

orange chrysanthemums decorating the backyard of the old mansion

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 4th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new and first episode of our "Tanka Splendor" month later on. In that first episode we will discover the first Tanka Writing Technique by Teika Mystery and Depth.

Carpe Diem Special (2nd guest) Kala Ramesh #4 jasmine rain

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First a few announcements:

1. I am behind with commenting on all of your beautiful art-work of haiku- and tanka poetry. I hope to catch up a.s.a.p.
2. On our Tumblr "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai" you can find a sneak preview for the upcoming months. You can find this Tumblr HERE
3. Next month, because of the still running "autumn"-kukai I have a unique series of CD Specials in mind for you all ... here is the new CD Special logo for November (© photo):

I love to introduce haiku- and tanka poets from The Netherlands to you. I am busy with gathering the permissions for these CD Specials and I hope to surprise you all.

Okay ... back to our 4th CD Special by our second guest Kala Ramesh. Kala is a renown haiku- and tanka poetess from India and she really writes wonderful haiku and tanka. For this CD Special I have chosen a mixture of haiku and tanka created by her.

I hope her haiku and tanka will be bring you the inspiration you need ... in other words ... let Kala Ramesh be your muse for today.

I look at the blue sea
and the blue sky
in wonder . . .
gently they turn
into night

liquid twilight
the tilt of a water pot
on her hip

Banyan Tree

rain catchers

near our banyan tree
here and there
leaves of the pond lotus
roll raindrop-moons

fireflies
in their own world
jasmine rain

© Kala Ramesh, Pune, India

I wasn't familiar with the Banyan Tree, so I searched the Internet and found a nice piece of text (on wikipedia) in which the deeper spiritual meaning of the Banyan Tree is mentioned. There is also reference that the Banyan Tree stands for eternity and everlasting. In hindu images the god Shiva is seen very often sitting in silence under the Banyan Tree.

The banyan tree is the national tree of India. It is also called Indian or Bengal fig. This tree is considered sacred in India and can be seen near a temple or religious center. It is a big tree and gives shade to travelers in very hot summer months. An old custom offers worship to this tree.

In Hinduism, the leaf of the banyan tree is said to be the resting place for the god Krishna.
In the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna said, "There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down, and the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas." (Bg 15.1) Here the material world is described as a tree whose roots are upwards and branches are below. We have experience of a tree whose roots are upward: if one stands on the bank of a river or any reservoir of water, he can see that the trees reflected in the water are upside down. The branches go downward and the roots upward. Similarly, this material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The material world is but a shadow of reality. In the shadow there is no reality or substantiality, but from the shadow we can understand that there is substance and reality.

A Big Banyan Tree at Bangalore (photo © Kiran Gopi)

shadows move

up and down the wall

bare branches

© Chèvrefeuille

in the shadow of the old Banyan Tree I sit in peace seeking contact with the Universe leaves resonate the Vedas

© Chèvrefeuille

What a beautiful tree this is the Banyan Tree ... I was really surprised to read all the information on this "holy" tree and as you can read I was inspired. Now it is up to you ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, folding paper, later on. Have fun ... take a seat under the Banyan Tree.

Carpe Diem Special (2nd guest) Kala Ramesh's 3rd "lotus viewing"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present our third CD Special by Kala Ramesh, our 2nd guest, Kala Ramesh is a very gifted haiku (and tanka) poetess from India and renown all over the world. In our last CD Special by her I shared tanka of her and this CD Special I have chosen to inspire you with haiku.

I found four beauties on the website of Akita International Haiku Network and I think these are really beautiful. I will try to share them with the respect they deserve.

The first haiku is the following:

lotus viewing . . .
the flowering
within

© Kala Ramesh

In this haiku I sense a deeper spiritual meaning, the lotus grows from deep down the mud, through the water to reach out for the sun ... this you can see as spiritual growth. But what I first thought when I read this haiku? I immediately thought of the beautiful haiku by Santoka Taneda, who created haiku in the so called "free-style", without counting syllables, use of kireji or kigo. By the way in this haiku Kala uses "lotus" as kigo.

dragonfly (image found on Pinterest)

Let us take a look at the second haiku which I have chosen to share here:

the pause
in a dragonfly’s glide—
noon shadows

© Kala Ramesh

Another beauty in the "free-style" way without counting syllables, but does that mean that it is not a haiku? No certainly not, in this haiku you can clearly see the fragment and phrase technique which we have seen here more often. So it is a haiku ... and in my opinion a beauty.

As you know I am not a haiku poet who likes to follow the classical rules, but sometimes it's awesome to try that. For example this one:

blooming sunflowers
reaching for the early light of the sun -
birds praise their Creator

© Chèvrefeuille

So for this CD Special I love to give you a little challenge ... try to create a haiku following the classical rules inspired on the haiku shared by Kala Ramesh.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, clay, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Special (2nd guest) Kala Ramesh #2 "tangled thoughts . . ." (tanka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the second Carpe Diem Special by Kala Ramesh. In the first CD-Special by Kala I shared haiku written by her with you all, today I love to share a few tanka by Kala with you.

Kala is not only a gifted haiku poetess, but she also writes beautiful tanka in a very nice and personal way. Her tanka are mostly a reflection of daily happenings like for example "children trying to stretch their playing time before going to bed".

As you all know I am not such a great tanka poet, but I love the form. Let me tell you first a little bit more about tanka, for those visiting here who not know about tanka.

Tanka is, like haiku, an ancient Japanese poetry form and it derived from the waka and maybe partially from renga . Maybe you have heard from tanka and waka or maybe you are familiar with "The Tale of Genji" (a wonderful classical piece of literature in which the poetess used waka).

Scenes from "The Tale of Genji"

Back in 2013 I once created a Carpe Diem Distillation episode about "The Tale of Genji" and I love to share here the waka which I presented there again:

mishi hito no

keburi o kumo to
nagamureba
yuube no sora mo
mutsumashiki ka na

the evening sky itself
becomes something to cherish
when I gaze at it,
seeing in one of the clouds
the smoke from her funeral pyre

© Murasaki Shikibu (11th century)

weeping willow

Here at CDHK we have seen several posts in which I shared waka by classical poets/esses, maybe you can remember this one too. It's a waka by Saigyo and it was the inspiration for a well known haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):

along the way
where water is running
in the willow shade
I have stopped to rest
for a little while

© Saigyo (12th century)

And this is the haiku which Basho wrote after reading this waka by Saigyo:

one patch of a rice field
when it was planted I left
the willow tree

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Waka ... an ancient but beautiful poetry form from which the Tanka derived. Tanka is a short poem with five lines following the syllables count 5-7-5-7-7 (or in Japanese sounds, onji) and mostly the first part (say the "haiku" part) brings up a scene, but by putting the second part (say the "response" part) towards it that scene changes. The "pivot" of the tanka is the third line mostly. Tanka is a nice form to work with and as you know next month November 2016 we will have a Tanka month here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai created around "Teika's Ten Tanka Writing Techniques".

Kala Ramesh

Okay ... back to Kala Ramesh, our 2nd guest this celebration month. Last week we had the first special by Kala with haiku and today I love to share a few of her tanka.

an evening
of tangled thoughts . . .
through branches
even this rugged moon
looks tattered at the edges

© Kala Ramesh

These tanka are in my opinion really nice, but I don't know if I am capable to say such a thing because I am not such a good tanka poet. Of course I tried to create a new haiku or tanka in response on this CD Special by Kala Ramesh:

the days shorten
the colorful leaves
Ah! what a sight

mysterious moon
behind thin clouds
leaves falling

tears fall
this autumn day
has gone by
such sadness
without the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 14th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, knitting wool, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem Special (2nd guest) Kala Ramesh's "sunbirds peck"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring the first CD Special by our second guest Kala Ramesh, a very gifted haiku poetess from India. Maybe you know her, maybe not. Last year (2015) in April she was also our featured haiku poetess and I remember that you all were exited to read her haiku.

Not so long ago I renewed my contact with Kala and asked her if she would like to be our featured haiku poetess in our 4th anniversary month. She was honored and in return I am honored that she said yes to my invitation.
I got to know her through Jane Reichhold as she emailed me about one of Kala's projects "haikuWALL India" and that Jane asked me to bring that important "haikuWALL India" project on our Kai. Of course I said yes, but than several days later, a new email by Jane came to set the post on the "haikuWALL India" on hold, of course with legitimate reason. I became intrigued by Kala Ramesh and started reading her haiku (and tanka) ... and than decided to ask her to be our featured haiku poetess in April 2015.

And now ... almost two years later I am honored that I can bring haiku (and tanka) by Kala Ramesh here again in our celebration month.

Kala Ramesh

howling wind —

an autumn note within
the bamboo flute

© Kala Ramesh

* one of the haiku from the CD Specials April 2015

Let me tell you first a little bit more about Kala Ramesh before I share a few haiku written by her in this first CD-Special (2nd guest) here.

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 comes from an extremely artistic and culturally rich South Indian Tamil family and believes, as her father is fond of saying, that “the soil needs to be fertile for the plant to bloom”. She also feels that she owes this poetic streak in her to her mother. Kala is keen to see children in India take to haiku and its genres.

As you have noticed I created a special logo for the CD-Specials by Kala Ramesh. The image which I used is titled "Diwali" and the text on it I created myself with an online app.

Sunbirds peck

Here are a few haiku by this very gifted haiku poetess Kala Ramesh to inspire you:

sunbirds peck
the tumbling river notes . . .
evening raga 

© Kala Ramesh *

* Previously published--A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013

And here is my response on this one. I have tried to create a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one by Kala, but than placed in our Western world, because Sunbirds are not living in our part of the world.

in the chapel
the murmured prayers resonate
in tune with the birds

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is another beautiful haiku by Kala ramesh to inspire you again:

falling leaves . . . 

if only sorrows could be
contained in a palm 

© Kala Ramesh *

* Previously published--Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, Summer 2013

Autumn in my town © photo Chèvrefeuille

And here to respond on Kala's haiku, a haiku from my archives (2013):

in the morning light
trees look like a treasure chest -
autumn has come

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this CD Special and of course I hope to read wonderful haiku, tanka or other poetry forms inspired on the beauties by Kala Ramesh.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 7th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our new episode, brush, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1023 A Sparrow

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Maybe you can remember that back in our history we had Kala Ramesh as featured haiku poetess for our CD-Specials and today I have a nice quote by her to inspire you. This will be a short episode, but I think it can inspire you.

Here is the quote by Kala Ramesh:

[...] "Last evening I was looking out from my balcony and saw a sparrow perch on a branch. All of a sudden, with a quick jerk, she ruffles her feathers and spreads out her wings – her bodyline on an upward curve, about to take off." [...] Kala Ramesh

Kala Ramesh

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 18th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #182 Ese's third "in the darkest hour "

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am a happy guy, because my PC is brought to life and so I can do what I love to do ... writing posts about haiku ... to inspire you all.

Today I have another wonderful haiku created by Ese of Ese's Voice for you.which she wrote in response on the haiku by another featured haiku poetess here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Kala Ramesh. Kala Ramesh was our featured haiku poetess in this year's April.

Ese wrote the following haiku in response on this haiku by Kala:

morning prayers
the rising sun between
my hands

© Kala Ramesh

I remember that it was one of the first haiku which I read written by this beautiful Indian haiku poetess and I was immediately in love with her work as many of you I think.

the sun between my hands

Ah ... looking back and re-read post from our rich CDHK history is really a joy and this one is very special ...

Ese wrote the following haiku inspired on the one by Kala ... and I think she did a great job ... what a beautiful haiku this is:

in the darkest hour
wishing upon the morning star
just like years ago

© Ese of Ese’s Voice

This haiku is a real beauty ... you can feel the strong emotions hidden deep below the surface of this haiku, maybe Ese wrote this as a kind of tribute to someone she dearly loved or missed. But there is also a feeling of hope and new beginnings in this one ... One can feel the sadness, tears and the pain of loosing. At the other hand ... one can feel the strength ... the power to rise again like a phoenix starting to enjoy life again. As I read and re-read this haiku ... tears roll over my cheeks ... I am really touched by this haiku ... it brings sweet memories back to loved ones I lost during my life ... I can almost feel the presence of my brother who died more than 20 years ago ... he was 35 yrs as he passed away. He was my older brother and I had a hard time as I became 36 ... the age he never has reached.

the moon is rising

silvery waves resonate
in tune with my heart

© Chèvrefeuille

in deep prayer
eyes closed in devotion -
Lotus starts to bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

Two beauties found in my archives ... and here a new one inspired on this beautiful haiku by Ese.

prayers rise
on the wings of an eagle
reaching for God

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope this episode will inspire you to compose, create, write an all new haiku (or tanka). This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 19th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, a new Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem 760 stargazing

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I like to gaze at the stars, not only in summer, but through the whole year, but especially in summer stargazing, as is our prompt for today, is a great activity. Together with the one you love for example, or just with friends, No clouds at the night sky, the sultry summer night, the sweet perfume of trees, flowers and bushes. Just an awesome feeling ... surly worth doing sometimes (or more than sometimes).

On Shamrock Haiku I found a wonderful haiku written by Konstantin Kedrov about stargazing:

tired of stargazing,
I look down –
puddle full of stars

© Konstantin Kedrov

And I remember a beautiful tanka by Greg Wolford, one of our CDHK family members, which he wrote in response on our first episode of "On The Trail With Basho Encore":

upon bale of hay
stars twinkle in the distance
memories flash by
times filled with our hopes and dreams
and innocence reigned supreme

© Greg Wolford

Stargazing it looks like everyone likes it and so do I as I told you above. There is no night for me without gazing to the stars. I love to point my children and grandchildren to the constellations and the individual stars like e.g. Venus.

Of course the classical haiku poets like Basho, Buson, Issa and Chiyo-Ni for example wrote haiku about stargazing especially around the Tanabata Festival (a traditional Japanese stargazing festival) on July 7th for example this one by Issa:

kakurega mo hoshi machi-gao no yo nari keri

at the hermit's hut, too--
an upturned face awaits
the stars

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. David G. Lanoue)

And I just had to share a haiku by Basho, which he wrote while gazing at the stars on Tanabata:

sazo na hoshi   hiji kimono ni wa   shika no kawa

surely star-lovers
using as a rug
a deer skin

© Basho

full of stars

Well ... we are still discovering the beauty of the modern kigo as gatered by Jane Reichhold in her saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" and today our prompt is stargazing and these are her examples:

coming inside
after star gazing
my glow

our galaxy
in a folding chair
a star gazer

© Jane Reichhold

Awesome to read all those wonderful examples of haiku on stargazing ... all those different styles ... thoughts and ideas behind it .... just awesome.

I had to share a haiku by myself, but I wasn't inspired enough, so I have an "oldie" for you all which I wrote in response on a haiku by Kala Ramesh (one of our featured haiku-poets):

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

© Chèvrefeuille

And now it's up to you my dear friends. I hope this post will inspire you all to write an all new haiku or tanka.
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until June 24th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, pines, later on.

!! PS. There will be no Time Glass episode this Sunday (06/21) because I haven't time !!

Carpe Diem Special #144, Kala Ramesh's fifth haiku "thunderclap"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's almost over ... today I have the last haiku for this month composed by our featured haiku-poetess Kala Ramesh. It was really a pleasure to introduce Kala to you all. Kala is a very active haiku petess from India and I was given this opportunity by Jane Reichhold. Jane brought a specific project by Kala to my attention. In this project Kala cooperates with youngsters from India and I love to bring this project under your attention. Just to show what the possibilities are with haiku ...

I will reproduce Kala's email here in which she tells about her project:

[...] HaikuWall as part of the PUNE Biennale 2015!!

We have some seven haiku painted on COEP's compound wall. And five more were put up as posters at the Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre, throughout the 10 day celebrations, from 6th to 15th February. They were a mix of my students' work from CBSE schools to colleges, Symbiosis International University and Bharati Vidyapeeth Univeristy.Anyone walking down Pune University Road can see these haiku painted on the COEP Hostel wall, opp Sancheti Hospital.

It is one thing ​when ​a ​local ​haiku ​club/​group  decorates​ the city with haiku [which is big in its own way!!] But, it is quite another thing ​when an educational institute  ​along ​with Govt ​involvement​  ​orchestrate the painting of haiku  on street walls. [...]

I think this is a great project. Here is one of the haiku which she is talking about in her email:

Ok back to the main goal of the CD Specials writing an all new haiku inspired on a haiku by our featured haiku poet/ess ... so here is the haiku by Kala to inspire you.

thunderclap

the darkening sky splits
into liquid night

© Kala Ramesh

(Published in Haiku Presence, Britain’s leading independent haiku journal. Issue #37, Spring 2008)

The goal is to write an all new haiku inspired on the given haiku and trying to do that in the same tone, sense and spirit as the one given. Certainly not an easy task, but it's challenging .... Here is m attempt:

hot summer day
battle between thunder and lightning
ah! cool summer rain

© Chèvrefeuille

Next month as we go on the trail with Basho all our CD-specials will also be haiku by Basho. So May is ' Basho-month' and I am looking forward to it ... I think May will be a gorgeous month. Not an easy month, but for sure a great month.
!! PS. I will not publish a Time Glass episode today, so this week no time challenge !!

This CD-Special episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until April 29th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, another episode of Tokubetsudesu feature (former Ghost Writer post), later on. For now ... be inspired and share your haiku inspired on the haiku by Kala Ramesh with us all.