Carpe Diem #787 Lighthouse of Alexandria (reprise)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have an announcement to make, maybe a few, last Monday my dad was released from the hospital. He's ok, but has to be careful and taking his time to recover fully from his major heart attack. Thank you all for your love, thoughts and prayers.
Than ... after long consideration ... I have decided that the CD Time Glass feature will stop. I know that there are several family-members who loved the time challenge. I made that feature with all my heart and love to challenge you, but it takes to much time to create several CDHK episodes on one day. In the upcoming weeks I also will look to all the other features we have on a weekly base. After long consideration I will "cut" several weekly features to make them a bi-weekly feature. Of course I will create new features to challenge you all, so don't worry ....

Ok ... back to this episode of CDHK. Today we will board on a papyrus boat to sail The Nile and of course we have to start somewhere ... and that's in Alexandria, a large city in the Nile's delta. Maybe you remember our trip along the Seven Ancient World Wonders back in 2013. One of those World Wonders was The Lighthouse of Alexandria. You can find that episode, I belief it was episode 333 HERE.

Lighthouse of Alexandria

The Lighthouse of Alexandria ... it's light flashes over the Mediterranean Sea and The Nile delta as a beacon to guide us on this new adventure deep into Africa as we are on our way to the source of The Nile.

Back in 2013 this prompt inspired several of you, my dear family-members, and I thought "Wouldn't it be a beautiful idea to reproduce a few of the haiku written in response of this prompt?" Well ... here they are ... I hope you maybe remember them or otherwise I hope they will inspire you to write an all new haiku or tanka and "re-live" that historical fact that we were inspired in October 2013 by The Lighthouse of Alexandria.

Beyond the lighthouse
to some strange and distant land?
All you need is here.

© Magical Mystical Teacher (MMT)

bright beacon
in a stormy squall
lighthouse

© Cathy Tenzo (Haiku Plate Special)

passing over
the lighthouse again ...
fish shadow

© Lolly of Lovely Things

Luminosity
ancient ship sailors’ night light
procession beacon

Procession beacon
glow for lovers’ evening strolls
solar garden lights

© Sun (Simply Charming)

Credits: Brandaris on Terschelling (NL), the oldest lighthouse of my country The Netherlands

Well .... did you like this short trip along memory-lane? I certainly did enjoy it and it inspired me to write an all new 

guidance
over the harbor
a lightflash

© Chèvrefeuille


This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until August 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Rosetta's Stone, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #757 desert

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have another nice modern summer kigo for you and maybe I have done that earlier somewhere in our rich CDHK history, but that I don't know for sure. It's again a prompt which will inspire MMT the most I think, because she is living in the desert. You will understand that our prompt for today is desert and these are the haiku which Jane Reichhold uses as an example for this modern summer kigo:

desert
awakened by silence
filled with dark

stars
in the sand
desert gift

your voice
tying me to the desert
toast pops up

© Jane Reichhold

Aren't they gorgeous? I especially like the second haiku shared here, because of the nice "free style" way of composing it. Through this free style this haiku is very strong and intense.

Credits: desert

my own desert
re-decorating the garden
in bright sunlight

© Chèvrefeuille

A few other "desert"-haiku, the first an oldie from my personal weblog Chèvrefeuille's Haiku-blog and a new (re-done) one.

in the desert
the heat, the sand ... my eyes
a Fata Morgana

tears fall

lost and alone in the desert
just the moon and I

© Chèvrefeuille

Ah! The desert, one of our wonderful "eco-systems". I have learned to admire the desert through the posts of MMT. Her photos and haiku have done that to me.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, day dreaming, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #75, MMT's "first yellow blossom"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to make another Tan Renga Challenge (TRC) for you. I can't even believe that it is already Friday again. Time flies. As you all maybe know ... last week I started with my new task at Mindlovemisery's Menagerie by writing the Fairy Tale prompt ... so I have a little bit less time for CDHK, but of course CDHK will stay my most important "job" (next to my work as an oncology nurse).

This week I have chosen a haiku composed by MMT of Tales from a Sonoran Desert Classroom and she wrote that haiku in response on our Time Machine prompt "yellow" (hosted by Jen). Why have I chosen for her haiku this week? Well .... recently I saw the very first yellow blossoms of the Forsythia ... and short after that I read this wonderful haiku by MMT. Coincedence? No I think not her haiku needed to be used for our Tan Renga Challenge ... and so it will happen.

Here is MMT's haiku which is the starting verse (hokku) of this week's Tan Renga Challenge:

first yellow blossom
sprouting from a slender branch—
Buddha bows his head

© Magical Mystical Teacher

Credits: Forsythia

It's a very nice haiku, but it will not be easy to write a second stanza (two lines, 7-7) towards it to complete or continue it. As I look at myself ... I have to contemplate a little about this haiku to "re-form" it into a Tan Renga ... so I leave this episode of our Tan Renga Challenge without writing my own second stanza towards it at this moment.

This episode of our TRC is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday March 6th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #55, Magical Mystical Teacher's "River Stones"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

in a desert land
stones from rivers far away
muttering dark tales

© Magical Mystical Teacher

This is our new Tan Renga Challenge. The 'hokku' (opening stanza) is written by Magical Mystical Teacher (MMT) in response on our reprise episode 'River Stones' and our task is to write the second two line stanza of 7-7 syllables (you don't have to use that 7-7 rule). I have written the next two lines to complete this Tan Renga:

pebbles shimmer between leaves
white fades away in a rainbow

© Chėvrefeuille

River Stones

As i put them together it makes the Tan Renga complete and in my opinion it has become a very strong Tan Renga with multiple layers ...

in a desert land
stones from rivers far away
muttering dark tales            (MMT)

pebbles shimmer between leaves
white fades away in a rainbow               (Chèvrefeuille)

Now it's up to you to make this Tan Renga complete by writing the second stanza. Have fun, be inspired and share. This Tan Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions until next Friday October 31st at noon.

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #47, MMT's "how rare the sight"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and we are almost halfway August. This month is until now a great month and I hope that this new Tan Renga Challenge will make it even better than it already is.
For this week's Tan Renga Challenge I have chosen a haiku written by Magical Mystical Teacher (MMT). It was her response on one of our prompt-haiku last month. She wrote this haiku in response on this haiku by Basho:

how rare!
on leaving the mountain
the first eggplant

MMT's response haiku was the following:

how rare the sight—
yellow blossoms brushing
the sky with light

© MMT

She also had a wonderful photo added towards this haiku ... her photos are really wonderful, it's always a joy to visit her weblog ... I however have used another photo

Credits: Yellow Blossoms

MMT's haiku is our first stanza of our new Tan Renga Challenge in which the goal is to complete the Tan Renga by writing/composing the second stanza of 7-7 syllables (of course you don't need to use that classical syllables count, that's up to you). Here is my attempt:

how rare the sight—
yellow blossoms brushing
the sky with light                                     (MMT)
underneath the Laburnum
I always will love her                             (Chèvrefeuille)

 

Maybe this second stanza needs a little bit explanation. I married in April 1991 and I remember that on my wedding day the Laburnum started to bloom ... so every year again as I see the Laburnum bloom I remember that wonderful day, the day that I pledged my everlasting love to my wife. 

Well ... I think it's again a wonderful Tan Renga Challenge and I hope that MMT will forgive me that I used her haiku. I hope you all will be inspired to write/compose a second stanza towards the beautiful haiku by MMT ...

 

This episode is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Friday August 22nd at noon. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your completed Tan Renga with us all.

 

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge Month #VIII, MMT's ''even candent days''

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I love to share a haiku written by Magical Mystical Teacher (MMT), Tales from a Sonoran Desert Classroom, which was written in response on "Willow Leaves'' back in last September. As you all know MMT shares wonderful haiku mostly accompanied by a wonderful photo. It's a wonderful haiku to start a Tan Renga with, so here it is:

even candent days
cannot drive the willow leaves
from their homing place

(c) MMT

And here is my attempt to complete this Tan Renga:

even candent days
cannot drive the willow leaves
from their homing place                                       (MMT)

as the cold night falls
leaves fall one by one                                           (Chèvrefeuille)


A nice completion I think, makes the scene complete in my opinion, but maybe you think otherwise.

Willow in Autumn

This Tan Renga Challenge will stay on until November 10th 11.59 AM (CET) and later on today I will share our new episode of our Tan Renga Challenge Month, but for now ... have fun, be inspired and share your completed Tan Renga with our Haiku Kai.
!! This Tan Renga Challenge Month episode is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!

PS. I have posted a new episode of ''Revise that Haiku''  earlier today, so I challenge you to ''revise'' the famous haiku by Basho ''Old Pond''.