Carpe Diem Special #178 Michael Dylan Welch's "first day of school"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy this is to create another CD Special with a wonderful haiku by Michael Dylan Welch. This episode I have chosen a nice, very recognizable, haiku by Michael.
Imagine ... your child goes to school for the very first time. Can you imagine that? I certainly can. I remember that my youngest son (now 24 yrs) went to school for the very first time. My wife and I brought him together until in his class room. He started playing immediately, but as we walked out of the classroom he cried. He really cried hard. My wife and I weren't strong enough to leave him at school so we took him with us and tried it again the next day. Again he cried ... finally after a few days we (my wife and I) could go away leaving him in the loving and caring hands of his teacher notwithstanding his crying.
I remember that it hurt us, but ... we had to "cut him loose" with pain in our hearts. At the end of his first day at school his teacher told us that he had cried for several minutes, but finally he started playing with the toys. My son had won his battle, the battle to be left alone at school. It was really an ordeal his first week at school, but he managed great.

Michael Dylan Welch

The haiku by Michael which I love to share this time in our CD Special is a haiku about that first day at school.

first day of school—
I eat my buckwheat pancakes
in silence

© Michael Dylan Welch

Well .... this haiku could be written as a short impression of the first day at school of my youngest son. I can imagine that my son did that too ... we never will know that for sure.

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, a new CD Haiku Writing Techniques episode, later on.

Carpe Diem Special #176 Michael Dylan Welch's "one ..."

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome to a new CD Special by one of our featured haiku poets, Michael Dylan Welch, I have found another nice haiku composed by Michael. It's a haiku which I find very special, maybe that's because of the theme of this haiku, falling stars. I remember that my first haiku published ever was about falling stars or shooting stars:

midsummer night
thousand shooting stars
it’s raining silver

© Chèvrefeuille

Back then I wrote my haiku as Kristjaan Panneman, when I became more known, I chose to use the penname (as was the classic custom) Chèvrefeuille, which means "Honeysuckle".

I have written several haiku about "shooting stars" or "falling stars", so here is another one which I composed in February 2012:

a shower of stars
the little boy smiles
what do you wish for?

© Chèvrefeuille

Okay ... back to our featured haiku poet, Michael Dylan Welch's haiku, for this CD Special. It has all to do with the stars and that image above fits the haiku very well. As I read that haiku by Michael I just couldn't help that a verse from Genesis came in mind:

"Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them " (Genesis 15: 5)

Why this line from Genesis? Well ... I think you will understand that idea as you read the haiku by Michael.


one . . .
together we count
the falling stars

© Michael Dylan Welch

A beauty I think. I love to challenge you to use this haiku by Michael Dylan Welch to create a haibun with a maximum of 75 words (including the haiku).

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 23rd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Tanabata Festival, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haibun with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share your haiku.

Carpe Diem Special #174 Michael Dylan Welch's "a little taller"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are almost halfway this anniversary month and I hope you all do like this month. Today I have another nice haiku written by Michael Dylan Welch to inspire you, but first I have to tell you something else.
The judging of our "peace of mind" kukai is almost closing. You can email your votes for three haiku submitted until October 15th 10.00 PM (CET), so you have a little bit more as 24 hours time to email your votes.

Ok ... back to this CD Special with a haiku by one of our featured haiku poets this month, Michael Dylan Welch. I have a few other obligations so this episode will be really short ... how short? Well .. I will only give you the haiku for your inspiration and that is it for this CD Special.

Here is the haiku by Michael Dylan Welch to inspire you to write an all new haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form:

pull of tonight's moon—
the harbor lighthouse
a little taller

© Michael Dylan Welch

Credits: Harvest Moon above the Chicago Harbor Light

I hope that this haiku will inspire you ... here is a haiku from my archives which fits the scene and the sense, tone and spirit of the haiku given:

guidance
over the harbor
a lightflash

© Chèvrefeuille

Michael Dylan Welch has been writing haiku since 1976, when he first learned about the genre in a high school English class. He joined the Haiku Society of America in 1988, and has been an officer of the society numerous times. Michael cofounded the Haiku North America conference in 1991, and the American Haiku Archives in 1996. He also founded the Tanka Society of America in 2000 (serving as its president for five years), and National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) in 2010. Michael's latest books are True Colour, Becoming a Haiku Poet, and Fire in the Treetops. He recently completed a two-year term as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he also curates two poetry readings. His own poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in at least twenty-one languages. Michael's personal website, devoted mostly to haiku, is www.graceguts.com, and you can visit the NaHaiWriMo website at www.nahaiwrimo.com.

This CD Special is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 17th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Inuyama Festival, later on. For now ... be inspired and share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with us all. Have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #172 Michael Dylan Welch's 2nd Tulip festival

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

How do you like this anniversary month until now? I am really excited about all the wonderful prompts I have chosen, but more than those prompts I am grateful that I may use haiku written by wonderful well known haiku poets.

Today's CD Special is another beautiful haiku by Michael Dylan Welch and it triggered me because of the first line "tulip festival", a pure Dutch (cliche) image and that's the reason why I choose this haiku for the second special by Michael Dylan Welch.

I have written a lot of haiku myself about tulips, so before I publish the haiku by Michael Dylan Welch I love to share a few haiku by myself:

First an acrostic haiku in which I have brought two world together by using the acrostichon "poetry" and the liaison "east" (more on this form HERE):

Perfect way
Of writing haiku
Eastern thoughts
a
s
Tulip bulbs
Redder than red
Year by year

© Chèvrefeuille

And another haiku, not an acrostic one, but just a haiku:

white blanket
spotted with colors
tulips bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

I wrote the above haiku impromptu, I had read several haiku on tulips and was anxious to share a new one, so this haiku was the result.

Credits: Tulip Festival

Ok ... back to our CD Special a haiku by Michael Dylan Welch about, as I told you already, tulips. His haiku triggered me to share the above haiku and here is the haiku by Michael:

tulip festival—
we talk about everything
except the flowers

© Michael Dylan Welch

What a lovely haiku ... I can see the image in front of me and how strong the scene is. How sad to talk about tulips without seeing their beauty, but I can emphatize with that. As I look at myself I love to talk and sometimes while talking I am losing contact with my surroundings and yes ... than I don't see the tulips or cherry blossoms. I think that's human ...

The goal of the CD-Specials is to write/compose an all new haiku inspired on the given haiku by our featured haiku poet and trying to stay close to the emotion, sphere and spirit of the haiku given. Here is my haiku, an oldie from my archives:

on wooden shoes
the farmer plows his fields
a sea of tulips

© Chèvrefeuille

To conclude this CD Special I have another haiku from my archives:

reach for the sun -
tulips burst through the earth
colorful rainbow

© Chèvrefeuille

This CD-Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Cherry Blossom viewing, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #170 Michael Dylan Welch's 1st roar of the midway

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is my pleasure that I can introduce our first featured haiku poet for this festive month in which we celebrate the third anniversary of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Our first featured haiku poet is the well known haiku poet Michael Dylan Welch. He has written wonderful haiku and he emailed me a list of haiku which I can/may use this month. Let me tell you first a little bit about him.

Michael Dylan Welch has been writing haiku since 1976, when he first learned about the genre in a high school English class. He joined the Haiku Society of America in 1988, and has been an officer of the society numerous times. Michael cofounded the Haiku North America conference in 1991, and the American Haiku Archives in 1996. He also founded the Tanka Society of America in 2000 (serving as its president for five years), and National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) in 2010. Michael's latest books are True Colour, Becoming a Haiku Poet, and Fire in the Treetops. He recently completed a two-year term as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he also curates two poetry readings. His own poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in at least twenty-one languages. Michael's personal website, devoted mostly to haiku, is www.graceguts.com, and you can visit the NaHaiWriMo website at www.nahaiwrimo.com.

Michael Dylan Welch

For this episode of our CD Special I have chosen one of my favorite haiku written/composed by Michael.

roar of the midway—
the toddler's balloon
rises in moonlight

© Michael Dylan Welch

In this haiku the scene was touching me, of course triggered by "the toddler's balloon", because the image I saw immediately in front of me ... my youngest grandson in tears because of loosing his balloon.

What I like further in this haiku is the use of the contrast between "roar of the midway" and "rises in the moonlight" (loud and quiet). A really nice haiku in my opinion.

Credits: Balloons in the sky

As you all know the goal of the CD Special is to write/compose an all new haiku (or tanka) inspired on the given haiku and trying to catch the spirit of the haiku poet. For sure not an easy task, but I think I succeeded.

fragile dewdrops
glisten in the light of the rising sun -
a rooster crows

© Chèvrefeuille
 

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, Wakakusa Yamayaki, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Extra #33 changes according the e-books

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have "cleaned-up" our homepage. As you can see I have removed the e-books to the Library, but not the e-books by Jane Reichhold. For her e-books I have made a new page especially for her. You can find that page HERE.

I also have added two links by Michael Dylan Welch to two of his websites. He asked me to do that for him and of course I am willing to do that.

Dolores has given me the opportunity to make a first concept for our T-Shirt which her daughter will look at and will make a design of. I am looking forward to that new project.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille