Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #81 Poetry Archive (5) ... loneliness or emptiness

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's weekend again ... so time for a new weekend meditation, our special CDHK feature for the weekend to meditate and contemplate about a theme. This weekend I have chosen for a new episode of our Poetry Archive feature. This feature is about your archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other form of Japanese poetry from your archive and share it with us all. Tell us why you have chosen for that poem from your archive and create a new poem inspired on your choice. This time I have another wonderful theme ... loneliness or emptiness ...

In an earlier post this month I told you all that I needed a week off. That week is now upcoming. I will not post new episodes this week, but of course I will give you a new weekend meditation at the end of this "free off-week". It gives me time to relax and it will give you the chance to relax too and inhale new energy.

Okay ... back to our weekend meditation ... Poetry Archive ... Loneliness or Emptiness ...

Here is a haiku from my archive(s) themed "loneliness" and one themed "emptiness":

in front of the fireplace
an empty bottle and broken wine glasses 
after the quarrel

an empty bowl
but in it is the spirit of emptiness -
the spring breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

Both haiku were responses on earlier posts here at CDHK. I like them both, but that second one I see as one of my masterpieces. It's a deep religious, spiritual, experience ... inspired on a "koan".

Loneliness

And here is a new one created from both of the haiku above, say a "fusion-ku":

smoldering fireplace
the sweet perfume of burned herbs
loneliness grabs my throat

© Chèvrefeuille

Have a wonderful weekend and a great week.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 28th at noon (CEST). Have an awesome weekend!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #79 Poetry Archive (4) rain

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at CDHK. This weekend I love to challenge you again to dive into your Poetry Archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetryform themed "rain" from your archive and share it with us all.
Maybe that poem has a special meaning for you and I love to hear that too ofcourse. After sharing your poem from your archive create a new poem inspired on your choice poem.

Ofcourse I also took a dive into my archives and I ran into a few rain haiku:

the moon hides
behind clouds while witches dance
begging for rain

ah! that coolness
raindrops on my naked body
hot Summer day

© Chèvrefeuille

The above haiku I composed several years ago. We had a heatwave here in The Netherlands and we celebrated our holiday in our mobile home somewhere in our country. It was really hot and I was reading a novel by Paulo Coelho titled Brida. Brida is about a girl who is searching for a mistress or master to teach her about witchcraft. I created that first haiku inspired on Brida.
The second haiku created at the end of the heatwave ... finally it started to rain, but it was still warm, so I decided to go outside totally naked to feel the rain on my skin. It felt wonderful, but ofcourse after a while the coolness of the rain faded ... but that hot Summer Day I can still remember.

Dancing In The Rain (Leonid Afremov)

Well ... I have to create an all new haiku ... so here is my new haiku themed "rain":

dancing around the fire
after a hot summer day -
expecting rain 

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as strong as I had hoped, but I like the painted scene in this one.

Now it is up to you. Take your time, you have the whole weekend to meditate and contemplate on the theme before you submit your poetry.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday April 7th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 14th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #75 Poetry Archive (2) Honeysuckle

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday March 10th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation. After a busy day it's time to relax and that's were our weekends are for. This weekend I love to challenge you again to dive into your archive. This new feature is titled "Poetry Archive" and I think you all know what this feature is about? Yes ... that's correct ... I invite you to dive into your poetry archive and share haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form that mean a lot to you. Please share with us why you did made the choice and try to create a new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on the poem you have chosen.

For this weekend I also dived into my archive(s) and I found a wonderful haiku themed "honeysuckle", as you can read in the title of this episode. Of course I have chosen this theme because I love to share a "honeysuckle-haiku".
As you know I use the haigo (pseudonym) Chèvrefeuille which is French for Honeysuckle. It's a wonderful plant, bush, that climbs towards fenches and houses and the flowers have the most sweet perfume. Of course Honeysuckle has also a deeper meaning. I have chosen a haiku in which you can find that deeper meaning.

my dreams wander
along the path of my life ...
Honeysuckle blooms

© Chèvrefeuille (2015)

And as you maybe remember the other goal is to create an all new haiku inspired on the haiku of your "archive-choice". So here is my new haiku inspired on this haiku.

in the twilight
dreams whirl through my mind
Honeysuckle perfume

© Chèvrefeuille (2019)

Well ... I hope you will find your own wonderful haiku in your archive. Ofcourse there is no need to choose a Honeysuckle haiku ... but if you have a nice Honeysuckle haiku feel free to use it.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday March 10th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until Sunday March 17th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new regular episode later on. For now ... have a wonderful weekend full of inspiration.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #72 Introducing a new feature: Poetry Archive (1)

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday 17th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's weekend again and that means time for a new weekend meditation. I have given it a thought and I decided to create a new feature for you all. No themes or prompts ... just your own free will, your own free choice for your poetry.

This new feature I have titled "Poetry Archive" and I think you all know what this new feature is about? Yes ... that's correct ... I invite you to dive into your poetry archive and share haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form that mean a lot to you. Please share with us why you did made the choice and try to create a new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on the poem you have chosen.

Poetry Archive (credits for this image I have used)

In our daily episodes I use often haiku (sometimes tanka) taken from my archive just because I love them and I don't have enough inspiration to create new ones. So I think you all will have sometimes a period of less inspiration ... and maybe you even have shared poetry from your archive.

For this new feature "Poetry Archive" I challenge you to pick a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form from your "Poetry Archive" and share it, together with the background on your choice, with us all and create a new one inspired on your own.

Of course I have chosen a haiku from my archive. It's a haiku that I love very much and I think you will know it too.

Here is my choice from my archive:

This one I wrote several years ago and I used it a few times here at our wonderful Kai. It was inspired on one of the haiku by Matsuo Basho, my sensei. With this haiku I gave tribute to him, honoring him as my sensei. So this haiku is very dear to me.

ancient warriors ghosts
mists over the foreign highlands -
waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Ancient Warrior's Ghost (image found on Pinterest)

And here is a new haiku inspired on this haiku from my archive:

entering the dreamworld
I find myself on an ancient battlefield
red poppies bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think you will need the weekend as much as I do, and I hope you all will have a wonderful weekend.

This weekend meditation "Poetry Archive" is open for your submissions next Sunday February 17th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 24th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new regular episode later on. For now .... have fun!