Carpe Diem Theme Week #2 Color Your Life: Green

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our fantastic CDHK Theme Week about the colors of the rainbow. I have another nice episode for you all, but I have taken the easy way this time. At the start of CDHK I have done a week about the colors of the rainbow and because of the events here at CDHK and in the world (Belgium) I decided to re-produce the "old" episode on "green" here again with you.

Isn't it a great rainbow-week? I love to write all those colorful posts and I shall try to do that today again with green the fourth color of that graceful colored bow ... set as a gift to us by God. It's His promise to the world that He will never leave us alone ... it's a token of His Love.

Green is the color that belongs to the 4th chakra Anahata (at the center of the chest also called Heart Chakra). It's stimulating healing and makes self-love stronger and with that the love for others. As I already mentioned in my 'Red'-post Green is the spiritual color for love. Green is aligned with Venus and the Moon and has effect on our ability to share unconditional love and compassion. Wow! What a strong color!

unconditional love

shared with the world
green heart beats

© Chèvrefeuille

Did you know that there are green flowers? I only know one kind of succulent with green flowers. I don't know the name, but I have it in my garden at the front of my house.

almost invisible

between colored leaves
succulent's flowers

the color of the heart
green and not red as ever
ah! what a shock

© Chèvrefeuille

Green the color of love, the color of the heart. Let the green color sent you unconditional love her strong energy.

Here are a few other haiku inspired on the color green which I extracted from my archives:

touching the spikes
of green barley covered with raindrops -
refreshing tears

on the green paddy
no more rice planting songs -
just rustling of rice

late at night
picking young greens in the kitchen garden -
the almost full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

And to conclude this episode of our 2nd Theme Week I love to share a so called “rengay” (invented by Garry Gay) which I wrote together with my sensei Basho inspired on a beautiful “hokku” by him. (The hokku used is translated by myself)

breathtaking
sprouting green leaves
in the sunlight

sunbeams in the mirror
her smile even brighter

in the mirror
a man in the autumn of his life
his hair turned gray

gray misty morning
cows legs in the meadow
crowing of a cock

colorful field of flowers
finally exposed to the sun

breathtaking
colors sparkling in dewdrops
just one heartbeat

© Chèvrefeuille

It has become a nice episode for our Theme Week I would say and I hope it will inspire you to write haiku, tanka or another Japanese poetry form. Have fun!

This Theme Week episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until March 24th 7.00 PM (CET). I am looking forward to your responses.

Carpe Diem #280, The Conversation

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day in haiku paradise Carpe Diem another day for wonderful music written by Karunesh our featured New Age World Fusion Musician of this month. Today I had a busy day I am preparing our prompt-list for our first anniversary next October and I have laid contact with one of the most famous modern haiku-poets (and photographer) of our time. I have contacted Garry Gay and have asked him permission to use his haiku for our anniversary month next October ... he has granted me his permission to use his haiku. I am excited. In our News-section you can find his respons on my request. Garry Gay is a wellknown haiku-poet and he has developed the Rengay a specific form of Renga. I will write soon a Carpe Diem Extra episode about this wonderful new modern form of Renga, Garry has also given his permission to do that and he was honored as I am honored with his permission. So our first anniversary will be one long month of festivities. I am looking forward ... and I hope you all will too.

Credits: Garry Gay, our featured haiku-poet for October

OK back to our episode of today. Today I love to share The Conversation from the Album Nirvana Café (2002). What is conversation? Do we have a conversation here? I think everyone of us will know what a conversation is, talking with eachother and really listen to eachother. In some way this is what we are doing here at Carpe Diem.
I start a conversation with our daily posts and you all, my dear haijin, visitors and travelers, join in with your wonderful haiku. Together we have a conversation through haiku. Maybe that's the goal of haiku writing and sharing, but it could easily be the goal of a Tan Renga, a Rengay or Kasen Renga. Our haiku community is always in conversation and together we share haiku .. so Carpe Diem is a kind of collaborative writing ... I like that thought.

This video was made by Digital1958 and I think he/she has made a wonderful video with the music by Karunesh ... so lean back, enjoy the video, listen to the music, become one with it and let your inspiration flow ..

all alone
surrounded by Mother Nature
I say my prayers

I say my prayers
high above the lost village
no more talking

no more talking
not in tune with the world
all alone

I think I have chosen a bit sad/dark tone for this cascading haiku, because I feel like that ... sometimes we have nothing to talk about, there's no conversation possible and ... well that can also be a relief ... just me and Mother Nature, me and the silence, me and the breeze, me and the waves, me and the scream of seagulls ... that also is in a way a conversation ... well ... I am just me and sometimes I need the silence, to be alone and say my prayers ...

I hope you enjoyed this post and the wonderful music by Karunesh and that it inspired you to write you haiku and share it with us all here on Carpe Diem, the place to be if you like writing and sharing haiku with the world.
This prompt will stay on 'till August 26th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will take you again on a trip to India with Punjab later on today around 7.00 PM (CET). !! The Conversation is open for your submissions at 7.00 PM (CET) !!