Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" #14,

!! I hope to post our regular episode later on today. I hope to have it created and online on time !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and it's time for a new (bi-weekly) episode of Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" in which I share haiku ("sparkling stars") of classical and non-classical haiku poets. This week I have a surprise for you all I think.
For this "Sparkling Stars" I have a wonderful haiku to share with you. This haiku is the winner of our first Sea Shell Game 2014.
It wasn't easy to find the winner of our Sea Shell Game and I love to tell you first how I have done this.

First I wrote all the entries (12 haiku) on pieces of paper, which I put into a little box. I shook the pieces for a while and took one after another from the box. The first haiku I placed against the second haiku pulled out of the box and so on. In that way I had six pairs of haiku.
I studied all pairs for a while and used the following points to make my choice:

1. Is there a kigo in the haiku?
2. Did the writer use a kireiji (cuttingword, mostly interpunction or a natural stop)?
3. Is there a deeper layer hidden in it?
4. The overall image.

I did the same after the first shift, which brought me six haiku in three pairs. In that second shift I again looked at the above mentioned points to make these six haiku back to three haiku.
The third shift was the most difficult, because I had to choose from three haiku.
In the last shift there were two haiku to choose from ... in this shift I looked again and again to the both haiku with the above points and finally I decided to make my choice ... which I talked about with a good friend of mine. A friend with no haiku experience, he had just to look at the both haiku and tell me which he liked the most. He chose the following haiku and I must say ... he had a very good taste ...

The winner of our first Sea Shell Game is ... drum roll ... Sara McNulty of Purple Pen In Portland and here is her winning haiku:

Ocean tide ebbs
Sand glistens with sea treasures
Lucent blue beach glass

© Sara McNulty

I think this haiku is a beauty and I think this haiku is a great winner of our first Sea Shell Game. I will thank you all for being part of this Sea Shell Game and maybe ... maybe ... next year we will have another Sea Shell Game ... you never know.

Congratulations Sara ... I will create a haiga from your haiku and will send it to you by e-mail.

Now ... back to this episode of "Sparkling Stars" ... you have to write an all new haiku (or tanka) inspired on the haiku by Sara McNulty, our Sea Shell Game winner. So be inspired and share your haiku (or tanka) with us all.

Here is my attempt to write an all new haiku inspired on the haiku by Sara.

walking along the beach
following the tracks of a hermit crab -
Ah! That salty air

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode of Carpe Diem "Sparkling Stars" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday December 11th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem's Sea Shell Game (Introduction)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to introduce an all new feature at our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. It's very different of our other features, but I think it can be real fun and learning. It is called Carpe Diem's Sea Shell Game ... and as the 'name' already says it's a game ... a game in which we will choose a winning haiku ...

Let me first tell you something about the history of The Sea Shell Game.
For centuries part of the training of Japanese children to be sensitive to beauty and the different levels of it was accomplished by a game. Even adults, in their lighter moments, will start a game with shells, or leaves or flowers. Perhaps you, too, have done the same process in order to find the best or loveliest in a collection.

From a pile of, let us say, stones one person draws two stones at random. The stones are compared and then judged to say, "This stone is lovelier than that one." The ‘’winners’’ go in one pile, the ‘’losers’’ in another until all the stones have been compared. Then the process is repeated with the “winners”, again and again, until one stone remains.

Credits: Seashell pair painted by DSisson

When poets would gather for poetry contests, often sponsored by the emperor, even in times before Japan's written history (764 AD), this same process of elimination was used. The prizes then were bolts of silk or, if a poem was really special, the emperor would give one of his possessions -- a musical instrument or his fan.
When Basho was a young teacher of renga (the linked poetry form) he felt that the first verse of a renga (then called a hokku) was so important that his students should be made aware of the difference between a “good” hokku and a great one. Basho would organize contests built on the old principles of comparing things. Thus, in 1672 he commissioned scribes to write down records of his judging comments to be saved and these he collected under his title of "The Sea Shell Game." This was the only book he published in his lifetime. Other books that he compiled or advised were all published by his patrons or students. Translations of "The Shell Game" give us a peek into what and how he taught.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

WHAT THE SHELL GAME IS AT CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

We are playing the Japanese Sea Shell Game in English. Poems which are called haiku are compared, commented on, and sorted out until one poem remains as “winner’’. Various persons who are active haiku writers will be invited to do the judging. (For this first edition of Carpe Diem's Sea Shell Game I will be your judge). You can only submit haiku written by yourself for the contest.
Your poem will be printed without your name but with a pen name if you so chose. These will be picked, two at a time, at random. The judge will display the poems, comment on each and choose one over the other. This process will continue until one haiku is left. This one will be declared winner, the author's name will be revealed and a prize awarded. A list of the winning haiku will be kept so that people who are new to the game can read the winning poems and authors' names. The judges' comments, as well as the poems discussed, will be archived in the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Archive. (Source: Aha-Poetry)

For this new CDHK feature I have made a new emailadress to which you can send your haiku which you want to be in this SeaShell Game. This first edition runs to October 15th. After that date I will try to be your judge and will pick a winner as is described above. You can email your haiku for the Sea Shell Game to:

carpediemseashellgame2014@gmail.com

I am looking forward to your submitted haiku for this Sea Shell Game.

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.