Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry forms like haiku and tanka. It’s a warmhearted family of haiku poets created by Chèvrefeuille, a Dutch haiku poet. Japanese poetry is the poetry of nature and it gives an impression of a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. ++ ALL WORKS PUBLISHED ARE COPYRIGHTED AND THE RIGHTS BELONG TO THE AUTHORS ++ !!! Anonymous comments will be seen as SPAM !!!
Welcome at a new episode in our Carpe Diem TRC month 2017. Yesterday we had a classical haiku poet, Kikaku, and today we have a modern haiku poet to inspire us. Today I have chosen for a "hokku" written by Adjei Agyei Baah, a very talented haiku poet from Ghana. Adjei invented the "Afriku", the haiku from Africa and is the initiator of several haiku events in Ghana and other parts of Africa. Last year his first haiku compilation "Afriku, haiku and senryu from Ghana" was published by Red Moon Press. "Afriku" is a wonderful compilation of beautiful haiku and senryu and for sure worth to read and re-read.
Today's haiku is not from this "Afriku" compilation, but one of his haiku responses on a prompt by CDHK.
ancient road… the trails of the masters absorbed in fallen leaves
As the "runner-up" of the CDHK kukai you win a special Tokubetsudesu episode and this week that's the purpose of this post to 'celebrate' the "runner-up" of the "time"-kukai. Maybe you can remember that we had a draw in this "time"-kukai, not only Celestine was "runner-up", I too was a "runner-up", but of course it is not possible to create a post only about me and that's why I will place Celestine of "Reading Pleasure" in the spotlight today.
Celestine is a long term participant in Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and she is a very gifted haiku poetess and family member of our haiku-loving family CDHK. Celestine writes wonderful haiku as you all could have read in the "time"-kukai:
midair
waltz
first snowflakes and the leaves
frozen in time
Recently Celestine published her first anthology "Haiku Rhapsodies" written under her pseudonym "Afua Peprah". I hope it will be a very successful antholgy. In the weeks before publishing I had the opportunity to read her concept (and later the final print) and I was in awe. Celestine writes really wonderful. A few examples:
sound of bamboo flute calming the savannah rushing streams
cockcrow the stirring of leaves heralding a new day
She even asked me to write a review as her "mentor" at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. I was honored, because I am just a guy who happens to have a haiku weblog to promote haiku as an art form. I will give you a highlight of my review:
[...] "With "Haiku Rhapsodies", Celestine has delivered a wonderful book full of gems. A few years
ago I met Celestine online at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, my daily haiku meme. Than
she was just a novice in haiku. During the years she improved her haiku writing
skills and I have seen her grow ... and now ... with this haiku anthology she
dives into the 'big world'.
With this
anthology she has reached a milestone ... I am glad and a bit proud that she
has made this anthology after several years of publishing and sharing her
beautiful haiku at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
As I read "Haiku Rhapsodies" I was overwhelmed by the beauty of her haiku and I love to
bring a few haiku in the spotlight:
empty
calabash
reflecting the fading sun
a beggar sits in gloom
This haiku
describes a scene, which is seen very often, but it's not the fading sun here
but the beggar who has the lead. It's a haiku in which I easily can recognize
the spirit of Basho (one of the four greatest haiku poets ever) ..." [...]
Celestine Nudanu (a.k.a. Afua Peprah)
Let me tell you a little bit more about Celestine or maybe ... this is what she says about herself at her weblog:
I am a
Ghanaian living in West Africa who loves books and reading, so much that I
would rather buy books than clothes.
I read mostly fiction, both contemporary and classic. I do love non-fiction
too, if I lay hands on any. I enjoy
world literature as well. I’m partial to
women writers and their works, especially African women writers.
I also read English and Theaters Arts at the University and majored in
Playwriting. I have a Masters in International Affairs, all from the University
of Ghana, Legon. I am a Senior Assistant Registrar, with the Institute of
Professional Studies. I am married with three boys.
I love to write and read and not necessarily in that order. My home is choked with books of all sizes,
both adult literature and children stuff as well.
I also have a passion for thrillers, mystery and any good suspense novel from
the West. I have read almost all of Sydney Sheldon, Dan Brown, Robert Ludlum,
Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Martina Cole and a few of David Baldacci. I do
love historical novels and romance. So, it goes without saying that I have read
Danielle Steel, Judith Gould and Judith Krantz.
I am also
fascinated with any novel that is based on the Jews and the Holocaust. So, I’ve
read almost all of Leon Uris.
So this is
me, a woman of diverse reading taste and talents.
cover Haiku Rhapsodies by Celestine Nudanu
As Celestine says above ... she is a woman with talents and this first published book "Haiku Rhapsodies" shows this very well.
To conclude this Tokubetsudesu episode about Celestine, a few other haiku written by her taken from her "Haiku Rhapsodies":
midday nap
a string of beads
her only cover
bursting
through the mist
silver rays kiss the leaves
ah, the dew, the dew
Congratulations Celestine with this wonderful "mile-stone" your first book published ... chapeau!
As you all know Celestine lives in Ghana and maybe you can remember that we have had a while ago a few special episodes about Africa and that we were introduced to what Adjei Agyei Baah calls "afriku".
So that's the challenge for this week's episode of Tokubetsudesu: Try to write an "afriku" in the same spirit as the ones I gave here from Celestine, our "runner-up" of the "time"- kukai. Have fun!
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 22nd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, the third CD-Special by our featured haiku poetess Sara McNulty, later on.
"My favorite haiku by ..." is a wonderful feature here at CDHK and I am glad to present to you an all new episode of this feature.
Recently we had Adjei Agyei Baah, a haiku poet from Ghana, as our featured haiku poet and I am still in contact with him. Not so long ago he emailed me a series of new haiku and I love to share a few of them here with you ... and I will tell you a little bit more about my favorite haiku written by Adjei.
one nature’s beauty observed in a single look peak of Kilimanjaro
Adjei has already shared beautiful haiku, or as he calls them, afriku, with us all at CDHK. I think that Adjei is a very talented haiku poet and I just had to bring him in here again.
Why is this one of my favorite haiku by Adjei? Well ... it's a magnificent scene as you look at the image of Kilimanjaro. This mountain is really beautiful with its peak covered with eternal snow rising above the green-yellow land of Africa. Adjei has caught that beauty in a great way ... it feels like a holy moment, here you can feel the greatness of the Creator.
Kilimanjaro,
the name itself is a mystery wreathed in clouds. It might mean Mountain of
Light, Mountain of Greatness or Mountain of Caravans. Or it might not. The
local people, the Wachagga, don't even have a name for the whole massif, only
Kipoo (now known as Kibo) for the familiar snowy peak that stands imperious,
overseer of the continent, the summit of Africa.
Kilimanjaro, by any name, is a metaphor for the compelling beauty of East
Africa. When you see it, you understand why. Not only is this the highest peak
on the African continent; it is also the tallest free-standing mountain in the
world, rising in breathtaking isolation from the surrounding coastal scrubland
– elevation around 900 meters – to an imperious 5,895 meters (19,336 feet).
How to catch the beauty of Kilimanjaro (or any other mountain) in a haiku? I really don't know. I have never seen it in real, but as I look at the images I am overwhelmed with emotions. Look at its beauty, its greatness ... it really is a Mountain of Light or as other sources call it Mountain of Greatness.
Adjei's haiku catches that beauty, that overwhelming greatness in a wonderful way ... it makes me speechless and humble. I am imagining standing at the foot of Kilimanjaro ... nailed to the ground, because of its mighty features ... I just have to make it to the peak to adore the beauty of Africa ...
overwhelmed tears rolling down my cheeks Africa seen from the sky
Awesome ... I can almost sense that moment ... standing on the peak of Kilimanjaro, it feels so real and I have never been there. Thanks to Adjei I can feel Africa, I can feel how magnificent the view is from the top of Kilimanjaro. It feels like Heaven ...
!! More haiku by Adjei Agyei Baah you can find at his weblog Afrikuland !!
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday September 3rd at noon (CET).
First ... my dad is doing well Next Monday he will be released from the hospital ... I am grateful that he survived his major heart attack. Thank you all for your thoughts, warm words and prayers.
Today we have our last CD Special of July. It was really a joy to introduce Adjei Agyei Baah here at CDHK and I am grateful that he would be our featured haiku poet this month. Thank you Adjei. I am glad that we had the opportunity to meet eachother trhough haiku. It feels great to have an African haiku poet here at CDHK.
Adjei has recently launched his own weblog Afrikuland it looks great and I have complimented him with his weblog. His weblog is certainly worth a visit.
The following haiku he emailed me before the launch of his weblog, I know for sure that he also will publish them at his own weblog, but of course I have to "fill" this CD Special.
amenbou (water strider)
slowly
unseating the pond skater
from his water throne
harmattan winds
in his
world alone
a water strider resting
on his shadow bed
Origami frog (Utabukuro)
origami
frog
plead the kids to find your voice
when the night come
origami
frog
frozen in its trail
no jump over the moon
On Strawberry
planting
kisses
of strawberry breath
summer waves
filling her
dimples
with strawberries
summer camp
two flavors
on our wild romance
vanilla & strawberry
Jasmine
Jasmine
P-l-e-e-e-e-a-s-e
just be mine
Midsummer
midsummer
blues–
the wild memories of
a skirt-chaser
Adjei wrote a wonderful Soliloquy No Renga for our last Tokubetsudesu episode. I think he has done a great job on it and I am glad to share it here with you ...
Soliloquy No Renga Challenge
Hokku:
Ah! those
cherry blossoms
their beauty amazes me again -
finally spring is here
visitors
bask in fragrance
of white confetti showers
birds chirp
in frenzy
as hearty chat fills benches
Cupid’s arrow flies by
busy hands
penning hokku
as cameras seize the moment
the leaden
skies add
background to the artist’s pen
no need for abstract
ah! cherry
blossoming blast–
come take a white carpet walk!
I hope you did like this CD-Special and that it will inspire you to write an all new haiku or tanka. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 28th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, tentoumushi or Lady bug, later on.
PS.: During lack of time I will not publish a new episode of our special feature "Utabukuro" and there will be also no "Time Glass" episode ... I hope to do them next week again. I hope you all will forgive me ...
First I love to thank Jen of Blog It Or Lose It for helping me out this weekend. I have enjoyed the spare time a lot and I am proud that Jen has created three wonderful posts this weekend ... Thank You Jen ... from the bottom of my heart ... for stepping in ...
It's my pleasure to bring a new CD Special by our featured haiku poet Adjei Aygei Baah from Ghana. He is co-founder of the Poetry Foundation Ghana and writes for their e-magazine "Kwaku Ananse". In this CD Special I love to share an article he wrote on "Afriku", haiku from Africa. Followed by a few haiku composed by him for our Haiku Kai. The Making of African Haiku (Afriku)
It’s a new dawn…a new day as Africa provides a voice in haiku by introducing a new haiku art dubbed Afriku that comes with much freshness and delight.Call it a subtle revolution or an awakening which seeks to rally all African poets around the globe to give this Japanese art a formal attention as a new way of telling the African story. What is Afriku? Afriku is a coinage, a merger of the two words “Africa” and “haiku” that captures the beautiful elements/moments in the African settings. This article is not meant to explain the aesthetics of haiku nor to revisit its crossroad of disagreement but rather meant to sensitize the world about Basho’s bug which has caught up with the continent. It is perhaps a high time to patent and popularize the new terminology “Afriku” before, as is always the case with our troubled continent, other nationalistic offshoots spring up and jostle for lexical recognition with Ghaiku/Ghaku/Ghanaku from Ghana, Keiku from Nairobi, Saiku from J'burg, Naiku from Nigeria etc. etc. Being the first born of this marriage, Afriku shall hereby be the polygamous father, while Ghaikus, Saikus, Naikus and the rest, if they accept his dowry, shall be mothers of the African Haiku and shall extend to embrace all other ‘sibling’ terminologies. "In fact, Africa has been quite late coming to the world of haiku, and then mainly through Japanese (and other) diplomats rather than through its indigenous poets” Jim Kacian once said. There might be myriad of factors to account for this, but in any case, it is heartwarming to see the haiku winds blowing over the face of our continent and hearing the voices of local poets emerging in with their own novel form and style.
Dear reader, you are free to share your thoughts as a commentary, suggestions and criticisms or any other means possible. Basho the grandmaster himself might have foreseen the spread and modification of the haiku art when he once said: “Many of my followers can write hokku (another term for haiku) as well as I can. Where I show who I really am is in linking haikai verses.”
As I was following a few of the links Adjei gave me when we came in contact with each other I ran into a wonderful haiga by him. I love to share that haiga here, just to "break" the long text of this episode. Adjei wrote the haiku and the drawing is by s'pray. (Source)
Adjei asked me to look at it with him, he had a few little changes and together we came to this above "final" version. Adjei's "fawn"-haiku came from the following original:
To close this Carpe Diem Special I have Adjei's response on our last Tokubetsudesu episode "full circle". He has given it his own interpretation. I love how he has created his "full circle" haiku series:
Heaven in search
for heaven’s door- a rainbow
an unseen doorway to heaven- rainbow
Cloud swallowing
every star on its pathway moving dragon cloud
Fountain fountain side
the laughter of kids encircle a peeing cupid
Desert finding shade
in our camel’s hump desert heat
Jazz café jazz night
the thin line between sax and sex
Duke Ellington surrounded
by maidens of daises duke on castle rock
Ancient Road
ancient road…
the trails of the masters absorbed in fallen leaves
This CD Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 22nd at noon (CET). I hope to publish our next episode, seika (midsummer), later on. For now .. have fun, be inspired and share your haiku or tanka with us all here at our Haiku Kai.
It's my
pleasure to present the third CD Special by Adjei Agyei Baah. As in his second
CD Special I will share his haiku inspired on our prompts, because of the fact
that he hasn't yet his own weblog. This episode I also use to introduce him a
little bit more to you. Here is his biography:
Adjei
Agyei-Baah is from Ghana and is the co-founder of Poetry Foundation Ghana. He
is a teacher of English language and also part-time lecturer at Institute of
Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Kumasi Campus. He
doubles as the co-editor of Poetry Ink Journal, a yearly poetry anthology in
Ghana. He is widely anthologized, both home and abroad.
He is a devotee of the Japanese poetry form haiku, and presently championing a
new haiku breed dubbed “Afriku” which focus on the African setting and draw on
extensively on African images and symbols. He was motivated to explore haiku three years ago by the works of his fellow
African poets like Nana Fredua-Agyemang (Ghana), and Prince K. Mensah (Ghana)
and Emmanuel-Abdalmasih Samson (Nigeria) and after pursued works of the haiku
masters like Basho, Buson, Shiki, Issa etc for enlightenment and direction.
Adjei has one poetry (Embers of Fireflies) and two haiku collections awaiting
publication.
He has written and published in international journals and e-zines such as
Shamrock, Frogpong, World Haiku Review and The Heron’s Nest.
In the
words of Alan Summer, the editor of With Words Magazine, Adjei is:
“A rising star, strong contender and extremely
relevant and important. A voice to watch, the name will become better known”.
As you have
read Adjei is already well known for his work as an haiku poet. I really was
surprised as I read this biography, because, before he contacted me through
email, I never had heard of him. Therefore I am so glad to bring his haiku to
your attention here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... and I am proud that I can and
may bring his haiku to the world, to our haiku family.
Here are his haiku submissions for last week's prompts:
Rainbow
rainbow:
the rain and his so-called bowl
little kids argued all day
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 16th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, a new Tokubetsudesu episode, later on. For now ... enjoy the read and be inspired.
We haven't yet a new winner of our "summertime" kukai, so I have another wonderful haiku poet from Ghana, Africa, for you this month as our featured haiku poet. His name is Adjei Agyei Baah and he is the co-founder of the Poetry Foundation Ghana. He has "invented" the (as he calls it) Afriku, the haiku from Africa.
Yesterday Adjei emailed me to ask me if I would publish his haiku (afriku) at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Of course I was immediately enthusiastic and we had a little chat. It's a great honor that I may use his haiku for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.
Here are his "stones"-haiku/afriku which he would like to share here at CDHK:
shoreline pebbles... a reminder of how far we have come
preparing daddy's delicacy- taking stones out of gizzard
I think Adjei is a very gifted haiku poet. This month I will tell you all more about him in our CD-Specials.
To read more about his afriku please visit the website of the Poetry Foundation Ghana. (By clicking HERE you can read his article about afriku)
This CD-Special is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 4th at noon (CET). I am looking forward to your haiku inspired on the above haiku/afriku by Adjei.
