Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #40 Sparkling Stars ... "the autumn full moon"

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday July 8th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation, our special feature for the weekend. The weekend before last weekend I introduced to you a new feature "Along Memory Lane A Trip Back In Time" in which I will take you back into the rich history of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. This weekend I love to go back in time to a special feature in which I shared masterpieces written by the classic and non-classic haiku poets ... Sparkling Stars ... In that feature I not only shared haiku by classical and non-classical haiku poets, but all those haiku were in a way my favorite.

Sparkling Stars is a bit similar with the CD-Specials, but there is a little difference. I will introduce a 'masterpiece' of one of the classic haiku-poets (well-known and less-known) to inspire you to write a new haiku. Here is the difference with the CD-Specials. Those new haiku, inspired on the 'masterpiece', have to follow the classical rules of haiku:

1. 5-7-5 syllables
2. a kigo (or seasonword)
3. a kireji (or cutting word, in Western languages mostly interpunction)
4. a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water
5. a deeper meaning (could be Zen-Buddhistic or other spiritual or religious thought)
6. and the first and the third line are interchangeable.

For this weekend meditation "along memory lane, a trip back in time" I have chosen one of the haiku I used in this feature earlier here at CDHK ... I even had the guts to reproduce the whole episode ... sorry for that. I like to take the easy way sometimes.

Sometimes I am an a melancholic mood, mostly after a busy day at work, than I have to go outside in the late evening to smell the perfume of the coming night, to look at the stars and if she, the moon, is there I look at her in pure adoration. I love her. Sometimes she stands there high in the sky in full regalia, sharing her sun-reflected light with me. Sometimes she looks a bit sad and ashamed than she hides her beautiful face behind a veil of clouds. She doesn't know that I love her and that I adore her beauty. Her beauty is the best as she hides behind a thin veil of clouds. Than she is surrounded with a beautiful halo which is so colorful and bright ... than she looks like a queen, a goddess ...
Not so long ago I had such a melancholic mood. I went outside and looked up to the dark sky ... there she was, my love, almost full and clothed with a gorgeous light orange gown ... "Wow", I thought. "You're looking great my love!"

the night deepens
darker and darker the sky
without the streetlights
the night sky looks like a light show
the full moon and thousands of stars

© Chèvrefeuille

Isn't it a wonderful tribute to her, the moon, whom I love so much? As I look at my loving wife ... than I see her everlasting beauty, than she, is my full moon.

Why such a long introduction? Well ... I will explain that. To the Japanese, ancient and modern, the moon of autumn is the most beautiful gift of Mother Nature. There are countless haiku written inspired on the beauty of the autumn moon.
As I look at my own haiku-archive I can almost say that at least one third of them is about the moon in all her occurring images.

Basho also has written a lot of haiku about the moon and for sure the most 'moon'-haiku are about the moon of autumn. The haiku which I have chosen for this episode of "Sparkling Stars" isn't the best haiku by Basho, but it needed this long introduction, because it tells you more about my love for the moon and the love for the moon by Basho.

The Way of Haiku requires not only a Franciscan poverty, but the concentration of all the energies of mind and body, a perpetual sinking of oneself into things. Basho tells us, and it is to be noted, we believe him:

meigetsu ya ike o megurite yo mo sugara

the autumn full moon:
all night long
I paced round the lake.

© Basho

All night gazing at the moon, and only this poor verse to show for it? But it must be remembered that Basho was a teacher. And thus we too, when we look at the moon, look at it with the eyes of Basho, those eyes that gazed at that moon and its reflection in the placid water of the lake.

Full Moon of July (photo © Alison Hale)

Call me a nutcase, a dreamer or a fool, but I think that I am like Basho, that we all are like Basho, because we all are gazing at the beauty of our planet. We all are in love with the beauty of Mother Nature ... and that makes us all moon-lovers.

tears of joy

spilled into the old pond -

the moon's reflection

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like the read and that it will inspire you to write an all new haiku about the moon maybe or about the beauty of Mother Nature. Have fun, be inspired and share your "sparkling star" with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday July 8th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until July 15th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #90 Back In Time "Let The Music Inspire You"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is Wednesday again and as you know Wednesday is Tokubetsudesu day here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. In the Tokubetsudesu episodes this month I will "revisit" several special features which I created for Carpe Diem, so we are going "back in time".

Back in summer 2014 I introduced a special feature titled "Let The Music Inspire You" and as the title already says ... the goal is to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on a piece of music.

This was the logo of "Let The Music Inspire You"

I remember that the introduction episode was about the beauty of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and there were three submissions. It seemed that this special feature wasn't a good choice or maybe to early in our existence. So ... who knows ... this Tokubetsudesu episode will bring back that feeling, maybe not.

The above video is the singer/instrumentalist/pianist Yanni with Felitsa (a song he wrote for his mom) and the created video is by Paky.D

I hope you do like this wonderful piece of music. And ... I hope it will inspire you to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 7th at noon (CET). I will try to post our next episode, a new quote to inspire you, later on.

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #86 Back In Time "Only The First Line"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Tokubetsudesu feature. Last month I started with "Tokubetsudesu, Back In Time" and as I told you all in the prompt-list for July (which you can find in the menu above) I love to prolong this "special" Tokubetsudesu feature.

So this month we are going "Back In Time" and this week I have a nice challenge for you all. Back in 2014 I had a nice special feature titled "Only The First Line". In that feature I gave you only the first line of the haiku or tanka you have to create. I will give you an example:

Say ... the first line to use is: "blooming ice flowers", than your haiku or tanka has to start with that line. Starting a haiku with "blooming ice flowers" can lead to for example this haiku:

blooming ice flowers
painted in this stone cold night
on the bedroom window

© Chèvrefeuille

Awesome challenge don't you think so too?

Logo of this special feature

Okay back to this week's Tokubetsudesu back in time episode. Here is the first line you have to use to create a new haiku or tanka. This line is extracted from a haiku written by myself.

"with bare feet"

And here is the haiku, inspired on a quote by Khalil Gibran, from which I extracted this first line:

with bare feet
dancing on Mother Earth's grounds
wind plays with my hair

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you do like this Tokubetsudesu back in time challenge. I am looking forward to your responses. Have fun!

This Tokubetsudesu episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until July 10th at noon (CET). Have fun! I will try to publish our new episode, willow, later on.

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #85 Back in time: Use that quote

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring a new episode of our Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu feature. Last week we traveled back in time and this week I love to do that again.

This week I love to challenge you with a quote. There was a special feature at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, titled "Use that Quote". As you will understand the goal is to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on a quote.

I love to challenge you with a quote by Lord Byron:

" There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where 

none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more." 

Quote by: Lord Byron 

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Here is my attempt to create a haiku inspired on this quote

wandering
all senses open
a forest walk

© Chèvrefeuille

This Tokubetsudesu episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 3rd at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, Portugal, later on. For now ... enjoy the challenge.