Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #111 Troiku ... New Beginnings ... Lotus starts to bloom

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation, our special feature for every weekend. My excuses that I am a bit late with publishing this weekend meditation, but ... well you all know the circumstances I have to deal with at the moment.

For this weekend meditation I have chosen a wonderful haiku to work with and create a Troiku with. More on Troiku you can find above in the menu.

Lotus

Here is the haiku to work with, a haiku chosen from our archives themed New Beginnings:

in deep prayer
eyes closed in devotion -
Lotus starts to bloom

A beautiful haiku to workj with I think. Have a great weekend!

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday, January 12th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until January 19th at noon (CEST). Have fun!

PS. If you like Tanka than you can also visit Tanka Splendor, that special website on Tanka. I have published a new Tanka Splendor episode there.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #100 Crossroads ... Indian Summer

Season Logo CDHK Weekend Meditation

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday September 1st at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first weekend meditation of Autumn 2019. As you all know next Sunday starts the meteorological autumn, so time for a new logo for this special feature. On the above image you can see the holy mountain "Fuji no Yama" in an autumn setting.

This weekend I love to challenge you to create a Troiku with your "fusion-haiku" created from two given haiku themed "Indian Summer".

Here are the two haiku to use for your "fusion-ku" and the Troiku created with it:

after a warm day
a thin layer of fresh fallen snow
covers the garden

Indian Summer
inbetween seasons
roses bloom again

© Chèvrefeuille

Indian Summer

A nice weekend meditation I think. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and I am looking forward to all your wonderful submissions.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday September 1st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until September 8th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

Carpe Diem #1719 Daisies ... Troiku challenge

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are busy with creating a bouquet of field flowers here at CDHK. Today I have another wonderful prompt for you and I think a nice challenge to work with. Today I have chosen "daisies" as our prompt and I love to challenge you to create a Troiku with a given haiku.

Here is the haiu to create your Troiku with, it's taken from my personal weblog on haiku and I wrote it back in 2012 for a weekly theme weblog titled "Haiku Heights":

around the mansion
daisies standing strong together
after the storm

© Chèvrefeuille (2012)

daisies standing strong together

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 13th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... enjoy the daisies in your neighborhood.

More about Troiku you can find above in the menu.

Carpe Diem #1711 flowers (modern kigo) - Troiku

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a delayed episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. My excuses for being this late, but today it was to hot to create a new episode. Another weather record has been broken here in The Netherlands. Today it was almost 41 degrees Celsius and that's hot for our Dutch people. It is still hot right now (23:00 hr) almost 30 degrees Celsius and I am sweating as I have never done before.

Today I have chosen a modern kigo from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", from the section Summer, subsection plants ... today our theme is flowers. I have a nice haiku for you created by Jane and the task is to create a Troiku with it. (More on Troiku above in the menu). Here is the haiku to use for your Troiku:

depth of a flower
flying away with the bee
some mystery

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Summer Flowers (image found on Pinterest)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 1st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... enjoy the beauty of summer flowers.

Carpe Diem #1709 shadow (Crossroads-Troiku)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. This month we have all prompts about "Summer Love". I love summer, but at the moment I "hate" summer because here in The Netherlands we have a heatwave. It's more than 30 degrees Celsius and later this week we will have temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius. For us dutch people this is really to hot ... but we have to deal with it. That's why my wife and I are always seeking for shadow to cool down. That brings me to the prompt for today "shadow".

Today I love to challenge you to create a Troiku with a so called "fusion-haiku", that new haiku created from two given haiku ... a crossroads episode this will be. Here are the two haiku to work with:

blue autumn skies
folded into mountains
purple shadow

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

such a hot day
my shadow needs to cool down
under the willow

© Kyoshi Takahama (1874-1958)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 30th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem #1705 enjoyment ... a modern summer kigo

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have a nice challenge for you. I will give you two haiku themed "enjoyment". You have to use the both haiku to create a new "fusion" haiku. With that new haiku you have to ceate a Troiku, that nice creative poetry form (more about Troiku above in the menu). So today's challenge is a "Crossroads" feature.

Here are the two haiku (both by Jane Reichhold) to work with:

outdoor shower
bathed in sun colors
of hot water

slipping into the pool
naked divides the night
sun-warmed waters

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from her modern saijiki "a dictionary of haiku")

The above music video is part of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons", this part is "Summer". Just for enjoyment.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 24th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1702 heat wave troiku

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend with a lot of inspiration, but most ... I hope you all have taken the time to relax like I did. This month our theme is "Summer Love", so all our prompts have to do with summer love ...

Today I have a nice theme for you ... "heat wave". Last year the Dutch summer was one long heat wave, but until today we have had a few hot days, but mostly our Dutch summer is normal for our standards ... maybe we will have a heat wave ... but well we cannot be sure of our Dutch weather.

Today's challenge is to create a Troiku (more on Troiku, you can fund above in the menu) starting from the following haiku:

after the summer heat
raindrops kissing my naked body
Ah! that coolness

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

raindrops kissing my naked body

And now ... it's up to you all my dear Haijin. Create your Troiku full of the heat of summer ... in all it's ways of existence ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired!

Carpe Diem #1691 Troiku Month (20) The Snow Of Yesterday

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Troiku Month here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Today I love to bring in a little bit of the zen buddhistic background of haiku. Not by giving you a lot of information, but just by a small piece of text I ran into today.

A tradition among Zen monks was to write a last haiku when they were about to pass out of this life to the next. This haiku by Gozan was written by him at the age of 71 in 1789.

the snow of yesterday
that fell like cherry blossoms
is water once again

© Gozan (1789)

It shows the circle of life a popular belief in Zen Buddhism. It also has the metaphorical meaning of transience as well with the cherry blossoms lasting a week, and snow melting almost immediately upon touching the ground.

Cherry Blossom With Mt. Fuji in the background

This kind of "death haiku" or "jisei" was and is still used by a lot of haiku poets around the world. For example ... Jane Reichhold wrote her last haiku short before she died, so even in modern times the jisei is used. Here is Jane's jisei:

with the moon

night too disappears

into the ocean

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

It's a nice tradition and I hope it will be that forever ... I hope that when I have left this world one of my haiku, my jisei, will be there forever on my tombstone or plate on my urn. Ofcourse I don't have written it yet, because I was planning to become at least 100 yrs (smiles).

Well ... I have given you two haiku. First I would ask you to only use the haiku by Gozan, but feel free to create a Troiku with both haiku. It's your choice ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 4th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1690 Troiku Month (19) butterfly

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode in our wonderful Troiku Month. This month it's amazing to see and read all your responses on our daily task to create Troiku. Every day I give you a haiku to work with, but not today. Today I will give you the "free hand" or in other words: I only give you a theme, Butterfly, to work with. Create a haiku themed Butterfly and create a Troiku with that haiku. So a kind of free-styling.

Butterfly (photo-credit: Charlie Neibergall)

I hope you all will appreciate this episode of "free-styling".

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 3rd at noon (CEST). I hope to publish our new episode later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1688 Troiku Month (17) Breathing Silence

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Troiku Month. Sorry for being late, but I had a busy evening at work, so my excuses for that.

I will give you only the haiku to work with and I hope you are all inspired to create a Troiku with it. Here is the haiku to work with:

alone on the beach
only the cries of seaguls -
breathing silence

© Chèvrefeuille

It's one of my submissions for the silence retreat back in 2016.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 1st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #90 Crossroads ... Summer Solstice (Troiku Hineri)

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday June 23rd at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create and share Japanese poetry. I hope you all enjoy this Troiku month and ofcourse I hope that your muses are active to inspire you.

This weekend I love to challenge you with a Crossroads episode. As you all know in the Crossroads feature I will give you two (sometimes more) haiku from which you have to create a so called "fusion-haiku". That "fusion-haiku" you have to use to create a Troiku with. This weekend I love to challenge you a little bit more.

This weekend you have to create a Troiku Hineri. What does that mean? Well .. as you all know a Troiku starts with a "source-haiku" from which you have to create three new haiku using the separated three lines as the first line of the new haiku. You created than three new haiku. In a Troiku Hineri you are repeating that same creating proces with the separated lines of your three new haiku. Doing that you create a total of nine new haiku (in total a Troiku Hineri gives you 12 new haiku).

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (UK)

Today (June 21st) on the Northern hemisphere Summer has started, so for this weekend meditation "Crossroads" I have chosen Summer Solstice as theme. Here are the haiku to work with, one by a classical haiku poet and one by a modern haiku poet:

this short night -
from a shallow well I scoop
a persimmon flower

© Yosa Buson (1716-1784)

solstice splits
between the peach halves
a red stone sun

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Two wonderful haiku I think. It gives you the opportunity to create a "fusion-haiku", a symbiosis, between ancient - and modern times.

Enjoy your weekend ... This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday June 23rd at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 30th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful sunny weekend full of inspiration, but also time to relax ...

Carpe Diem #1686 Troiku Month (15) Nightingale

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our beautiful Troiku month. This month is running towards its end, but we have still 10 days to go. Tomorrow Summer will start and I hope it will be a wonderful Summer, but I hope it will not be as hot as last year. The Netherlands suffered than from a very hot summer with tropical temperatures. Well we will see.

Today I have a nice haiku by Chiyo-Ni, one of the most famous classical haiku poetesses we know. She is renown by that wonderful haiku about the Morning Glory, but that's not the haiku I have chosen.

The haiku I have chosen to challenge you with is a beauty too and she wrote it in honor of Matsuo Basho, who she saw as her teacher, her master. She wrote this on a haiga with a portrait of Basho and it is a real beauty, but maybe it will not be easy to create a Troiku with.

to listen,
fine not to listen, fine too...
nightingale

© Chiyo-Ni (1703-1775)

Nightingale

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 27th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem #1685 Troiku Month (14) pink sakura blush

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our Troiku Month. This time I have chosen a haiku by one of our long time members, Kim Russell. She is a great haiku poetess and has shared a lot of beautiful pieces. The one I have chosen is in my opinion a masterpiece ... She created it back in 2017 and it was themed "cherry blossom". It was a submission for one of our kukai.

I think she will be honored that I use her haiku for today's Troiku challenge. As you all know I love haiku about cherry blossom I have written a lot in honor of their beauty. In our Carpe Diem Library you can find an anthology of my cherry blossom haiku titled "Fragile Beauty".

Here is the haiku by Kim to work with:

pink sakura blush 
spring’s kimono falls to earth
silk snatched by a breeze

© Kim R. Russell (2017)

Cherry Blossom

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 26th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem #1679 Troiku Month (8) spiderweb

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our new (belated) episode. My apologies for being this late with publishing, but I had a very busy evening shift, so I hadn't time to create this new episode. Today I have a modern haiku for you created by Calvin Olson in 2016. It's a nice haiku to work with I think.

As you all know this month it is Troiku month and the goal is to create a Troiku (more about Troiku you can find in the menu) with a given haiku. Today I love to challenge you with the following haiku:

Spiderweb anchored
To a tree, a bush, the ground
Centered spiral shines

© Calvin Olson (2016)

(* Calvin's weblog is worth a visit, he has written wonderful haiku)

Spiderweb

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 18th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1678 Troiku Month (7) Unlocked Fence

Dear Haijin, visitors and travekers,

Years ago I particiated in a haiku challenge that run for a month. Every day there was a new theme and one of those days the source for inspiration was a photo by Siva's Artwork. I will give you that photo later on but first I will give you the haiku to work with.

The haiku to share was part of a haiku suite of three haiku inspired on the above mentioned photo. The first haiku of that haiku suite I will give you to work with. The other two I will give you also, but the following haiku is the haiku to use:

unlocked fence
walking towards the countryside
finally free

© Chèvrefeuille

Here is the above mentioned photo:

Unlocked Fence

Before I give you the other two haiku which are part of the above mentioned haiku suite, I love to share my thoughts that brought me to that haiku suite.

[...] "What does this image tell me? What do I see? I see a fence, it's open. Is it a fence that closed a concentration camp or ... something else. Could this open fence stand for freedom of thought, freedom to live your own life. It looks like an opening to reach out to freedom. On the fence I see a Star of David, the Jewish symbol. In the distance I see a farm ... it looks like this was a concentration camp, the most of them were situated on the countryside. Further I see fallen leaves, brown colored so the season must be Autumn or early Winter. The sky is grey, it's a sad mood this image brings up to me, but also a happy mood, because the fence is open and freedom beckons." [...]

And as promised, here are the other two haiku of the haiku suite:

brown leaves
rustle through the corridor
David's Star rises

closing the garden

no one to disturb my thoughts -

Virginia Creeper

© Chèvrefeuille

Virginia Creeper

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 17th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem #1677 Troiku Month (6) Chasing A Fly

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new "regular" episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai where we are challenged to create Troiku this month. I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend, I had a very relaxed weekend and could (finally) find some time for myself. It has been a good decision several months ago to create our weekend meditations to have some time for myself. Thank you all for respecting that choice.

This week I love to start with a recently written haiku by myself. It has a small story ... last week we were "terrorized" by a fly, two days long he "terrorized" our home and on the 2nd day I decided to catch him in a kind of Zen way. Silently sitting and only follow it with my eyes. At first I thought that wouldn't work, but after a few hours the fly came to sit on my knee. It felt safe I think, but I caught it in my hands and let it go free outside in the garden.

Chasing A Fly

After that situation I wrote the following haiku/senryu:

chasing a fly
in silent meditation mode
eyes fixed

© Chèvrefeuille

A wonderful haiku/senryu to work with I think. Well ... have fun!

By the way did you know that the fly has a deeper meaning? I didn't know that, so I think a lot of you will not know that too. So let me give you the deeper meaning of the fly.

Much like the butterfly, fly symbolism it letting you know that quick and abrupt changes in your thoughts, emotions, and endeavors are afoot. Moreover, these rapid changes in all aspects of your life, are happening now. Therefore, you should be prepared to move quickly even in unfavorable and uncomfortable conditions. Similar to the rabbit, fly meaning can also signify that an exponentially growing source of abundance is available for you right now. Thus you must use your keen eyesight to see the way. In other words, never give up.

Alternatively, the fly symbolism could be reminding you that your persistence in reaching your goals will bear fruit sooner than later. Moreover, this will happen even if it means that you have to annoy others or be selfish for a while. In other words, you do have the ability to accomplish your goals.
(source: fly symbolism)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 16th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be inspired and have fun!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #67 Troiku Hineri: Apple Blossoms

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday January 13th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new edition of our CDHK Weekend Meditation. Earlier I promised you to follow the Pan American Highway in our weekend meditations this month, but I have decided to leave the Pan American Highway and give you another challenge for this weekend.

We have done this more often here at CDHK so here is your task for this weekend meditation: I will give you four haiku to work with. You may decide which haiku you want to use to create a "fusion-ku" with. Of course the "crossroads-idea" is not the only thing you have to do. I love to challenge you to create a Troiku Hineri with your "fusion-ku". What is a "Troiku Hineri"? Well let me try to explain that:

Logo Troiku Hineri

As you all know a Troiku starts with a haiku and the following three haiku start with the separated lines of the first haiku. In a "Troiku Hineri" (a Troiku with a twist) I challenge you to do the same with the three haiku following the "starter-haiku" of the Troiku. So you have to create nine new haiku with the separated lines of your first three haiku of the "regular Troiku". All together ... you have to create TWELVE new haiku and ofcourse your "fusion-ku". It's a tough challenge I think ... so take your time, meditate and contemplate on what you are going to share with us.

Here are the four haiku to work with, all haiku by Jane Reichhold and taken from her online Saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku", Spring section:

light carried in my arms
apple blossoms from a neighbor
on my doorstep

clusters talking
together in admiration
apple blossoms

sun transformed
into apple blossoms
the ground is level

the dam is broken
spring cascades into valleys
as apple blossoms

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Peacock, Apple Blossom by Bairei Kono (1899) (image found on Pinterest)

Well ... a nice, but difficult challenge for this weekend I think. But I am confident that you all can do it. Have a great weekend!

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday January 13th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until January 20th at noon (CET).

Renga With Basho #9 A Mark On The Wall

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is time again for a new episode of our special feature "Renga With Basho", our special feature in which you have the opportunity to create a renga together with the master, Matsuo Basho, one of the most famous and renown haiku poets on earth. I think that a lot of people will know his famous "frog pond" haiku, but he has written a lot of other wonderful haiku in his lifetime. Renga With Basho gives you haiku he has written and which are not renown by a greater public. So this is an opportunity to become familiair with other haiku of Basho.

The goal is to create a renga with the given haiku, the line-up your own choice, through adding your second stanzas of two lines wit approximately 14 syllables. I have made another nice choice (I think) of haiku by Basho taken from Jane Reichhold's "Basho, The Complete Haiku".

Here are the six (6) haiku to use in your own line up, of course I hope you will create a beautiful "closed chain of stanzas" by adding your stanzas and a wonderful last verse or closing verse the "ageku".

path of the sun
the hollyhock leans into
early summer rain

don't be like me
even though we're like the melon
split in two

wait awhile
cut the soy beans to the sound
of monks beating bowls

White Egret (image found on Pinterest; photo © Norman Johnson)

building a bridge
between snow-covered mountains
white egrets

plovers fly away
the evening grows later with
cold mountain winds

summer rain
where the poem card peeled off
a mark on the wall

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, taken from: Basho, the complete haiku)

A wonderful selection I would say, but if it's a selection to create a renga with I don't know, but maybe you can do it in a great way.

This episode of "Renga With Basho" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 1st at noon (CEST). Enjoy this "work-out" ... (smiles).

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #50 Rabindranath Tagore's "where shadow chases light"

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday September 16th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

For this weekend meditation I have chosen another wonderful poem by Tagore to work with, but this time I love to challenge you a little bit more.

At the start of this month I told you that every weekend meditation would be a "Carpe Diem Distillation" episode, in that special feature the goal is to create a haiku (this time only haiku) from a given so called "long poem". This weekend I have "sympathy" as the poem to work with, also a beautiful poem by Tagore.

There is one difference with the other two weekend meditations we have had this month. This time you have to create a Troiku with your distilled haiku. More about Troiku you can find above in the menu. It's a creative way of haiku-ing invented by your host.

Surreal Landscape With Giant Buddha (image found on Shutterstock)

And now to our new poem by Tagore,


This is my delight,

thus to wait and watch at the wayside

where shadow chases light

and the rain comes in the wake of the summer.

Messengers, with tidings from unknown skies,

greet me and speed along the road.

My heart is glad within,

and the breath of the passing breeze is sweet.

From dawn till dusk I sit here before my door,

and I know that of a sudden

the happy moment will arrive when I shall see.

In the meanwhile I smile and I sing all alone.

In the meanwhile the air is filling with the perfume of promise.

©️ Rabindranath Tagore

Well ... try to create a haiku (only haiku this time) from this poem by Tagore and than create a Troiku with your "distilled" haiku.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday September 16th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until September 23rd at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #43 Troiku Challenge: My Lucky Tea

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday July 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We have had a wonderful week here at CDHK and now we can take a rest ... it's time for a new weekend meditation. This weekend I have chosen for a Troiku Challenge. Maybe you can remember what that means. I will give you two haiku to work with. First you have to create a so called "fusion"-haiku and second ... with that "fusion"-haiku you have to create a Troiku. Troiku is a nice creative way of working with haiku that I invented back in 2012. More on Troiku you can find above in the menu.

For this Troiku Weekend-Meditation I have chosen two haiku by Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828), one of the five greatest haiku poets ever. His haiku are k niwn for the simple choice of words, but also for it's emotions. Issa had a tough life in which he had to deal with several very sad things. For example his children died on a very young age.

Mount Fuji (Japan, Honshu Island)

Here are the haiku to work with:

tonight's moon--
how many mountains resemble
the ones back home?

going outside
plum blossoms dive in...
my lucky tea

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. David G. Lanoue)

By the way "lucky tea" is the first cup of tea on New Year's Day.

Two beauties by Issa. I hope these will awaken your muse and will inspire you to create first a "fusion"-haiku and than a Troiku with your "fusion"-haiku. Enjoy your weekend.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday July 29th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until August 5th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new regular episode around that same time. For now .... have fun!