Carpe Diem #1790 & #1791 (double episode)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of a new month of CDHK. As I told you in an earlier post, a preview, December is also about "Never Change A Winning Team" ... so it's all about haiku, still my first love, this month too.

During circumstances I hadn't the opportunity to publish earlier, so today I have a double episode. Every episode has its own title and linking widget.

Ofcourse this month I will do, as is tradiotnal at CDHK, our special feature "Seven Days Before Christmas".

A Lovely Sunset (photo © Hernan Pauccara)

#1790 A Lovely Sunset

For this episode I love to challenge you to "revise" a haiku. That haiku is one by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the haiku-poet that I see as my master:

in the twilight rain
these brilliant-hued hibiscus -
a lovely sunset.

© Basho

A wonderful haiku by the master.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 8th at noon (CET). Have fun!




#1791 Soliloquy No Renga

The second episode I love to challenge you with is a Soliloquy No Renga, or a solo-renga. I will give you a haiku that you have to use as the starting verse (hokku) of your Soliloquy No Renga. For this kind of Renga you have to create at least a renga with six stanza and a maximum of twelve stanza. Your closing verse (ageku) has to close the "chain".

Bare Branches (photo© Floraandfauna(2)

Here is your starting verse (hokku):

I have chosen a haiku by Yozakura, the Unknown Haiku Poet, a beauty I think to work with.

bare branches
a painting against the blue sky
leaves under my feet

© Yozakura

With this haiku you have to start your Soliloquy No Renga.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions until December 9th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1789 The Winter Trees (Crossroads)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of November. In this month our theme was / is "Never Change A Winning Team" and that means that it all was about haiku, my first love. For this episode I have chosen a nice set of haiku.

Yosa Buson (source: wiki-art)

The task is to create a "fusion-ku" from the two given haiku and create a Troiku with it, so this episode is a "Crossroads" episode. Here are the two haiku to work with:

cutting into with the ax,
I was surprised at the scent.
the winter trees.

unfolding at the
hand of the glass polisher:
a camellia!

© Yosa Buson

Two wonderful haiku by one of the "big five" haiku poets.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 6th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Wednesday (4) crystal dewdrops (hineri / with a twist)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's Tan Renga Wednesday again, that nice weekly feature in which I ask you to create a Tan Renga with a given haiku. This week I love to challenge you a little bit more with a "Tan Renga Wednesday Hineri" episode, or a Tan Renga Wednesday with a twist.

I will give you the two-lined stanza and you have to create the haiku, the first three-lined stanza, to complete the Tan Renga.

Morning Glory

Here are the two lines of the 2nd stanza to work with:

pink morning glory in full bloom
covered with crystal dewdrops                       

© Chèvrefeuille

So now it is up to you to complete the Tan Renga by adding your three-lined first stanza.

This Tan Renga Wednesday Hineri is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 12th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... be ceative and enjoy this challenge.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #99 crossroads of summer

!!! Open for your submissions next Sunday August 25th at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our weekend meditation feature. This weekend I love to challnege you to create a Troiku with a haiku distilled from two given haiku ... so this is a Crossroads episode. I have chosen two haiku by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) from her online saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku", Summer section, subsection Plants.

The task is to create a fusion haiku from the given two haiku and create a Troiku with it (more on Troiku you can find above in the menu). Here are the two haiku to work with, both by Jane Reichhold:

buttercups
peeping through fog
opening to the sun

sunshine lights
on hibiscus leaves before their
own dark

© Jane Reichhold

Buttercups in Field

Two beautiful haiku by Jane, who is still missed dearly. Create your Troiku starting with the "fusion haiku" from the two given haiku in honor of Jane Reichhold, Queen of Haiku and Tanka.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday August 25th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until September 1st at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem #1726 Peony (troiku)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Our bouquet of wild flowers grows every day, but today I don't have chosen a real wild flower, but more suitable for your garden, but it can be used in bouquets, so I think today's summer flower fits really good in our bouquet of wild flowers.

Today I have chosen for the Peony, a wonderful flower that comes in a lot of varieties. The challenge for today is to create a haiku themed Peony and create a Troiku with it. (More on Troiku you can find above in the menu).

Peony

Well ... I think no need to say more. I am looking forward to your wonderful inspired Troiku. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until August 22nd at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on today.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #73 Renga With Basho ...

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday February 24th at 7:00 PM (CET) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

February is an awesome month it's wonderful to read all of your responses in our Tan Renga Challenge Month. This month it's all about Tan Renga, but this weekend meditation I have another nice way of creating Renga.

For this weekend I have chosen for a new "Renga With Basho ..." episode that special feature in which I give you the opportunity to create a Renga together with Basho. For this episode of "Renga With Basho ..." I have chosen six (6) beautiful haiku created by Basho. All the haiku I extracted from Jane Reichhold's "Basho, The Complete Haiku", so all the haiku are translated by Jane Reichhold.

Basho wrote around 1000 haiku during his lifetime and the haiku for this "Renga With Basho ..." he wrote in the last 10 years of his life. In these haiku you can see Basho's "Karumi" (or lightness) his Haiku Writing Technique. (More about Karumi HERE).

Here are the haiku I have chosen for you to work with. You can choose your own "line-up" and add your two-lined stanza to create the Renga With Basho. Try to create a "closed chain" by referring towards your "hokku" (starting verse) in your last stanza "ageku" (closing verse).

first frost
when mums start to feel chilly
I get a cotton waist warmer

moon and flowers
the stupidity pricked by a needle
entering the colder season

slowly spring
is making an appearance
moon and plum

Chinquapin flowers

crane and feathers
in a black robe
clouds of flowers

a traveler's heart
it also should look like
chinquapin flowers

moon past full
the beginning of a little more
darkness

(C) Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold. Extracted from "Basho, The Complete Haiku".

A wonderful series of haiku to work with I think. Have a great weekend!

This Weekend Meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday February 24th at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 2nd at noon (CET). Enjoy creating a Renga with the Master of All Times ... Matsuo Basho.