Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #87 Crossroads ...

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday June 2nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new weekend meditation here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Today (June 1st) Summer starts according to meteorology, so I have created a new logo for our weekend meditation. On the logo you see the renown Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji) at Kyoto Japan.

As you all know the weekend meditation is a way to meditate and contemplate about your Japanese poetry before publishing. This weekend I love to challenge you with a "Crossroads" episode. The goal is to create a new haiku inspired on two given haiku and create a Troiku with the newly created haiku. (More on Troiku above in the menu).

Deep Silence

Here are the two haiku to work with, both are created by myself:

reaching for the sun
lotus flowers bloom from the mud
old pond changes

deep silence
even deeper as the nightingale starts to sing
beautiful life

© Chèvrefeuille (2017)

Create your new haiku from or inspired on these two haiku and create a Troiku with your new haiku. Enjoy your weekend and this Crossroads challenge.

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday June 2nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until June 9th at noon (CEST). Have a wonderful weekend.

Carpe Diem Vision Quest Revived #1 day 3 Issa's silence

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What joy it was this revived Vision Quest. It was a joy to create it and a joy to read your responses. Today is the last day of our "revived" Carpe Diem Vision Quest. For this third day I have a nice haiku by Issa for you. I love the haiku written by Issa, they are beauties and sometimes written in a childlike way ... but isn't that what we need? That child inside has to come to life again, it makes us more open for the beauty of nature .... seeing nature for the first time like a child that sees (for example) snow for the very first time. That's what haiku needs I think, that's what "living in the moment" means. Everything we experience, notwithstanding how often we have experienced it, we experience for the the first time ... seeing it like a child.

Enjoy it like children

Be like a child again. Look at the world around you through the eyes of children and experience the beauty of it.

naku na mushi damatte ite mo ichi go nari

don't sing, insects!
observe a period
of silence

© Kobayashi Issa

Imagine the scene Issa describes ... would it be possible? Just a small moment without the song of insects, that deep silence ... that's a feeling .... everlasting.

laughter
resonates through the street
chestnuts

© Chèvrefeuille

Can you imagine the scene? Look at it like a child ... isn't that awesome?

This third (and last) day of our "revived" Carpe Diem Vision Quest is NOW OPEN for your submissions. You have to respond within 24 hours, because than you "learn" the essence of haiku (only haiku) ... that one moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water. Thank you for participating in this Vision Quest.

Carpe Diem Vision Quest revived #1 day 2 deep silence

!! only 24 hours to respond !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday I started Carpe Diem Vision Quest revived after several years and today I have a wonderful haiku by Basho to meditate and contemplate about ... reach out to the deep inner wisdom ... on a quest to find the deeper meaning.

Here is the haiku by Basho:

shizukasa ya iwa ni shimiiru semi no koe

deep silence
the shrill of cicadas
seeps into rocks

© Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694)

Maybe you can remember this haiku, because I used it in earlier posts here at CDHK. And here is a quote by Basho to help you to become inspired on your vision quest:

[...] "Haiku is a profound meditation on the power of poetry to express the inexpressible and convey the unspoken eloquence of all that is."[...]

hot summer night
through the open window
the sound of waves

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... find your path on this Vision Quest ... Try to create a new haiku (only haiku) inspired on this haiku by Basho and his quote. And remember ... you have to respond within 24 hours. I know that's very short, but it can help you to improve your "in the moment" skills.