Carpe Diem #96, Ember (provided by Bjorn)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First of all ... my mom is at home and she will recover totally according to her doctor, but it will take a while. All is well with her ... and I am so blessed that she is home again with my dad and I am blessed with you all my dear friends on Carpe Diem. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

The last two days were about music and today our new prompt can be called music as well, only in an other way. Today our prompt is ember (or ash, coals, smoldering remains). I didn't know this word so I had to search for it's meaning and some synonyms of it to write my haiku for today.

Credits: Ember

Awesome photo ... can I use that one in my 'ember'- haiku? We will see. I have sought for a few examples of haiku written by the classical masters. This one by Buson for example:

uzumibi ya ari to wa miete haha no soba

Smouldering embers-
You would think that they're buried
Close to mother's side

Or this one, also by Buson:

uzumibiya tsuiniwa niyuru nabenomono

Buried embers--
In the end will cook
A one-pot dish

And another by Buson:

uzumibiya waga kakuregamo yukino naka

Buried embers--
My hidden house
Also in the snow.

And a last one written by Issa:

tabako no hi te ni uchinuite yusuzumi

knocking my pipe's ember
into my hand --
evening cool

Aren't they wonderful? I love to write haiku, but it is not always an easy task. With this prompt I had some difficulties but I succeeded.

smoldering remains
are the only witnesses -
second day of the year


light of ember
mysterious shadows on the wall -
a cool summer night

black wipes of dust
the face of the old coal miner

toothless smile

delicious dinner

delicious dinner
roasted red and yellow peppers
the light of ember



This prompt will stay on 'till January 16th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post 'crocus' our new prompt later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Have fun, enjoy the read and the ride to a nice and wonderfully crafted haiku to share with us all.



Carpe Diem #95, Blues

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Yesterday we had Jazz for prompt and today it's Blues another nice kind of music. I love Blues and especially the music of Gary Moore. I fell in love with Blues when I heard his song 'Still got the Blues'.

Really this is my kind of music, those guitars ... wow ... and the voice of Gary Moore a bit raw. Blues? What kind of music is it?

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the 'Deep South' of the United States around the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is charaterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common.
The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung of played flattened or gradually bent (minor 3rd to major 3rd) in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound.



Twelve bar boogie woogie blues in C

I have found a few haiku on Blues on the WWW. The next three haiku are written by Russ Baleson and are part of a weblog item titled 'I've Got Dem Haiku Blues Without You'.

what are you doing
take your tongue out of my mouth
this kiss is good-bye

i’m playing the blues
touching deep that special place
the depths of my soul

alone in my bed
I’m feeling low down and blue
where the hell are you

(c) Russ Baleson

And I had to try it myself also ... I hope I succeeded on this prompt ... well I will see ...

blue notes
climbing to the blue sky
still got the blues

still got the blues
deep down inside of my guts
blue notes

Awesome isn't it? That deep feeling of the blues ...

This prompt will stay on 'til January 15th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode of Carpe Diem later on today around 10.00 PM (CET) ... that will be: Ember (provided by Bjorn Brudberg of Bjorn Brudbergs Writings )