On The Trail With Basho Encore 5 a falling sound

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies ... it's Thursday again and so it's time for an all new episode of our special feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore" in which I share haiku composed by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) for your inspiration. All the haiku used in this special feature are used with permission of Jane Reichhold, whom I am very grateful for giving me the opportunity to use her haiku.

This week's "Encore" haiku was written by Basho in spring 1666 short after the unexpected dead of his friend, Yoshitada. Basho was almost 22 years of age when he wrote this haiku. Jane says the following about this haiku:

[...] "What the Japanese call ume is most often translated as "plum" because of the Latin name Prunus mume, but the fruit more closely resembles the apricot. Because these fruits ripen during mid-June to mid-July, the rains of this time are called ume no ame ("plum rains"). Even ripe, the fruit is inedible until it has been preserved in a salty, sour liquid similar to olives". [...]

furu oto ya mimi mo su-naru ume no ame

a falling sound
that sours my ears
plum rain

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Credits: Japanese Plums

Here is my attempt to write a haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one I gave by Basho:

rain of summer
cherishes my naked body
after the heat

© Chèvrefeuille

Hm ... not a strong one, but I think it's in the spirit of Basho ... it's certainly, without a doubt in my spirit (smiles). Sorry ... that sounds a bit immodest.

This episode of "Encore" is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until next Thursday June 25th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem 758 day dreaming

Dear Haijin,visitors and travelers,

Do you sometimes day dream? I certainly do day dream on a regular bases. For example ... a few days ago I day dreamed how it will be to have a special CDHK-day to meet each other in real life. Through the Internet we are connected with each other almost every day. What a joy it would be to meet each other, but I know that will never happen, but  we can meet each other in another way. For example how would it be to once in a say quarter of a year speak each other through Skype or another way through a chat or podcast. These are just a few examples of my day dreams. Do you day fream?

Today our 'summertime' month is halfway and today our prompt is day dreaming. I don't think it's especially something you do in summer, but in a way I can understand why Jane has brought this into her saijiki 'A Dictionary of Haiku', which we use this month to explore modern kigo (seasonwords) for summer. In summer we live most of the time outside and we have, for sure, lazy days and moments in which we are day dreaming. E.g look at the clouds. sometimes they look like mysterious landscapes and than our mind goes on a 'flight'. We are adventurers who are discovering new countries, new forms of life and so on. 

mysterious landscapes

rise and unfold before my eyes

worlds of clouds

© Chèvrefeuille

Ah those mysterious and magical worlds unfolding before your eyes in blue sky speckled with clouds. Clouds like landscapes in which mountain-peeks reach for the sun. Fantasy worlds with strange rivers, trees and animals ... all fantastic images. Maybe this is not really day dreaming, but it certainly feels like that.

Credits: Day Dreaming (to inspire others)

In her saijiki Jane gives a few examples of haiku themed 'day dreming' . And here are a few of her example-haiku for this modern kigo:

as if alive

the surf rolls a log

on the beach

a trail

to the sea horizon

her vision

© Jane Reichhold

Two beauties as I may say so. Especially the 2nd haiku I like very much. That last 'her vision' is really awesome. It points directly to day dreaming and I like that scene which Jane paints with her words. It will not be easy to 'catch' day dreaming into an all new haiku therefore I have chosen to write my haiku in the 'baransu' style starting with the first line of the above haiku by myself.

mysterious landscapes

hidden behind the thin mist

a rooster crows

© Chèvrefeuille

Do you see my day dream? Isn't it wonderful?

Another one:

eyes wide open

my mind takes a flight with my imagination

a gathering of poets

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope this episode inspires you. Let the day dreaming begin and bring you the visions you dream of. Have fun!

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your inspired haiku with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem #757 desert

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have another nice modern summer kigo for you and maybe I have done that earlier somewhere in our rich CDHK history, but that I don't know for sure. It's again a prompt which will inspire MMT the most I think, because she is living in the desert. You will understand that our prompt for today is desert and these are the haiku which Jane Reichhold uses as an example for this modern summer kigo:

desert
awakened by silence
filled with dark

stars
in the sand
desert gift

your voice
tying me to the desert
toast pops up

© Jane Reichhold

Aren't they gorgeous? I especially like the second haiku shared here, because of the nice "free style" way of composing it. Through this free style this haiku is very strong and intense.

Credits: desert

my own desert
re-decorating the garden
in bright sunlight

© Chèvrefeuille

A few other "desert"-haiku, the first an oldie from my personal weblog Chèvrefeuille's Haiku-blog and a new (re-done) one.

in the desert
the heat, the sand ... my eyes
a Fata Morgana

tears fall

lost and alone in the desert
just the moon and I

© Chèvrefeuille

Ah! The desert, one of our wonderful "eco-systems". I have learned to admire the desert through the posts of MMT. Her photos and haiku have done that to me.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 20th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, day dreaming, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #48 ferns

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another week has gone by and it's already Wednesday again ... time for a new episode of Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu (our former Ghost Writer feature). This week I have chosen to do a new episode of our CD Distillation feature in which the goal is to distill haiku (or tanka) from a other (longer) poem. And this week I have chosen for a poem by Raymond A. Foss titled "Translucent Ferns":

TRANSLUCENT FERNS

The melting frost
ablaze in the warming
the wetness of the morning
changing the light

The ferns turned
from green to brown
from summer to autumn
but in the morning translucent
lit from behind

As the frost bleeds away
the lobes of the fern turned
warming in the light
of the autumn morning
as I rush on by

© Raymond A. Foss

Raymond has given me permission to use his poem and he even send me a haiku he wrote after this poem, a kind of distillation as is the goal for this week's Tokubetsudesu episode:

The ferns alive, clear
translucent before dying
almost like windows…

© Raymond A Foss

It's always a pleasure and a honor to get permission from other poets to use their poem(s) and I am glad that I can use this poem to inspire you.

As you all know we are busy with exploring Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" and therefore I also will give a few examples of her haiku on ferns.

summer bracken
the shape of the spots
on the resting fawn

wild rivers
the joy unfurls
in ferns

© Jane Reichhold

Credits: Ferns

fragile beauty
through leaves of ferns
I see the sun

© Chèvrefeuille

What a wonderful plant this is, so fragile, so green ... they wave in the summer breeze like fans ... giving a little bit of coolness.

torn ferns
I use their leaves like a fan
Ah! that coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this episode of Tokubetsudesu and I hope it will inspire you to distill an all new haiku from the poem by Raymond A. Foss. Have fun!

This episode of Tokubetsudesu is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and it will remain open until June 19th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, desert, later on.

Carpe Diem #756 summer passing

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We are still on trail with Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" in which she has gathered wonderful modern kigo (seasonwords) for all seasons and this month at CDHK specifically summer. As summer is passing the weather changes and the temperatures are becoming less high ... summer is running to an end, as around August first.

Summer passing is our prompt for today and here are a few haiku composed by Jane Reichhold whom I am grateful to that I may use her haiku ... thank you Jane. (I bow my head in admiration for what you have accomplished for us haiku poets).

Jane Reichhold

a cool wind
summer passes
before it begins

late summer
even hotter by the breath
of dragonflies

mid-summer
the sadness of knowing
days grow shorter

© Jane Reichhold

Above haiku by Jane are from the second edition of her "A Dictionary of Haiku" which was published in 2013. Jane send it as a gift and I am so happy that she did and that I have the opportunity and permission to use all of her wonderful haiku. She is, in my opinion, the best and most gifted haiku poetess of our time, and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to get to know her.

naked
between summer flowers
dreaming of next summer

tears shed
on my naked body ...
summer is passing

© Chèvrefeuille

I hope you did like this episode of our CDHK ... it gives me a great feeling of summer. How about you?

This episode will be open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 18th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Time Glass #31, Basho's "first celebrate"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to bring you an all new episode of our time challenging feature "Time Glass" in which I challenge you all to sit in the moment, that short moment of the sound of a pebble thrown into water. That one moment in which you realize that a scene inspires you to write a haiku.
This week I will challenge you a little bit more. Mostly you have 24 hours to respond, but this week I will give you all just 18 hours to respond on a given prompt and image. This time our prompt is not a single word, but a haiku composed by Basho (1644-1694).

mazu iwae ume o kokoro no fuyu-gomeri

first celebrate
the flowers in your heart
confined in winter

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

I know that this will not be easy, but as I was preparing and creating this "Time Glass" episode I was inspired myself and wrote the following haiku:

grateful
first cherry blossom
in the moonlight

© Chèvrefeuille

Credits: Cherry blossom in the moonlight Nagano

Well .... I hope this "Time Glass" episode will inspire you to write an all new haiku within 18 hours (instead of 24 hours). I know it will not be an easy task, but .... well have fun, be inspired and share your haiku within 18 hours with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

This episode of our "Time Glass" feature is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 15th 13.00 PM (CET). So you have just 18 hours to respond. Good Luck!

Carpe Diem #755 succulents

!!! LAST CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OUR "SUMMERTIME" KUKAI CLOSES JUNE 15TH !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you did like our new feature "Carpe Diem Utabukuro" and our recent CD-Special by Rallentanda. It's really a joy to create all these posts and to be your humble host despite of the time it takes ... it's a honor to be your host and it's an honor that I may use all Jane Reichhold's haiku to discover the modern summer kigo (seasonwords). I am grateful that Jane has an intense bond with our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ....

This month we are discovering all modern seasonwords (kigo) as gathered by Jane in her saijiki "a dictionary of haiku" and today's prompt is succulents. What are succulents?

Credits: Succulents (this is an Aloe)

In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents or sometimes fat plants, are plants having some parts that are more than normally thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word "succulent" comes from the Latin word sucus, meaning juice, or sap. Succulent plants may store water in various structures, such as leaves and stems.

I think you all know these kind of plants and I think that Magical Mystical Teacher, who lives in the desert, knows a lot about these succulents and I am especially looking forward to MMT's response, but of course I love to read all your responses.

I have tried to "come in contact" with this succulents, but it wasn't easy to write a haiku inspired on this prompt, but I think I have succeeded ....

deep in the desert
a drop of water in the cacti
gives new life

© Chèvrefeuille

Not a strong one, but as I said ... I had some difficulties myself with this prompt. And to conclude this episode I will share a few haiku by Jane on succulents:

a great pot
of green leaves with thorns
the unknown succulent

a breeze
shaping the yucca blossom
bird shadow

© Jane Reichhold

Yucca blossom

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 17th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, summer passing, later on. For now ... have fun!