Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Weekend Meditation #100: waves of love

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at our wonderful Haiku Kai. I love to challenge you today, in this (restart) of the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Weekend Meditation. 

As we look at the time we live in, we can see the lack of love and peace. Covid-19 brings all kinds of emotions, for example anger and sadness. Questions like "Is this the truth?" "What is happening?" Or look at the tension around the Ukraine and Russia ... all signs of ... Yes of what? Is this the End Of Times? Is there a global revolution? 

This time is a time of despair and confusion. No one knows how our future will be. Therefore I love to challenge you to create a Tan Renga (two verses: 1st verse 3 lines 5-7-5; 2nd verse 2 lines 7-7) themed "waves of love".

I have given it a try myself (ofcourse):

teardrops fall
in the middle of the night
no more hope

the song of birds, a new day rises
waves of love warm a world in fear

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

You can submit your Tan Renga by adding it to the linking widget below (hidden in our logo) until next Friday February 4th 2022 10:00 PM (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1857: Another try to get restarted, a meditation.

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Every time I am trying to restart our wonderful Haiku Kai there is always something else coming inbetween. So I give it a try again.

Today, January 27th 2022, I am reflecting on times coming. As we all know the world is still in a pandemic "war" with Covid-19. At this moment we see an increase of Omicron cases here in the Netherlands, but there are also a few tiny lights at the end of the tunnel. A lot of restrictions are ended, so our community is starting to come alive again, but there is still that threat of the QR-code, that eID. That threat is becoming stronger and stronger here and we, the Dutch people, are uncertain about what our Government will decide. And ofcourse it's one of the biggest discussion going on between groups of people who are positive and negative about this eID.

As we look around in our society a lot of children, teenagers, young adolecents and adults are starting to become depressed and fearfull ... we have an enormous increase of suicides and mentally illness. Covid-19 is not only a physical virus, but also a mental virus. A lot of our new generations have missed a lot during all the lockdowns in the last two years, e.g. closure of primary schools, highschools and universities. They really have missed a lot.

It's so sad to see this happening around me and it has influence on me too. It really makes me sad to see what this pandemic has done and still does ..., but I have a little hope that it will all become better ...

dark clouds gather, 

a downpour breaks loose -

ray of sunshine 

© Chèvrefeuille, your host.

I really hope this "dark time" will become better soon ... we need a new rising of light to look forward ... to have a better future for our children, teenagers, young adolescents and adults. 

I pray every day for relief and new hope and love ... and I hope our Creator will bring us a new future.

These are just my thoughts, my heart is crying, but there is sometimes a smile ... one sunbeam ... is enough.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Namasté,

Chèvrefeuille

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #1856: Restarting?

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First of all this: Happy New Year. I hope this new year, the 3rd in a global pandemic, will become a far better year than 2021.

The world is on fire. Everywhere on the Earth we see people rising up against their governments. All are up to make the world a better place than it is right now. Our world is no longer that world we know off, where we live in.

Every day again I wake up asking the same questions: What is going to happen with our wonderful world? Will the pandemic finally come to an end? Or ...

It makes me sad to see how our world is changing into one big battlefield of communities within communities, vaxxed and non-vaxxed stand up to each other. Families are ripped apart, our world is no longer a place of freedom and peace, but public ground of the wealthy few that are striving for The Great Reset. Covid-19 ... that global pandemic ... is orchestrated by just the wealthy few. And it's not from a recent date, no ... far before the WHO called out for the Covid-19 pandemic, this was already on the agenda.

Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, maybe it is not. I don't know. It gives me, as the germans call it "ein unheimliches gefull". 

As I read posts on several socials it gives me the chills. And again that question comes in mind: What is going on in the world.

Yesterday I posted a haiku on our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai twitter-account and I love to reproduce it here again:

A New Day Rises

a world in flames
reaching to regain freedom
a new day rises

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

In every haiku ... there can be a silent hope for a new world, a new day. Let us pray that this world fire will end soon ..

Feel free to submit your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this blog. You can add your submission to the linking widget below.

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, November 2021: Follow The Dream: #1855 "I Have A Dream", (Martin Luther King, 1963)

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I hope you all are into another month of wonderful challenges to create Japanese Poetry. Ofcourse I hope to publish more regular than I had thought recently. 

This month I have chosen a nice theme to work with "Follow The Dream". As you all maybe know, I have always followed my dreams. Back in time I had a dream to create a fantasy novel, and I did. Once I had a dream to create a daily haiku meme and ... as you are aware of ... that dream came true too.
Do I have more dreams? Yes ofcourse. I hope to be part of a world in which Peace and Love are the most important emotions. Ofcourse I know that thought is an Utopia, but you never know what the future will bring us. Until this dream will become true ... I will dream about it.

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

The most famous man who is still known after a long time who had a dream is Martin Luther King Jr. He stated "I Have A Dream" back in 1963 and was assasinated for it in 1968. He is still the man that is an example for everyone who cares ... who also dreams of Peace and Love.

He followed his dream too, but at the highest costs.

The challenge for you my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers of today create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on Martin Luther King's Dream. Maybe you have dreams? Feel free to share them and if you want ... you can create a haiku or tanka inspired on your own dream.

I had and have still dreams, small dreams and large dreams, but it are all dreams. I wish that all our dreams will become true once.

As I am creating this post a quote from "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho comes in mind:

"People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them." (Source: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho)

Dreamtime
inner feelings and emotions
come alive

© Chèvrefeuille

Keep on dreaming ... without dreams we are lost ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 8th at 10:00 PM (CET). You can add your submissions to the linking widget hidden in our logo below. Have fun!

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Celebrates Its 9th Anniversary: #1854 morning awakenings

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a "new" episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month we celebrate our 9th anniversary with a "trip along memory-lane". In our rich history we have seen a lot of different places on our planet. Today I have chosen to "reprise" one of the episodes about the Trans Siberian Railroad, that we followed back in January 2014 on our way to our pilgrimage on Shikoku Island. That month our CDHK logo was the following:

Our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Logo for January 2014, a picture of the TSR along Lake Baikal

I remember that it was a wonderful trip and today I love to let you all experience that again.

+++++++

Today we are going further on our memory lane along the nine years of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. We have arrived in January 2014. In that month we started with our pilgrimage to the Isle of Shikoku to visit all 88 temples there. To get there we took the Trans Siberian Railroad (TSR) straight through the former USSR in January 2014. While we were on our way to Vladivostok, the end station of the TSR, we read "Aleph" a novel written by Paulo Coelho in which he describes his search for his former lives. "Aleph" is situated on the TSR and so we went on reading "Aleph" following the story-line and traveling straight through the former USSR.

I remember that it was a wonderful month and that I have read wonderful haiku, tanka and haibun. In that month Alexey Andreyev (a Russian haiku poet who lives in the USA) was our featured haiku poet. I love to share the last CD-Special haiku of January 2014, here again.

morning awakenings:
among window curtains' flowers
a blade of gray sky

© Alexey Andreyev

As I told you above, the TSR drives straight through the former USSR from Moscow to Vladivostok. So this reprise-episode is about the end station of the TSR Vladivostok. Vladivostok was closed for foreigners until the end of the "Cold War" and in 2012, after a major International Event, it became one of the bigger cities of Russia.

Aleph by Paulo Coelho (book cover)

I ended that episode, back in January 2014, with the following quote from Paulo Coelho's "Aleph":

[...] As they arrive almost in Vladivostok, Paulo decides to make a walk through the Trans Siberian Express, which he sees as a city. He walks through that city,which stretched out like an ever-flowing river of steel, a city were he doesn't speak the local language. He heard all kinds of languages and sounds and notices that, as happens in all large cities, most people weren't talking to anyone, each passenger absorbed in his or her own problems and dreams, forced to share the smae compartment with three strangers, people they never will meet again. The Trans Siberian Express, is really a city ... and as in a normal city we live together with our neighbors, but ... do you know your neighbors really? [...]

After his walk through the train he writes a note, which I love to share here with you.

[...]I am not a foreigner because I haven't been praying to return safely home, I haven't wasted my time imagining my house, my desk, my side of the bed, I am not a foreigner because we are all travelling, we are all full of the same questions, the same tiredness, the same fears, the same selfishness and the same generosity. I am not a foreigner because, when I asked, I received. When I knocked, the door opened. When I looked, I found. [...] (Source:'Aleph' by Paulo Coelho)

Let Your Dream Come True

And I wrote to conclude that episode:

With this quote by Paulo Coelho I will conclude our Trans Siberian Railroad journey. Dreams you have ... you have to fullfill, they are not negotiable. So ... go for your dream and let that dream come true.

another day ends
reaching for the stars and the moon
into the dreamworld

© Chèvrefeuille

+++++++

With this haiku I conclude this episode in our "trip along memory-lane" with giving you the task to create a "crossroads" haiku.

(Explanation Crossroads haiku): 

Haiku is still my first love, but during the years of our existence I learned to love and appreciate all kinds of Japanese poetry. And there we find the goal of this new feature "crossroads". In this new feature I love to challenge you to create a new haiku (ONLY haiku) inspired on two or more poems. That can be two haiku or one haiku and one tanka. Or one haiku and e.g. a sedoka. You have to create your new haiku (Only haiku) from the given poems. Sometimes I will give you a "normal" poem and a haiku (or tanka) to use for your inspiration to create haiku (ONLY haiku).

Imagine you are on a crossroad were two haiku come together. The haiku "have a conversation" and "decide" to become one. Together they create a symbiosis of a new haiku.

It will not be an easy task, but I think it will be fun.

Here are the two haiku, from this episode, you have to use. Create a "fuse" of both, you can use the words from the both haiku, but if you are inspired to create a new haiku with new words ... feel free:

morning awakenings:

among window curtains' flowers

a blade of gray sky

another day ends
reaching for the stars and the moon
into the dreamworld

Good luck my dear Haijin. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 30th at 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem's Sunday Time Challenge #1: Pebbles (introduction)

 Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of a NEW FEATURE at our wonderful Haiku Kai. Maybe you can remember our "former" Time Challenge feature in which I challenged you to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on a theme within 24 hours, I love those Time Challenges, because it fits the main idea that Haiku is just a short moment, as short as the sound of a pebble in water.

With this new feature "Carpe Diem's Sunday Time Challenge", I challenge you to create a new poem within the short time of 24 hours.

For this first Sunday Time Challenge I have chosen the following theme "PEBBLE", a reference to the shortness of the scene on which your Haiku or Tanka is based,

PEBBLES

Pebbles, are mostly found along beaches and on sand grounds. Pebbles are often used for decorating gardens and were found often in Japanese gardens.

On this first Sunday Time Challenge, Pebbles, you have to respond within 24 hours, say (roughly) until Monday October 25th 00:30 am (cest).

Here is a haiku, written by me, taken from my archive, to inspire you:

timeless beauty -
the glint of polished pebbles
in the crystal brook

© Chèvrefeuille, your host (2013)

Here is the Japanese translation, just for fun:

時代を超えた美しさ-
磨かれた小石の輝き
クリスタルブルックで

Jidai o koeta utsukushi-sa -
migaka reta koishi no kagayaki
kurisutaruburukku de

Enjoy this Time Challenge my dear Haijin.

This Time Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until Monday October 25th 00:30 AM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below. !! Remember you have only 24 hours to submit!!

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Celebrates Its 9th Anniversary: #1853 Sparkling Dew (Tan Renga)

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a "new" episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to create Haiku or other Japanese poetry forms. This month we are celebrating our 9th anniversary with a "trip along memory lane". 

Today I have chosen an episode of September 2018, in that month we had the 3rd Tan Renga Challenge, that special feature in which we create Tan Renga together.

What is Tan Renga?

Maybe you know the Tanka that poem with 5 lines following the syllables count 5-7-5-7-7. A beautiful Japanese poetry form which I not often create, because I am not such a great Tanka poet. The Tanka is a poem written by one poet and that's the difference with the Tan Renga.

The Tan Renga has also 5 lines following (approximately) the same syllables count as the Tanka, but the Tan Renga is written by two poets. One poet writes the first stanza of three (3) lines in the following example that will be Jane Reichhold:

Here is the first stanza of this example Tan Renga:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)

The goal for the second poet is to create the second stanza of two (2) lines through association on the first stanza (as we do in a renga). For this example I have written the second stanza:

her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

This is what you call a Tan Renga. It's possible to leave a blanc line between the two stanzas, but you can also make it unite with each other. Than this is the result:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)
her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

It's a great way of being creative with the work of another poet, like we do with our special feature "Renga With Basho".

For this "new" episode in our festive month I love to challenge you to create a Tan Renga with the haiku by Jane Reichhold:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew 

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 27th at 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the hidden linking widget in our logo below. Have fun!