Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge #88, Jane Reichhold's "shamanic journey"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge. It's Friday again and I am late with publishing this new TRC, but .... well we have a wonderful tropical day (temperature has risen over 30 degrees) and I have enjoyed it a lot .... so sorry for being somewhat late.

This month we are discovering modern summer kigo as compiled by Jane Reichhold and to honor her I have decided to use haiku by Jane for the Tan Renga Challenges this month. This Friday I have a wonderful haiku for you all, also for summer. As I read this haiku I was immediately in love it and it brought nice memories back of our wonderful "myth, legends and saga"-month last year and our journey with Trans Siberian Railroad with "Aleph", the novel by Paulo Coelho, in our hand.
In those months we had encounters with shamans and the haiku by Jane is about shamans, more precise a "shamanic journey".  I hope her haiku will inspire you to write the second stanza for the Tan Renga (two lines 7-7 syllables) as is the goal of this Tan Renga Challenge.

Here is the first stanza, the hokku (the haiku by Jane), for this Tan Renga Challenge:

shamanic journey
a red dragonfly comes
to guide the canoe

© Jane Reichhold

And now the challenge is to write/compose the second stanza through association on images in the haiku. Let me help you a little bit on the road ...

For example you can use shamanic, journey, red, dragonfly, comes, guide and canoe. Or maybe go to the deeper layer. Than you can use e.g. spirit, nature, wisdom, ancient, healing, magic, mystery, mystical, eagle, new ways, path, Inner Self , drums, visions and so on.

Let me give it a try. I will first give a few examples of the possible second stanza:

shamans drums resonate
the cry of an eagle

deep silence - the voice of the stream
and buzzing mosquitoes

ancient wisdom unfolds
becoming one with the dragonfly

And now I will bring those three examples linked to the haiku by Jane: (in italics my 2nd stanza)

shamanic journey
a red dragonfly comes
to guide the canoe
shamans drums resonate
the cry of an eagle

shamanic journey
a red dragonfly comes
to guide the canoe
deep silence - the voice of the stream
and buzzing mosquitoes

shamanic journey
a red dragonfly comes
to guide the canoe

ancient wisdom unfolds
becoming one with the dragonfly 

Wow ... there will be a lot of other possibilities, but these were meant as an example and now it's up to you. Make the Tan Renga complete with your second stanza.

This episode of Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Friday June 12th at noon (CET).

Carpe Diem Time Machine #9, bees

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last month while we were on the trail with Basho I haven't made CD Time Machine episodes, but this month it will return. And today is the "re-start" of this special feature in which we are diving into our rich Carpe Diem Haiku Kai history. Today we go back to our prompt bees, it wasn't a prompt specific, but we have had a few prompts in which bees occurred one of them was the prompt honey (April 2013) I remember that day quit well, because our queen abdicated from her throne in favor of her son Alexander.
In that post I referred to a mysterious illness that caused a lot of bees their life. And I remember that I wrote several haiku about that.

all over the world

honeybees are dying -
flowers never bloom again

flowers never bloom again
Mother Earth's face will be
colorless

colorless
no more fruits to eat
all over the world
© Chèvrefeuille

And I challenge you today with this new episode of CD's Time Machine to write an all new haiku, tanka or haibun about bees. Just to celebrate their beauty and their task for life.

I conclude this episode with an oldie .... a haiga ....

This Time Machine episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 8th at noon (CET). Have fun ...

By the way you can find the referred episode HERE 

On The Trail With Basho Encore 3, washing my feet

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I promised you all last month I love to stay in touch with Basho by bringing you all a new episode of our special feature "On The Trail With Basho Encore". Maybe you remember that in one of the posts in the last days of May I spook about "unconfirmed" haiku by Basho. Today's episode of "Encore" is about another "unconfirmed" haiku.

The following haiku was published by Daichu in a collection of Basho's handwritten poems, but actually this verse is 'unconfirmed' at being Basho's. Let us take a closer look at the verse.

ashi arote   tsui ake yasuki   maro ne kana

washing my feet
I fall asleep for the short night
with my clothes on

© Basho

When I read this the first time I thought 'this is a nice haiku by Basho', but when I read further I was struck by lightning as I read the comment of Jane Reichhold that this was an 'unconfirmed' haiku by Basho. I was in shock. This couldn't be. I read the haiku again and again and it stays a haiku by Basho, but why than 'unconfirmed'?

Let us take a closer look. Why do I think this is a haiku by Basho? I don't pretend that I am a Basho connoisseur, but (as other haiku poets say) I write my own haiku in the same tone and sense as Basho. So I think I can say that I know how Basho wrote. Am I immodest ... that's up to you my dear visitors.

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge (UK)

This haiku has Zen in it, it has humor and it has a season word 'the short night'. Basho was very tired while he crafted this one, he even don't had the strength to wash his feet and put off his clothes. While washing his feet he falls asleep and misses the shortest night of the year, the summer solstice. In that part is the Zen. The shortest night missing because you're too tired, it feels like emptiness and also brings enlightenment.

Time is such a rare thing, time flies. Time doesn't exist is what this haiku says. It's a wonderful haiku. Although mentioned an 'unconfirmed' one by Basho. I think it's 'now confirmed' that this is a haiku by Basho. Daichu was right when he enclosed this haiku in the collection of Basho's handwritten haiku.

And now ... I have to write a haiku by myself in Basho's Spirit.

at dawn
I wash my feet with dew
the longest day

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... it's not completely in the Spirit of Basho, but it's for sure in the Spirit of Chèvrefeuille ... and that is CONFIRMED :)

This episode of "encore" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until next Thursday June 11th at noon (CET). have fun!

Carpe Diem #749 rain

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

yesterday we had 'clouds' as prompt and today it's about rain just a coincidence that these two prompts follow after each other. I hadn't planned it that way, but I think it works in a great way.
Rain ... what is rain? I think you all know what rain is, but it seems ok to look at rain for a short moment.

Rain is liquid water in the form of droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then precipitated—that is, become heavy enough to fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides suitable conditions for many types of ecosystems, as well as water for hydroelectric power plants and crop irrigation.

I remember that we had several prompts in our CDHK history about rain e.g winter rain (december 2012) and midsummer rain in June 2013. So maybe this prompt is a reprise one, but to me that's not a problem. Today's prompt rain is also distilled from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", our leading saijiki this month full of wonderful modern seasonwords. In her saijiki she gives a lot of example haiku on rain. And it really is a joy to share a few of them with you all here today.

bending without wind
the green leaves accept
a sudden shower

rain showers
on the grassy field
dew and moonlight

welcoming the spots
on my new cotton dress
summer rain

© Jane Reichhold

As I was preparing this episode I ran into a South Korean singer-songwriter with the (stage)name Rain and I was really anxious to hear music written by him. So I sought on You Tube and found a wonderful song by him. Just a treat ... 

A nice song I think, very modern .... but I enjoyed listening to it. Ok back to our prompt for today. Rain as part of summer brought me several haiku which I love to share here with you all:

after a hot day
lightning and thunder
midsummer rain

midsummer rain
finally the heat has gone
after a hot day

almost naked
dancing in the Solstice rain
ah! that coolness

ah! that coolness
raindrops on my naked body
hot Summer day

© Chèvrefeuille

And for closure a haiga which I made several years ago.

I realize that the choice of text-color isn't that great so I will reproduce the haiku on this haiga here another time:

raindrops on bamboo
shimmering in the sunlight
little diamonds

© Chèvrefeuille

Enjoyed this episode? Than I hope it will inspire you to write an all new haiku and share it with us. Here is a new one composed by myself:

clouds gather
after a warm summer day
the sound of rain

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 7th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, a time machine episode, later on.

Carpe Diem #748 clouds

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present an all new episode of our "summertime" month in which we are discovering modern kigo for summer as gathered by Jane Reichhold. I am deeply grateful to Jan that she is part of CDHK and that she has granted me permission to use her "A Dictionary of Haiku" and her haiku. Thank you Jane from the bottom of my heart that you have given me that permission. I am just your humble host and I am grateful that I can  and may be your host at CDHK. Thank you all for being part of this haiku loving family.

Today our prompt is clouds and in my humble opinion clouds are the masters of art in nature. As I look at the sky and see all those wonderful clouds than I realize how little I am ... clouds are sharing their art through all different images they create. As I look at today's sky than the clouds are heavy and loaded with rain, but they also grant me an insight in a wonderful fantasy world. I see different animals and landscapes in them .... and my fantasy goes on the run (I don't know if I say that correct).

As I started creating this episode I loved to change our background and that's what I have done. Wonderful clouds are passing by in our background and that makes me happy and I hope you become happy too as you look at the new background of our Haiku Kai. (background image's credits)

In her "A Dictionary of Haiku" Jane share's a wonderful series of haiku on clouds and I just couldn't choose the right one, so I have chosen a few of her "clouds"-haiku to share here for your inspiration.

dancing lights
clouds sprinkle the sun
across water

curving with the land
a rainbow of clouds
moves out to sea

after the rain
breathing deeply
white valley clouds

© Jane Reichhold

Awesome haiku and there are more beauties to share for example these by Basho:

Glorious the moon . . .

therefore our thanks dark clouds
Come to rest our necks

Clouds come from time to time -
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

© Basho (Tr. Bellenson)

Or these by Kobayashi Issa:

on the river's bank
already it's a moonlit night...
billowing clouds

emerging under
the peaks of clouds...
a little boat

© Issa (Tr. David G. Lanoue, www.haikuguy.com)

All beauties I would say ... how can I possibly compose a haiku (or two) in the same beauty? I think that isn't possible, but ... well you know me .... I had to try. So here are my haiku inspired on clouds.

mysterious clouds
changing images through the wind
ah! what a sight

© Chèvrefeuille

Or this cascading haiku set:

fantasy world unfolds
while the wind tears clouds apart
in sunny colors

in sunny colors
clouds moving, changing everlasting
fantasy world unfolds

© Chèvrefeuille

Ah ... beautiful ... a bit immodest maybe, but I like these haiku a lot .... What do you think of these haiku?

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 6th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, rain, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #46

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

We have missed them last month, but now Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu (our former Ghost Writer feature) is back and as promised as I announced the results of our first kukai, our runner up, Lolly of "look for a lovely thing" is our featured haiku poetess for this new Tokubetsudesu episode.

Lolly became "runner up" with the following haiku:

entwined
in white wisteria vine …
spring moon

© Lolly

A beautiful haiku as I may say so. Lolly has been part of Carpe Diem from almost the beginning of Carpe Diem. She first appeared with a haiku at the start of December 2012 with a haiku in response on "Indian Summer" (Koharu). Later on that month she published several haiku in response on our CDHK prompts. For example, this one in response on "Narcissus": 

tall stems lean over

the reflecting pool's edge
narcissus flowers

© Lolly

During the years Lolly was a frequent participant at CDHK and we saw change her entries, they became better and better. She also shared Tanka with us in response on several prompts.

An example of one of her tanka:

sifting through
the personal effects
of a spider's web
an autumn wind loosens
another anchor thread

© Lolly

To conclude this Tokubetsudesu episode I have a wonderful haiga for you created (and copyrighted) by Lolly:

Haiga by Lolly

It's really a joy to have her in our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Family ... she is a great artist and I think her re-produced poems in this post can be a great source of inspiration for you all. Let the poems inspired you to write haiku, tanka or haiga and share them with us.

Here is my inspired haiku ....

such a hot day
my shadow needs to cool down
under the willow

© Chèvrefeuille

It's an oldie. I wrote this one somewhere in 2011 at my personal weblog.

This Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 5th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, clouds, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem Special #149, Rallentanda's a carpet of purple

credits logo-image

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to bring our first CD-Special of this month. As you all (maybe) know the winner of our first kukai "wisteria", Rallentanda, won the opportunity to be our featured haiku poetess this month. And as you can see at the left "A Carpet of Purple" the e-book Rallentanda won for an anthology of her own haiku is available now for download.

For this first CD-Special I have chosen to inspire you all with Rallentanda's winning haiku. As you (maybe) know the goal of the CD-Specials is to write an all new haiku in the same sense, tone and spirit as the one given.

wisteria
fragrant chandeliers drop
a carpet of purple

© Rallentanda 

It's a real beauty and you, my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, have chosen this haiku as our first kukai winner ....

Credits: Wisteria

Here is my inspired haiku, not a new one, but one from the archives:

in the moonlight
Wisteria flowers look fragile -
a gust of wind

© Chèvrefeuille

By the way .... remember that our second kukai "summertime" is running. You can submit your haiku (max three) until June 15th to our emailaddress:

carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com

I am looking forward to your "summertime" haiku ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 4th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our new episode, a new episode of Tokubetsudesu, later on.