Carpe Diem #1046 dawn

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's so good to read all of your wonderful poetry, but I am behind with commenting, I hope to catch up a.s.a.p.. Also I love to thank you for all of your love sprinkled on me through the comments field of our Kai. I always say that CDHK is a warmhearted family of haiku poets and I feel this warmth every day again.

In this month "Jane Reichhold's Legacy" we will give Jane the tribute she deserves, she was a close friend, but she also was proud on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. I think CDHK has become this great through her. Jane's spirit will dwell for ever through our Kai.
All the prompts of this month are extracted from Jane's "A Dictionary of Haiku", a modern saijiki (list of kigo or seasonwords). For every kigo/seasonword Jane shares examples and those examples are the haiku or tanka to inspire you all.

Today our prompt is dawn and I think we have seen this prompt earlier here at our Haiku Kai, so if this post is a reprise ... than I offer you my apologies for it.

Sunrise

Here are a few examples of haiku written by Jane on this kigo "dawn":

rosy dawn
colors the moon
into the sea

spring dawn
darkness flies from the trees
with the bird

the sound of waves
on you sleeping face
dawn light

© Jane Reichhold

Three wonderful haiku in which you can find a clear "fragment and phrase" way of writing. It's how Jane explained how haiku has to be in another language than Japanese.

I will try to explain the "fragment and phrase" in the last haiku. And after that maybe you can see the "fragment and phrase" in the other two haiku. "Fragment and phrase" means that every haiku has two parts the "fragment" and the "phrase". These two parts you can HEAR when you read the haiku aloud.

Try it with that third haiku. Well ... did you hear the "break"? The "break" is after the first line "the sound of waves". There is a "natural" stillness after that first line. This is called the "fragment". The second and third line are "one part", "on your sleeping face dawn light". This is called the "phrase".
I hope I explained it well enough. Of course Jane was so much better in explaining the "rules and regulations" of haiku (and tanka).

Now try to find the fragment and phrase in the other two haiku ...

dawn

The challenge for today is: Try to create a haiku in which you use "the fragment and phrase" way of writing haiku.

her naked body
glistens from sweat
after a hot night

© Chèvrefeuille

In this haiku "the fragment and phrase" is in "her naked body" and "glistens from sweat after a hot night"; but it can also be like this: "her naked body glistens from sweat" and "after a hot night". That also is a "fragment and phrase" way of writing haiku.

Another one:

daylight brightens

a rooster crows his sun greet
the silence deepens

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, riddles, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1045 departing spring

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Maybe it's a little bit strange to have departing spring for prompt today, because on the Northern Hemisphere we are running towards autumn and on the Southern Hemisphere spring is almost starting, so departing spring?

Let me tell you why I came to this choice. As I heard of Jane's passing away I was really sad. Jane a nice friend, my mentor and co-host had departed. Jane brought something new to my haiku as I got to know her. She brought beauty and simplicity into my haiku ... she gave my haiku new life. New life is spring, but now ... with the passing away of Jane ... that new life starts to depart from my haiku. It feels like a lack of inspiration, a writer's block ... so departing spring is to me more than what it says ... the ending of spring and the start of summer ... Will I get my summer? Will I get my spring, my new life back?

I am still in mourning, not only for my dad, but also so for Jane ... I will miss her as much as I miss my dad.

departing spring
to remember the words
I hum the tune

© Jane Reichhold

What a strong haiku. It gives words to what I am feeling. I read all of Jane Reichhold's books again and again to stay in tune with her spirit ... I have to remember her, we have to remember her here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the weblog which she finds the best on the Internet.
I feel proud, but humble, that Jane Reichhold was part (and still is) of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. Her spirit we will feel here as long as CDHK will exist ... and for sure I will cherish her spirit in everything I do here at CDHK.

in deep silence
drizzling rain
rustling of leaves

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope I have inspired you with this beauty written by Jane. This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 10th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, dawn, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us all.

Carpe Diem #1044 Mysteries

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I have a short episode for you, because of lack of time. Today our prompt, taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", is mysteries.

And here is the haiku by Jane to inspire you to create a haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form in honor and tribute of Jane Reichhold who recently passed away. This month is for her ... my dear friend and mentor.

dreams
the tightrope we walk
without a net

© Jane Reichhold

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 9th at noon (CET). Have fun ...

Carpe Diem Special #217 Dolores' 1st paintbrush flowers (tanka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first Carpe Diem Special of September 2016. This month our featured haiku poetess is Dolores from Ada's Poetry Alcove. Dolores was the winner of the last kukai "prayers" with the following haiku:

autumn evening
like whispered prayers
leaves float away

© Dolores

On her Google + account she says the following about herself in tanka-form:

Words are like pennies to me;
bright and shiny.
Discontent to be left jingling
within my pocket.
They must be spent.

Dolores is a very gifted poetess and she is one of the first participants of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She started with haiku, but she also writes tanka.

For this first CD Special I have chosen a tanka for your inspiration. She created this tanka inspired on music by Karunesh titled Calling Wisdom.

Here is her tanka to inspire you:

paintbrush flowers

dancing on the hillside 

wind blows over reeds 

ancient chants resurrected 

sights and sounds of summer

© Dolores

The challenge for today's CD Special is to create a tanka (5 lines: respectively 5-7-5-7-7 syllables) inspired on this beauty by Dolores. Have fun!

faraway sounds
bring memories of childhood
laughing children
seeking for chestnuts
between colorful leaves

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 9th at noon (CET). I will post another regular episode immediately hereafter.

Carpe Diem #1043 emptiness

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today we are entering spring. Our first episodes were all from the New Year section of "A Dictionary of Haiku" by Jane Reichhold and today we are starting with the spring section of her saijiki.
Today our prompt is emptiness and that's what I am still feeling since I heard from Jane's passing away. I feel empty as if my drive to create haiku has been gone ... I really miss Jane, she was such a nice friend and an awesome mentor.

"Emptiness" is also a very strong idea within Zen Buddhism and that's also part of haiku. Today I have a few nice haiku by Jane reichhold to inspire you, to tribute her:

nothing fills
the emptiness of the question
where are they?

the empty nest
my daughter's house
after the wedding

© Jane Reichhold

Two haiku in which you can feel the emptiness ... That first haiku makes me sad and gives words to my feeling of emptiness. That last line could be easily be 're-written' into where is she?

Emptiness ... where is she?

How to turn that feeling of emptiness into something positive? I think I have found it and I give it words through the following tanka:

boundless world
the tranquil gardens of the temple 
I empty my mind
to make room for another thought
emptiness is cool

© Chèvrefeuille

Jane Reichhold has left an emptiness in my heart, but I always will cherish her in that same heart. Jane was not only a great haiku poet, but she also created wonderful tanka. So I just had to create a tanka this time.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 8th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, our first CD-Special by Dolores and a new regular episode mysteries later on.

Carpe Diem #1042 peace

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day has come and that means ... a new episode of CDHK. This month is a tribute to the Queen of haiku and tanka, Jane Reichhold, who died this year. Jane was not only a close friend, but also co-host of CDHK and has influenced your host in a great way. Without Jane Carpe Diem Haiku Kai had been gone already.

Today our prompt, taken from Jane Reichhold's saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku", is peace and she mentioned it as a modern kigo in the New Years section of her saijiki. Here are a few haiku to inspire you which Jane used as an example for this kigo.

the bell voices
out of our stillness
a wish for peace

peace on earth
watching the full moon
alone

back from the temple
stretched out on the floor
how peaceful you are

© Jane Reichhold

Peace (praying on a cliff)

'Peace' something we all longing for ... maybe one day we can say ... "finally peace is here". Jane has gone she has found her peace, may she rest in peace.

scent of Jasmine
the sound of a gurgling brook
my mind in peace

© Chèvrefeuille

Peace to you all ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until September 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, emptiness, later on. For now ... be inspired and write your haiku or tanka as a tribute to Jane.

Carpe Diem #1041 Pines

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's really great to have this tribute month for Jane Reichhold. She has written a lot of wonderful haiku and tanka and this month we will read just a small part of all her poems, but they are all, in my opinion, beauties.

Today our prompt is Pines and its also a modern kigo for New Year, the classical 5th month. As I was preparing this episode I thought of a few haiku by (my master) Matsuo Basho which I love to share here too:

pine and cedar
to admire the wind
smell the sound

pine wind
needles falling on the water's
cool sound

© Basho (1644-1694; tr. Jane Reichhold)

Pine tree bonsai

And here are a few of Jane herself to inspire you:

ending the year
glint of candle light
on pine needles

sparkling branches
of the crooked shore pine
a hidden moon

© Jane Reichhold

I can feel the spirit of Jane in these haiku. She is truly a bright spirit and I can sense her presence while creating this post for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai. She will be part of CDHK forever, her spirit will move through CDHK and inspire us.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 7th at noon (CET). I will post our next episode, peace, later on.