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 )

Carpe Diem #94, Jazz

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Today I will start with a (as I call it) 'Thank You'- haiku. Why? Well I am grateful for all the love, nice words and prayers you all offered to me while my mother was in hospital. Next monday hopefully she will be that much recovered that she can go home. After that, of course, medical rehabilitation(?) to recover fully, but that will be taking time.

heart full of love
mind full of thoughts and words
thank you all

OK ... back to this episode of Carpe Diem ... it's all on Jazz ...
When I was 18 or 19 yrs I visited Berlin (back in that time The Wall was still standing) with my Highschool, it was for learning the German language and culture. I enjoyed that visit very much and one night we (my school mates and I) went to a so called 'Jazz-Keller' (in English I think it's 'jazz cellar'.) were on that moment a Jazz singer performed live on stage and it was awesome. I can't remember the name of that Jazz singer, but I loved it very much. I think from that moment on I became a Jazz addict.

Jazz is my kind of music it gives me a feeling of freedom.

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. Its West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, poly-rhythms, syncopation and the swung note. From its early development until the present day, jazz has also incorporated music from American popular music.

I am not inspired today. I am in the nightshift and a bit tired, but I have found a few nice haiku on Jazz on the WWW. The next two haiku are written by Van G. Garrett, a writer, photographer, and teacher from Houston, TX can best be described as a “contemporary courier of creativity.”

bless the child whose got
a song, a soul, a something
worth crying about

supreme j. coltrane
saxophoning in the dark
her head on my chest

(c) Van G. Garrett - 12 Jazz haiku

Have fun, be inspired and share your creativity with us here on Carpe Diem. This prompt will stay on 'till January 14th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new prompt 'Blues' later on today around 10.00 PM (CET).

Carpe Diem #93, Cave (provided by Dulcina)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

When I started with Carpe Diem I asked others to suggest prompts for this daily haiku meme. Dulcina of Dulcina's Garden was one of them. Today we have a prompt which is suggested by Dulcina. Today's prompt  is cave. Not an easy one, but every prompt has it's difficulties.

I have sought for haiku with 'cave' in it. On www.poetry.com I found the next haiku written by Cindy O'Nanski:

come on in my friends
welcome to our cozy cave
handcrafted with love

(c) Cindy O'Nanski

Or this one written by George E. Thompson is titled 'ice cave'. I found this one on Gather.com :

many icicles
majestic wonder viewing
cold breathing freezes

(c) George E. Thompson

Another one which I found on a wordpress-blog:

silence and beauty
cold water transparency
vision awakens

Source: haiku of Ana (the cave)

Just a few examples of cave-haiku. I have tried it myself:

high in the mountains
living in his own cave
an anchoret

an anchoret
far from civilization
his mountain cave

Not an easy prompt today ... but what a joy as read this haiku I share here with you ... awesome! (How immodest.)

Credits: cave (Norman Island)

This prompt will stay on 'till January 13th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will publish our new episode of Carpe Diem Jazz later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us here at Carpe Diem.

Carpe Diem Special #16, Shiki haiku 2

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to host Carpe Diem ... in the past months I have read wonderful posts and also the post inspired by our Specials are fantastic to read. When I started with the Specials I tought that it would be tough to write your own haiku inspired on a haiku of a classical haiku master, but it seems so easy as I read all your wonderful haiku inspired on the haiku masters. Really awesome.

Our haiku master for this month is Masaoka Shiki and he is one of the four greatest haiku masters next to Basho, Buson and Issa. What a great group of haiku masters isn't it? By the way I already have chosen our Special haiku master for February. That will be Chiyo-ni (1701-1775) a fenale haiku master. She has written wonderful haiku e.g.:

wakakusa ya  kirema kirema ni  mizo no iro

green grass -
between, between the blades
the color of the water

Wow! Isn't it a wonderful haiku? Well ... Chiyo Ni is for next month our Special haiku master. Now ... let's go back to our Special haiku master of this month Shiki.

Today I have chosen the next haiku written by Shiki for your (and my) inspiration:

minazuki no  koku ni suzushi  hototogisu

in the coolness
of the empty sixth-month sky
the cuckoo's cry

This is, in my opinion a nice haiku by Shiki in which he used his own 'nom de plume' Shiki, hototogishu, Let us look closer to this one.
What do I see, hear, feel, smell? I can feel the coolness of the bright blue sky of the sixth-month. I see that bright blue color, the color of the third eye, as we know from our rainbow-week in November 2012. I can hear the cry of the cuckoo, it's thrilling and when it's song becomes a joy to hear, his throat bleeding (as Shiki  , who had tuberculosis). I can smell the coolness of the air in the sixth month, mid-spring. A lot of senses are here in this haiku ... don't you think?

I was inspired and have written the next haiku ... I hope with the same senses and in the same tone as the one by Shiki.

high in the sky
against the bright blue
white of a seagull

white of a seagull
triggers my senses and my mind
a cry far away

a cry far away
hands above my eyes, something,
high in the sky

I have found a wonderful haiga by Shiki in which we can see a hototogisu. It's another haiku by Shiki, if you like the one in the haiga better than the one I gave ... well ... be welcome to use that one.

Credits: Hototogisu haiga by Shiki

This one is also gorgeous ... well ... enjoy the read, be inspired and creative. Share your haiku and your comments with Carpe Diem.

This prompt will stay on 'til January 12th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our new episode of Carpe Diem later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). The prompt for our next episode will be cave (provided by Dulcina of Dulcina's Garden). 

Carpe Diem #92, whale

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

A miracle has happened today (1/9) ... I received a phone-call  form the hospital. My mom doesn't need heart surgery they gonna 'dotter' her. I don't know the English translation of 'dotteren', but I believe they are gonna place stents in the heart veins to let flow the blood again. Later on today we will be at the hospital and than the cardiologist and surgeon are giving us the information on this 'event'.
OK ... let's go to our prompt for today 'whale' a wonderful creature which is still in danger because of the whale-hunt.

These wonderful creatures are a joy to look and listen at ... this mammal is one of the oldest animals on earth ... we have to cherish that and learn from it. Whales are very wise mammals and they can sing wonderful.


song of the whale
resonates in my heart
an old spirit

an old spirit
travelling around the world
wise man whale


This prompt will stay on 'til January 11th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will post our next Carpe Diem Special, a haiku by Shiki, later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). I haven't chosen a haiku already so that will be a kind of surprise. Sorry ...

For closure: I have granted our Carpe Diem Award for the most valuable haijin of December 2012  YerPirate of Tea with a Pirate for his wonderfully composed haiku which he has shared with us all.

Congratulations YerPirate

Carpe Diem #91, Seahawk

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Another day has gone by. It's still uncertain when my mom will have her heart surgery. The cardiologists and surgeons are still looking for a way to let it go on. So I am still a bit stressed and in this difficult time it's becoming difficult to write haiku, I think lack of inspiration ...

Let's go on. My father always said: 'Don't stand still, go on with your life'. And that's what I have to do ... go on.
Today our prompt is Seahawk a wonderful predator bird with a strong meaning. The Seahawk (or Hawk) is known as the messenger from the skies and when you see a Seahawk that is a sign to look closer to yourself. The Seahawk stands for spiritual rejuvenation and spiritual awareness.

Seahawk

The Seahawk is a majestic bird always aware of his surroundings. I never saw a Seahawk, but Hawks and Falcons I have seen a lot here in my region of The Netherlands. Falcons and Hawks have the same meaning as the Seahawk ...

messenger of heaven
circling high above my head -
re-thinking my life

Not a strong one, it looks more like a senryu than a haiku, but in my opinion senryu and haiku are very close to eachother.

This prompt will stay on 'til January 10th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will publish our new episode later on today around 10.00 PM (CET). That will be whale.
Have fun, be inspired and share your creativity with Carpe Diem a daily haiku meme.