Carpe Diem #1654 Tan Renga Challenge (1) Smoldering Fireplace

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Haiku Kai. This is the first episode of May 2019. This month it's Tan Renga Challenge Month again. So this month all the prompts are haiku by modern and classical haiku poets to create Tan Renga with.

Tan Renga looks like a tanka, but instead of being written by one poet the Tan Renga is written by two poets. Tan Renga is a short chained verse of two stanza. The first stanza has three lines and the second stanza has two lines. More about Tan Renga you can find above in the menu, but I think that you all know how Tan Renga is created.

For this first Tan Renga Challenge of May 2019 I have chosen a haiku that I recently created. It's up to you to create the second stanza (approx. 7-7 syllables) through associating on the scene(s) in the given haiku.

Smoldering Fireplace

Here is the haiku to work with:

smouldering fireplace
the sweet perfume of burned herbs
loneliness grabs my throat

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I think this one is great to work with, but it will not be an easy task ... have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 7th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new Tan Renga Challenge later on.

Carpe Diem #1653 passing spring (yuku haru)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the last episode of this month in which we explored the beauty of modern and classical kigo for spring and because of the fact that this is the last episode I have chosen for a classical kigo that fits this last episode ... passing spring (yuku haru).

At the end of spring we are longing for summer, spring has passed by and has spread new life all around us. Nature is in full bloom and the bare branches are covered with blossoms and young green leaves. The meadows are sprinkled with the most beautiful flowers on earth ... isn't it exiting? Finally we can say ... the light has returned to us and now we may celebrate summer.

Spring passes
and the birds cry out—tears
in the eyes of fishes

© Matsuo Bashō (Tr Sam Hamill, taken from "Narrow Road Into The Deep Interior")

The above haiku is an example of this classical kigo, passing spring (yuku haru), isn't it a beauty?

lying on the beach
dreaming away in a midday nap
departing spring

© Chèvrefeuille

I couldn't come up with a new haiku, so I shared a beauty from my archive. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 6th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new (first) episode of May later on. Next month all the prompts will be Tan Renga Challenges. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1652 Cherry Petals (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the penultimate episode of April 2019. This month I took a week off and I enjoyed it. This month we have explored modern and classical kigo for spring and today I love to challenge you with a modern kigo extracted from Jane Reichhold's modern saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku".
Today I saw the cherry petals fall from the Sakura in my backyard and that brought me the idea to give you a modern kigo related to that event ... cherry petals.

And here is an example (or two) extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" with this modern kigo:

a long journey
some cherry petals
begin to fall

garden waterfall
cherry petals float to earth
in the sound

© Jane Reichhold (taken from: "A Dictionary of Haiku".)

Two beauties I think. Both give tribute to Jane, because she was one of the best modern haiku poets I have ever known. She was renown all over the globe and was once my co-host here at CDHK. She is still missed dearly, but I know her spirit is dwelling here at our wonderful Haiku Kai.

spring breeze
rustles through the cherry trees
it seems to be snowing

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until May 5th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our last episode of April later on. Next month it's Tan Renga Challenge month and I hope you all will join in again to create this wonderful small chained verses.

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #82 Introducing a new feature ... "photo-shopping haiku"

!! open for your submissions next Sunday April 28th at 7:00 PM (CEST)  !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Introducing a new feature. "A new feature again?" I can hear you almost say or think that, but I think it's time for something new as you also will see soon in the lay-out of our wonderful Haiku Kai. I have chosen a more modern look and I hope you all will like it.
Why this upcoming change? Well ... I took a week off for the very first time at CDHK, but that doesn't mean I wasn't busy with CDHK, however ... I did like this week off and I will do that every month from now on. Maybe you think "The end of CDHK is near", but that's not what this means. It gives me the opportunity to improve CDHK. CDHK was once, according to Jane Reichhold, the best website on haiku around the globe, and that's my dear CDHK-family members, my goal ... to stay "on top of the world" so to say.

As you all know I see, Matsuo Basho, as my master and I just hope that I am worthy to be his apprentice.

Basho once said: "I tried to give up the way of fuga (poetry) and stop writing verses. But each time I did so, a poetic sentiment would tug at my heart and something would flicker in my mind. Such is, the magic spell of the life of poetry".

And that's my feeling right now. I am on a, say ..., crossroad but cannot decide which road I will take.
My dilemma is: "Do I go on with my poetry or do I leave the road of poetry. Do I go on with CDHK or will I stop and close the website. It's really a dilemma, because I love what I am creating with CDHK, but it takes a lot of my time. Creating CDHK takes from my personal time to create haiku. Back in the late eighties I discovered the beauty of haiku ... I was immediately caught by this beautiful small poem. During the years my haiku writing skills evolved to a certain quality and (how immodest) my haiku arose to the quality of Basho, but since I started CDHK it feels that I just create haiku commercially and that's for sure not how I saw haiku back in the late eighties.
Ofcourse sometimes I create haiku with quality like those by Basho, but it doesn't give me the pleasure anymore that I felt. This makes me sad, this is why I chose to take a week off. This week brought me a lot of insight. It gave me the insight that creating CDHK is my passion and I can't live without it. So I am back on track ... or like Basho I am under the magic spell of the life of poetry.

Back to the "root" of this episode "introducing a new feature".

A new feature at CDHK not easy to create, but I have found a new idea and I am trying to make it fit for our new modernised (soon the kay-out will change) CDHK.
Not so long ago I saw an episode of the TV-show "America's Next Top Model". In that episode the producers showed the public how photos are retouched to make the model look more beautiful and attractive. Something like "photo-shopping" I think or revising.
Photo-shopping sounds awfull but, I think it's possible to "photo-shop" haiku and tanka too. Just a little change can make the difference between a good haiku (or tanka) and an excellent haiku (or tanka).
I love to make photos, but I am not a photographer that likes color. I am more of the black and white and sepia photos, because in my opinion the photos are more beautiful ... more vintage.

Maybe it's because of my age (56 yrs) or of my melancholic mind I don't know, but I do know that we can re-make "photo-shop" a haiku (or tanka) into a vintage one just by retouching of a small part. So this new feature, that I first titled "vintage haiku", I have "re-titled" into "photo-shopping haiku".

Let me give you an example:

autumn has come
visiting my ear on
a pillow of wind

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

As I start "photo-shopping" this haiku by my master, Matsuo Basho, than I think 'I can bring more softness, tranquility, into it by changing a small part of this haiku into:

whispering into my ear
on a pillow of wind

In this example I only let the first line un-touched:

autumn has come
whispering into my ear
on a pillow of wind

© Chèvrefeuille

I think this "small" re-touch makes this haiku more soft, lovely and tranquil. What do you think?

The first challenge for this new feature "Photo-shopping Haiku" is: "Photo-shop" the above haiku by Basho. Good Luck!

This weekend-meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 28th at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until May 5th at noon (CEST). Have a great weekend!

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #81 Poetry Archive (5) ... loneliness or emptiness

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's weekend again ... so time for a new weekend meditation, our special CDHK feature for the weekend to meditate and contemplate about a theme. This weekend I have chosen for a new episode of our Poetry Archive feature. This feature is about your archive. Choose a haiku, tanka or other form of Japanese poetry from your archive and share it with us all. Tell us why you have chosen for that poem from your archive and create a new poem inspired on your choice. This time I have another wonderful theme ... loneliness or emptiness ...

In an earlier post this month I told you all that I needed a week off. That week is now upcoming. I will not post new episodes this week, but of course I will give you a new weekend meditation at the end of this "free off-week". It gives me time to relax and it will give you the chance to relax too and inhale new energy.

Okay ... back to our weekend meditation ... Poetry Archive ... Loneliness or Emptiness ...

Here is a haiku from my archive(s) themed "loneliness" and one themed "emptiness":

in front of the fireplace
an empty bottle and broken wine glasses 
after the quarrel

an empty bowl
but in it is the spirit of emptiness -
the spring breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

Both haiku were responses on earlier posts here at CDHK. I like them both, but that second one I see as one of my masterpieces. It's a deep religious, spiritual, experience ... inspired on a "koan".

Loneliness

And here is a new one created from both of the haiku above, say a "fusion-ku":

smoldering fireplace
the sweet perfume of burned herbs
loneliness grabs my throat

© Chèvrefeuille

Have a wonderful weekend and a great week.

This weekend meditation is open for your submissions next Sunday April 21st at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until April 28th at noon (CEST). Have an awesome weekend!

Carpe Diem #1651 dropwart (seri), Japanese parsley

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a wonderful spring day we have had here in The Netherlands. Whole day sunshine a really nice temperature ... it felt almost like a early summer day. Yes it was a gorgeous day. And I hope you all have had such a wonderful day too.

This month it's all about classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring and today I have another nice classical kigo taken from the Shiki saijiki, dropwart (seri) or Japanese parsley.

Dropwart (Seri) (Japanese Parsley)

Dropwart is part a broad range of herbs, there are a lot of species of this parsley family. It's a spring kigo that is (was) used all spring, because it grows and blooms in all spring.

I have found a nice example for this classical kigo, a haiku by Yosa Buson (one of the "big five" haiku poets):

furudera ya houroku suteru seri no naka

By an old temple
a broken clay kitchen pot
in a field of water parsley

© Yosa Buson

And here is another "parsley"-haiku:

This is all there is;
the path comes to an end
among the parsley.

© Alan Watts

Two wonderful haiku I think as an example for this classical kigo for spring.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 25th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on.

Carpe Diem #1650 Breakfast (modern kigo)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai were we are exploring the beauty of classical and non-classical kigo for spring. Today I haven't enough time to create a large episode, but I think I can make you all happy with a new "Renga With ... Jane Reichhold" episode.

Today I have chosen a modern kigo taken from her modern saijiki "A Dictionary of Haiku" ... We have to do it every morning, but as I speak for myself ... I do not take breakfast every day. So today I challenge you to create a Renga With Jane Reichhold by adding your two-lined stanza between the haiku of Jane. In her modern saijiki she gives us six examples of haiku with the modern kigo "breakfast" and those six haiku I will give you to create your Renga With Jane.

Here are the six "breakfast"-haiku by Jane. You may choose your own "line-up":

flood waters crest
someone by the river puts water
in a coffee pot

breakfast coffee
the excitement of an ocean
in my cup

threads of smoke
breakfast fires of neighbors
tied together

pale spring sunshine
spread over breakfast toast
quince jelly

beating egg yolks
two yellow butterflies
twist in the fog

early morning rain
the dry sound inside the cabin
of oatmeal cooking

© Jane Reichhold (Extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku")

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 24th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!