Carpe Diem #1842 End Of Year

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

The year 2020 is almost over. What a year it was. The pandemic, corona, and the tough times healthcare had (and still has). Even here at our wonderful Haiku Kai, we have had our lockdown and, how sorry I am for it, we still have that lockdown here at CDHK.

As you all know I am an oncology nurse and covid-19 takes all my energy and now it is even more worse, because my Mom has Covid-19 too. She is almost 91 and I am worried about her. As you (maybe) know, my Mom lives in a nursing home for the elderly, because of her dementia, and she lives in the nursing home were I am working myself.

In our nursing home we have a very big covid-19 outbreak and that makes that I really don't know how and when I can start posting our daily posts again.

It makes me sad, but ... well it is out of my hands, I cannot control what is happening at the moment in the world and in my personal life.

If I look back ... than 2020 is a year we will always remember as the "corona-year" and as I look at myself, 2020 will be a year full of loss. At the nursing home we have lost a lot of our patients to Covid-19 and a lot of my co-workers, are suffering of Covid-19 too. We just have to do our work with almost one third less co-workers. So it is tough, very tough.

I really hope that 2021 will be a year in which we all can return to a (more) normal life without Covid-19. I really hope that you all, my dear Haijin, are okay and in good health. Take care my dear Haijin ... take care.

I wish you all a wonderful new year and I hope that 2021 will bring us joy again.

In classical Japan (following the Lunar calender) there was a fifth season ''New Year", and this season was from approximately 20 december 'til 20 January. I have a few haiku which have been written for this season:

the Great Morning:
winds of long ago
blow through the pine trees

© Onitsura

The Great Morning is the morning of New Year's Day.

for this New Year's Day
the sight we gaze upon shall be
Mount Fuji

© Sokan

And a last one:

the first sunrise
there is a cloud
like a cloud in a picture

© Shusai

All wonderful haiku on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.

And here are a few haiku by Issa and Basho:

my shadow too
in good health...
"Happy New Year!"

New Year's gift of tea--
where did you go
on your journey back to me?

© Issa

Both are wonderful "new year" haiku. Let me look at a few haiku by Basho on New Year:

has spring already come?
I feel wealthy this New Year
with five sho of old rice

New Year's Day
I feel lonely just like
an autumn evening

And what do you think of this one by Yozakura, the Wandering Spirit?

nothing changes
every day will be the same
this new year

A wonderful series of haiku about New Year's Eve of New Year's Day. Let those haiku inspire you:

after New Year's Eve
life hasn't changed a bit -
another year gone

listen! listen!
the sweet silence
the day after

New Year's Eve
fireworks enlightens the sky -
bad ghosts flee

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you enjoyed this episode of our Haiku Kai. And I hope you are inspired to create your own haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 7th at 10:00 PM (CET). Enjoy your New Year's Eve and I hope that 2021 will bring us more joy ...
You can find the linkinking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem #1841 Just a special challenge

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this special challenge here on CDHK. You all have noticed that posting is less in here, it has to do with covid (again). It's again a very busy time for me as a nurse, so I just don't have time to post regular.

Today I have a nice challenge for you all. I love to challenge you all to create a "double Troiku" with the following haiku:

mysterious landscapes
rise and unfold before my eyes
worlds of clouds

© Chèvrefeuille

Maybe you remember this haiku, I shared it earlier in here. What is the goal? You all know what a Troiku is, and if not, you can find it above in the menu.
The result of a Troiku is three new haiku starting with the separarted lines of the given haiku. A "double troiku" is the same, but you have to create three new haiku from the first three haiku you created from the given haiku. So it's a tough challenge. 

First create a Troiku, three new haiku. Than the "double" ... create three new haiku with the separated lines of the first three new haiku. I hope you will understand what I mean. The end result is that you have created 12 new haiku sprouting from the first given haiku.

Well ... not an easy challenge I think, but ... you all can do it.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until December 15th at 10:00 PM (CET). You can add your submissions to the linking widget hidden in our logo below. Have fun!

Carpe Diem #1840 Hoarfrost

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Finally a few days off. So time to publish a new post in our wonderful Haiku Kai. This month our theme is "autumn leaves". We are already running to winter here on the Northern hemisphere, so we have had already our first hoarfrost. That fragile kind of frost created by fog ... so I thought we can create haiku about "hoarfrost".

fragile beauty
cranberries covered with sugar
first hoarfrost

© Chèvrefeuille

The task for today is to create a Troiku with this haiku written by your host. It has been a while that I asked you to create a Troiku, so if you have forgotten what a Troiku is, you can find a description above in the menu.

A nice theme I would say. So it's up to you all to create a Troiku with the given haiku. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 29th at 10:00 pm (CET). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem #1839 colors of life

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I have to apologize again. We have a new Covid outbreak and so I am (again) very busy with work. I know you all accept it as I not publish, but it feels somewhat ... sad that I disappoint you all (again) by not publishing as I had hoped.

This month I have chosen the theme "autumn leaves", and as it says it's all about kigo for autumn. Today I have chosen the theme "colors of life" and that has to do with autumn, but also with life itself.

Everyone lives her or his life with a kind of vision, a spiritual one maybe, but it can be a vision of love or of making carreer. My life is very colorful with all the things I am doing. Ofcourse there is my family, my children and grandchilderen. And than there is my job as an oncology nurse and last, but certainly not least ... there is Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, that beautiful family of haijin.

mysterious colors
first sunlight of autumn
more brilliant

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 22nd at 10:00 PM (CET). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem #1838 Blue Moon

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First my apologies for not publishing this week. We have a new Covid outbreak and, as you all know, as a nurse that brings a lot of work. But today I have found a little bit of time to create a post for your inspiration.

Yesterday (October 31st) we had a Blue Moon, a second full moon in one month. So today's theme is to create a haiku, tanka, troiku or other Japanese poetry form themed "Blue Moon".

This time it was even more special, because this second full moon occurred on Haloween, spooky and magical I would say.

I think it's a nice theme.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 6th at 10:00 pm. You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below. Be inspired!

Carpe Diem Celebrates Its 8th Anniversary October 2020: #1837 blowing in the wind

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

First I have to apologize to you all. Last week I had a very busy week, because of a new Covid outbreak, so as an oncology nurse I had to take care for my patients. So there was no time to create the posts here on CDHK.

I had a complete different idea of our celebration month, but ... well it is still a celebration month, but with a less more posts than I had hoped.

I think you all will know Bob Dylan, he is the first songwriter who won the Nobel prize for literature and I think he deserved it. He has written wonderful songs, but my favorite song by Bob Dylan is "Blowing In The Wind".

So today's task is to create a haiku, and if you want, a troiku from that haiku, inspired on this wonderful song by Bob Dylan.

Enjoy the music, enjoy the song and I hope it will inspire you all.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 31st at 10:00 PM (CET). You can submit your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.

Carpe Diem Celebrates Its 8th Anniversary, October 2020: #1836 Daydreaming

 Dear Haijin,visitors and travelers,

Do you sometimes daydream? I certainly do day dream on a regular basis. For example ... A few days ago I daydreamed how it will be to have a special CDHK-day to meet each other in real life. Through the Internet we are connected with each other almost every day. What a joy it would be to meet each other, but I know that will never happen, but  we can meet each other in another way. For example how would it be to once in a say quarter of a year speak to each other through Skype or another way through a chat or podcast. These are just a few examples of my day dreams. Do you daydream?

Today our '8th anniversary' month is halfway and today I have chosen for the prompt daydreaming. I don't think it's especially something you do in summer, but in a way I can understand why Jane has brought this into her saijiki 'A Dictionary of Haiku', her modern kigo (seasonwords) for summer. In summer we live most of the time outside and we have, for sure, lazy days and moments in which we are daydreaming. E.g look at the clouds. Sometimes they look like mysterious landscapes and then our mind goes on a 'flight'. We are adventurers who are discovering new countries, new forms of life and so on. 

mysterious landscapes
rise and unfold before my eyes
worlds of clouds

© Chèvrefeuille

Ah those mysterious and magical worlds unfolding before your eyes in blue sky speckled with clouds. Clouds like landscapes in which mountain-peaks reach for the sun. Fantasy worlds with strange rivers, trees and animals ... all fantastic images. Maybe this is not really daydreaming, but it certainly feels like that.

In her saijiki Jane gives a few examples of haiku themed 'day dreming' . And here are a few of her example-haiku for this modern kigo:

as if alive
the surf rolls a log
on the beach

a trail
to the sea horizon
her vision

© Jane Reichhold

Two beauties as I may say so. Especially the 2nd haiku I like very much. That last 'her vision' is really awesome. It points directly to day dreaming and I like that scene which Jane paints with her words. It will not be easy to 'catch' daydreaming into an all new haiku therefore I have chosen to write my haiku in the 'baransu' style starting with the first line of the above haiku by myself.

mysterious landscapes
hidden behind the thin mist
a rooster crows

© Chèvrefeuille

Do you see my daydream? Isn't it wonderful?

Another one:

eyes wide open
my mind takes a flight with my imagination
a gathering of poets

© Chèvrefeuille

Well … a nice theme I would say … just daydream your response my dear Haijin. It’s up to you now to create a haiku, tanka or other kind of Japanese poetry.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until October 20th at 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget hidden in our logo below.