A New Feature ... Carpe Diem's Light Retreat 2019 ... The Joy Of Light

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

With joy I invite you to a new challenge here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. Maybe you can remember that I created our seasonal retreat, a period of 30 days to create haiku and tanka inspired on a theme. Not so long ago I told you about the Pagan idea of a Light and Dark part of the year. That gave me the idea to create two retreats this year, a Light Retreat and a Dark Retreat instead of our four seasonal retreats. So here it is our new feature ... Carpe Diem's Light Retreat 2019.
It works exactly the same as our earlier retreats. I will give you a theme and your task is to create on an every day base a haiku or tanka inspired on that theme. So after 30 days you have created 30 haiku or tanka inspired on that theme.

For this first Light Retreat I have chosen the next theme ... "THE JOY OF LIGHT" what can you create inspired on this theme? Give it a try ... try to create a haiku or tanka every day (for 30 days) themed "The Joy Of Light".

The Joy Of Light

This Light Retreat starts tonight and will and on April 14th at 10:00 PM (CET). Please number your daily haiku or tanka.

And here is my first haiku inspired on this theme "The Joy Of Light":

thousand orange leaves
counting my blessings every day -
I light a candle

© Chèvrefeuille (2014)

Well ... are you with me? Are you in to a new challenge? A new retreat about "The Joy Of Light"?

This Light Retreat is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 14th at 10:00 PM (CET). Enjoy this retreat ...

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #42 Gaia Goddess Of Earth (new feature)

!! Open for your submissions next Sunday July 22nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation, our special feature for the weekend in which you have time to meditate and contemplate before you can submit your inspirational works. As I said in our earlier post today I hadn't yet decided which feature for the weekend meditation I would use. I couldn't decide or make a choice, because we have so much different features here at CDHK. So I thought "maybe I can create a new feature for the weekend meditation" ... And I did of course that last idea.

This afternoon I read a wonderful article about Druidry and that triggered my inspiration and imagination. Haiku ... the poetry of nature, needs a new "boost" here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. So I decided to create a new special feature. I "baptized" it ... Gaia Goddess Of Earth. Gaia is another name for Mother Nature and I think She can inspire us to create haiku as it is meant to be ... a poem of nature.

credits logo

Let me start with a "mantra" that is used by the druids as they are celebrating every full moon:

Deep within the still centre of my being
may I find peace.
Silently within the quiet of the grove
may I share peace.
Gently within the greater circle of humankind
may I radiate peace.

As I read this "mantra" I was immediately caught by its strength, its beauty, its complexity and its simplicity. Those feelings are the same as the ones I sense as I am creating haiku. And that's the goal of this new feature: Try to catch the beauty, the strength, the complexity and the simplicity of nature in your haiku or tanka.

For this first episode of this new weekend meditation feature I don't give you a prompt, because I love to challenge you to walk through your neighborhood and find the prompt, the theme, of this new feature. Maybe to help us, your readers, to relate to your poem, you can share a photo of the "source" of your inspiration.

I will give you an example of the above task:

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you all do like this new feature for our weekend meditation. Have a wonderful weekend!

This episode is open for your submissions next Sunday July 22nd at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until July 29th at noon (CEST). Have fun ... be inspired!

Carpe Diem's Renga Challenge #1 a cherry tree blooming in old age

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

As I was writing our new episode of Wandering Spirit a nice idea came in my mind. So I created a new feature to challenge you with. I have titled this feature "Carpe Diem's Renga Challenge", and I think the goal is clear for this new feature. Yes ... that's right ... creating renga (a chained verse), but not the easy way I think. Let me give you an explanation for this new feature ... a real challenging feature I think.

In the new episode of Wandering Spirit you read a renga created by Basho and Yozakura. A nice renga I think, but maybe it's not as you had expected, but that's no problem. Yozakura and Basho created it straight from the heart and don't forget ... it was Yozakura's first try to create renga.

In this new feature "Renga Challenge" I love to challenge you all to create a renga of at least six (6) verses and with a maximum of 12 verses. Sounds easy ... well that's not true I think, because there is a rule. You have to create a renga by using haiku I will give you. It's your task to write the two lined verses (7-7 syllables approximately). With those two-lined verses you complete the renga. You may use the haiku in the order you like, so there is no need to use the order in which I will share them with you.

For this first "Renga Challenge" I have chosen six (6) haiku written by Basho and gtranslated by Jane Reichhold. So in a way you create a renga together with Basho.

For this first episode of this new feature I have chosen six (6) haiku written by the young Basho, so these are his first attempts to create haiku. All the haiku are taken from Jane Reichhold's "Basho, The Complete Haiku".

the old woman
a cherry tree blooming in old age
is something to remember

in summer rain
would you be happy with
the moon's face

the voice of reeds
sounds like the autumn wind
from another mouth

The Voice Of Reeds

inside the temple
visitors cannot know
cherries are blooming

what a sprout
a dewdrop seeps down the nodes
of generations of bamboo

separated by clouds
the wild goose lives apart for a while
from his friend

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold, "Basho, The Complete Haiku")

Six beautiful haiku by the master to use. Now it is up to you to choose the order, to choose at least three of the haiku and connect them trhough your two-lined verses. Remember that your last two lines of the renga are the ageku and have to close the chain as started in the first verse you have chosen.

I know this will not be an easy task, that's why I give you two weeks to create your renga together with Basho. Have fun!

This first episode of this new feature "Carpe Diem's Renga Challenge" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until June 27th at noon (CEST). Good luck and awaken your muse to create a renga. (!! More about renga you can find above in the menu in CD Lecture 2 !!)

Carpe Diem's Quest for a (new) Masterpiece ... introduction

credits logo-image

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Have you written your masterpiece yet? I hope so, but what is a masterpiece? I think a masterpiece is a haiku (or tanka) that has the power, the strength, to become a classic or an evergreen.

Here at CDHK I have often shared that beautiful masterpiece by Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), that is renown even by people who are not familiair with haiku. You all will already know which haiku I mean, we even created an exclusive CDHK E-book inspired on that renown haiku ...

old pond
a frog jumps
water sound

© Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

I think you all agree that this is a masterpiece ...

Another masterpiece, in my opinion, is that beauty by Chiyo-Ni about the Morning Glories:

morning glory!
the well bucket-entangled,
I ask for water

© Chiyo-Ni

For sure you will know other masterpieces by classical (and non-classical) haiku (or tanka) poets, but the goal of this new feature isn't the quest for known (renown) masterpieces, but to create masterpieces, it's a real challenge, because you, my dear haijin, visitors and travelers, have to challenge yourself to create your masterpiece.

What makes a haiku (or tanka) a masterpiece? Well ... I will give it a try to tell you what a haiku (or tanka) makes a masterpiece in my opinion.
First: It has to describe a moment that got your attention.
Second: You have to use the right words. Words that describe the moment in its true way.
Third: Maybe ... use the classical way of creating haiku (or tanka) (as mentioned in CDHK Lecture One above in the menu).
Fourth: It has been written right from the heart or soul not the mind.
Fifth: It's (maybe) in the sense and tone of the classical haiku (tanka) poets.
Sixth: It has to be ... how shall I say it ... be your child, your creation ... in a masterpiece we can read, between the lines, the poet who created it.

scent of Honeysuckle
arouses the senses of youngsters
hot summer night

© Chèvrefeuille

Not a masterpiece maybe, but all the above things mentioned are there.

This new feature is a tough one I think, but I also think you all can do it. You are all devoted members of CDHK, but above that you are all devoted haiku (and tanka) poets ... so I think you all can do it ... create your masterpiece and share it with us all.

With this new feature I also hope to talk you over to create a new exclusive CDHK E-book with these masterpieces ...

This new feature is awesome I think and for this introductory episode I have also a nice theme for you to work with. In the logo of this new feature you see a Japanese woodblock print by Hiroshige (1797-1858) titled "Men poling boats past a bank with willows".

Wind Blown Grass Across The Moon - Hiroshige

Utagawa Hiroshige, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition.
Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, and for his depictions of birds and flowers.
The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints.

The above painting by Hiroshige, Wind Blown Grass Across The Moon, is a wonderful painting ... a masterpiece ... Look at the poetic scene, the simple use of colors. Just a few lines to tell the whole story. That's the way to create a masterpiece.

Lilies of the valley
their sweet perfume makes me drowsy
hot summer night
between silken sheets her warmth
honeysuckle coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

A challenging new feature ... NOW OPEN for your submissions. This episode will remain open until May 17th at noon (CEST). This new feature I will publish once a week.

Carpe Diem's Romancing Haiku #1 beach

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a nice weekend this will become I think. I was inspired and I have a new feature for you to work with. Again a feature for only haiku, as are the roots van CDHK. You all know that tanka is THE Japanese poetry form for love. Tanka we know mostly as a love poem, but I think (and I have said this often here at CDHK) that haiku can also be a love poem that's why I have created this new feature "Romancing Haiku".

For this first episode of Carpe Diem's Romancing Haiku I have chosen a theme. I think that the beach is one of the best places to find romance. And I even have written a few haiku themed beach in which I think romance was the second theme.

torn apart clothes
thrown against a beach pole
a winter's love

bare footed

wandering about the nude beach

in heart of winter

Beach Love

the sound of waves

accompanies hot steamy love -

seagulls cry

a whisper of rain

awakens me gently

morning on the beach

© Chèvrefeuille

I think really that haiku can be a love poem too. So that's were this new feature is about ... romancing haiku ...

I hope I have inspired you to create romancing haiku ... so let's go create ....

This first episode of "romancing haiku" is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 21st at noon (CEST). I will try to publish this new feature weekly.

Carpe Diem Crossroads #1 Introduction to a new feature and a first try

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

After thinking and re-thinking I have decided to create a new treat for you all. A new feature in which I hope to lift you all to a higher level, to create your masterpiece. I think this new feature will help you to improve your haiku skills. With this new feature I also return to the roots of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... haiku. I have called it "crossroads" and I will try to explain what the goal is for this new feature.

Crossroads ... make your choice

You all know (I think) what a crossroad is it's a point where two (or more) roads are crossing each other. A crossroad is also a place (as several religions and philosophies are saying) were the gods are resting and were pilgrims can rest, meditate and contemplate which road they will or have to take.
I think you all have been there at least once in your lifetime. As I look at myself I have been on a crossroad several times. There were moments in my life were I was on a crossroad to make choices. Some of them I regret now, but mostly I have no regrets about my choices. One of those choices was to create CDHK as a kind of place on the Internet were haiku poets could find their inspiration to create haiku.
Haiku is still my first love, but during the years of our existence I learned to love and appreciate all kinds of Japanese poetry. And there we find the goal of this new feature "crossroads". In this new feature I love to challenge you to create a new haiku (ONLY haiku) inspired on two or more poems. That can be two haiku or one haiku and one tanka. Or one haiku and e.g. a sedoka. You have to create your new haiku (Only haiku) from the given poems. Sometimes I will give you a "normal" poem and a haiku (or tanka) to use for your inspiration to create haiku (ONLY haiku).
Imagine you are on a crossroad were two haiku come together. The haiku "have a conversation" and "decide" to become one. Together the create a symbiosis of a new haiku.
It will not be an easy task, but I think it will be fun.

fusion

Here are the two haiku you have to use. Create a "fuse" of both, you can use the words from the both haiku, but if you are inspired to create a new haiku with new words ... feel free.

alone on the beach
only the cries of seaguls -
breathing silence

© Chèvrefeuille

And the other one I have chosen is by my master, Matsuo Basho:

young leaves
I would like to wipe away
tears in your eyes

© Basho

I have tried to "fuse" these two haiku with each other and came to this one:

left alone
tears rolling down his cheeks
painful silence

© Chèvrefeuille

Or maybe this one:

seagulls cry
young lovers melt together
without shame

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you understand the goal of this new feature. Try it ... be on that crossroad ... be silent and listen to what the gods and pilgrims have left there.

Decide which road you will take and share your choice, your newly created haiku (ONLY haiku), with us all here at our Haiku Kai. This new feature is now open for your submissions and will remain open until March 19th at noon (CET). I am looking forward to your responses and I hope you do like this new feature "crossroads".

Carpe Diem's The Sound of Silence #1 introduction

The Sound of Silence, a new CDHK feature

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while that I introduced a new CDHK feature, but today that's going to change. Today I read a wonderful article in a renown mindfulness-magazine here in The Netherlands. That article was titled "Stil in mij" (or in English Inner Stillness) and it started with a quote from renown Persian poet Rumi (1207-1273). Maybe you can remember him from our Persian poetry month back in 2017, or you just now him as the poet he is. That quote, I will share hereafter, "triggered" my inspiration and it brought me this idea to create a new CDHK feature. Let me give you first the quote by Rumi:

[...] "Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation". [...] (Rumi)

How to bring "silence within", "inner stillness" or "silence" into your haiku? That was the first thought that came in mind, but than I had a "revalation" ... Haiku is renown as the poetry of nature and in nature I find my inner peace, my inner silence. As I walk through nature than the beauty, the wonder, the greatness overwhelms me, nature makes me silent. I only listen to all the silence in nature, the song of birds, the rustling of leaves, a babbling brook, the cooing of pigeons and more ...
So haiku is not only the poetry of nature, but also the poetry of silence ... isn't that wonderful ... it's of course so true ... in our haiku we catch the silence not only through the scene, but also through the use of almost no words ... but those words are enough to paint a wonderful image.

We need that silence to create our haiku (or tanka) and that brings me to the goal of this new feature. Create a haiku (or tanka) in which you bring together silence and nature and try to include a spiritual layer, because silence and nature are connected in a spiritual way, they belong together. So let us try to bring one of the classical rules "a deeper meaning" back into our Japanese poetry especially haiku (or tanka).

Alone on the beach

alone on the beach
only the cries of seaguls -
breathing silence

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you will enjoy this new feature.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until January 16th 10:00 PM (CET).

PS. Don't forget our Troiku kukai (see the link at the left side of our Kai)

Carpe Diem Extra October 20th 2017 Universe

credits

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at this new CDHK Extra. I publish this new CDHK Extra, because I have an announcement to make, don't worry it's a happy announcement. I have created a new feature in which I hope to get a conversation started. In the five years of our existence we haven't had a way of conversation in which you can ask things, can share thoughts and ideas and more.

Recently I started reading "Aleph" (by Paulo Coelho) again and today I ran into a part of that novel that I couldn't remember reading earlier, or at least it didn't find its way into my memory. That part starts with the following:

"The table in the lounge is the center of the universe, around which we gather every day for breakfast, lunch and supper, and where we talk about life and our hopes for the future".

This lounge is on the Trans Siberian Railroad and Paulo Coelho and his companions "live" their during their journey. So that table is very important to them.

logo of this new feature

I love to try to create a kind of "virtual lounge" were we can "talk" with each other about anything (of course related to Japanese poetry). So I have created a new page titled "Carpe Diem Center of the Universe", which you can find above in the menu or by clicking HERE.

I will start with the first 'theme' to open this virtual conversation. You can respond, being part of the conversation, through the comment field. Feel free to take part in this conversation.

Here is the first theme:

What means haiku to you? What has haiku brought you?

Namasté,

Chèvrefeuille, your host.

Carpe Diem To Be Continued #1 Introduction to a new feature

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to introduce an all new feature at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, "Carpe Diem To Be Continued". It's maybe a "rare" feature, but I think it is also very challenging.
As you maybe know I am not only a haiku poet, but also an author (I have written two novels) and that inspired me to create this new feature.

The goal is, as the name already says, to continue something that was started. In this feature it's all about haibun (prose and poetry) and about continuing the story. How does this work?

I start "To Be Continued" with a haibun and you, my dear Haijin, visitors and travelers, have to continue the haibun, not only the prose, but also the poetry. Your continuation is inspired on the starting haibun. You can write a continuation on the starting haibun or, and that sounds more challenging, you write a continuation on the continuation before you. An example: If Eses has written a continuation on the starting haibun than you have to continue were Ese stopped or you can decide to create an continuation on the starting haibun. It sounds difficult, but I think it's not that difficult.

I hope this new feature will bring you a challenge, but most of all fun. For starters I have a haibun which I wrote back in April 2013, maybe you can remember it.

Isla Benidorm (Spain)

One Hot Summer 

Somewhere in the hot Summer of 1998 it was I  thought, but it easily could be in another hot Summer. I was on a holiday with my family in Benidorm (Spain).

My wife and I were walking along the beach late on an evening. It was still warm and we were very much in love. We walked hand in hand, sometimes stood still to kiss each other. Somewhere along the beach there was a group of palm trees with a nice little bench. We sat down and watch to the sea and Isla de Benidorm. 

It was told that once a giant had broke a piece of the mountains in the back land of Benidorm and had thrown it into the sea. I wonder ...

In the back lands of Benidorm I saw a mountain with a gap that looks very similar with the Isla de Benidorm. In front of my eyes I saw the giant brake of the big piece of the mountain and threw it into the sea. What a sight. That big piece of rock made the sea rise and a Tsunami rolled towards the seashore breaking on the beach. The foam swirled every where.

Puig Compana (Do you see the gap?)

A little smile on my face made my wife laugh. 'What are you thinking of?' she asked. I shook my head. 'Nothing my dear'. I answered. 'Nothing'. Hand in hand we walked back to our apartment and drank a little wine ... afterwards ... well ... it's up to you to fill in this gap. (smiles)

thrown into the sea
a pebble bounces a few times
I feel a giant

© Chèvrefeuille

== here ends the starting haibun. now it is up to you to continue the story ==

This new feature I will close about a month around September 10th 10.00 PM (CET). I am looking forward to your continuations. Have fun!

You can respond from now on.

Carpe Diem Perpetuum Mobile #1 Introduction to a new feature

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It's my pleasure to present an all new feature at our Haiku Kai, Perpetuum Mobile (or according to the Merriam Webster dictionary "perpetual movement"), everlasting motion. What has this to do with haiku or tanka? And what is the goal of this new feature? I will try to explain it.

Haiku is the poetry of nature, that short moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water, and nature is (in my opinion) always in motion. Seasons come and go, the moon changes every 28 days and so on, the only thing which is steady and without clear motion is our sun, that big star of our Milky Way around which the planets are rotating.

Nature is always moving and so it's like a perpetuum mobile. As I look at haiku on it selves than haiku is always changing too. As long as haiku exists the rules of writing them have changed like the waves, they have come and go and come again. So our beloved haiku is a perpetuum mobile in it's pure form I think.

seasons come and go
the everlasting motion of nature -
perpetuum mobile

(c) Chèvrefeuille

The goal of this new feature is trying to catch the perpetual motion of the seasons, of nature. This new feature will not have a prompt, sometimes a theme, but mostly I will challenge you to catch movement in your haiku, movement of nature in specific.

This new feature will be a bi-weekly feature on Tuesdays ....

I hope you do like this new feature and I hope the perpetual motion of nature will inspire you all to write/compose an all new haiku or tanka.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 21st at noon (CET). Have fun!

To close this episode a haiku inspired on the Tanabata Festival, which is celebrated today in Japan:

late summer night
wind chime resonates through the night -
stars shine bright

© Chèvrefeuille