Carpe Diem #1845 Troiku Challenge: Summertime

 

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Sorry it didn't go very well. I had hoped to post every day again, but don't have time enough. So today I decided to create you a new Troiku Challenge. More about Troiku you can find in the menu above.

I have chosen the theme Summertime for this Troiku Challenge, because here in The Netherlands we have a very warm, say hot, time with temperatures rising above 30 degrees Celsius, so yes it is Summertime here.

Summertime: Sun bathing, warm weather, heatwave, beaches and more to associate with Summertime. But for this episode it's just a haiku written by me, your host, to work with.

at the seashore

wind of summer through my hair

the shortest night

© Chèvrefeuille

The shortest night will be this weekend, than summer really starts on the Northern Hemisphere.

I think this haiku is great to create a Troiku with. Enjoy my dear Haijin.

This Troiku Challenge will be open until June 23rd 10:00 PM (CEST). You can add your submission to the linking widget below, hidden in our logo.

Carpe Diem #1228 sunset (CD Imagination)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This is the last prompt for July 2017. this month we have explored several kigo for summer, classical and non-classical and I hope you did like this month.

Our last prompt for this month is sunset and I have made it myself easy, because I had a busy day. I will share an image of a summer sunset to inspire you.

sunset

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until August 4th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, the first of our "modern art"-month, later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1227 waiting for autumn (Aki tikashi, Aki wo matsu)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I had an amazing day today ... we had a wonderful nice, not to hot, summer day here in The Netherlands and my wife and i could be almost the whole day outside in the garden. I love my garden in every season, but especially in the tiny line between summer and autumn I love being in my garden. The leaves start coloring and the rains fall more often. Than I smell that nice perfume of wet earth and the starting of decay ... yes maybe this is my time of year.

Our classical prompt for today, waiting for autumn (Aki tikashi, Aki wo matsu), is extracted from the Kiyose, a collection of classical Japanese kigo (seasonwords). And it gives me the same feeling as described above. I am waiting, no longing, for autumn (Aki) and I can already smell it in the thin air of this summer day ... awesome.

autumn dreams

While I was doing my research for this episode I ran into several beautiful haiku with this theme, waiting for autumn, here is an example by Aioi Gakikajin:

Autumnal voices
in which of the windows
are there more?

© Aioi Gakikajin

And here is an other nicely crafted haiku. Deer start dating in autumn, and the lonely ones make a forlorn mating call that has become associated in Japan with lust and yearning:

Still with antlers, still
with love, the male deer —
— dashes!

© Kaneko Mukanshi

This second example makes me smile, because of the scene, but also of the true longing, waiting for autumn feeling in it. really an awesome haiku.

Longing for Autumn

Of course there are also beautiful tanka (waka or uta) about this waiting, longing for autumn. I found a nice one in the Man'yoshu written by Princess Nukata (ca. 630–690):

While, waiting for you,
My heart is filled with longing,
The autumn wind blows— 
As if it were you— 
Swaying the bamboo blinds of my door.

© Princess Nukata

And to conclude this episode ... I love to share the following tanka:

the scent of autumn
that sweet smell of decaying leaves -
after the rain - stronger
makes me think of days past
and my first real love ... 

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope you did like this episode. I enjoyed creating it. This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 31st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new "weekend-meditation" later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1226 swamp

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new day in our wonderful summer kigo month, July 2017. Here in The Netherlands it's raining almost all day, but temperatures are okay, around 22 degrees Celsius. So not really a summer feeling, but this sultry day is perfect for our prompt for today. A modern kigo extracted from "A Dictionary of Haiku" by Jane Reichhold.

Our prompt for today I didn't associate with summer, but than I remembered a hot summer day several years ago, I was a young adult, around 22 yrs of age. I wandered around my home town and ran into a swamp-like environment just outside of my home town. Not really a swamp, but it almost looked the same. Here in my home town we call that place "the willow storage". It's a part of the polder that looks like how earth looked in the prehistory ... and it is a marvelous piece of nature to be in.
As that young adult I was exploring who I am and who I wanted to be. I had a free mind and on that hot summer day I decided to "dive" into "the willow storage", but it was really hot and very sweaty, because of the high moistured air. Well ... as a free minder I decided to took of my clothes, put them in a bag, hide it, and walk into the willow storage completely naked. It felt great, it felt like being 100% in tune with nature. I heard the buzzing of mosquitoes and bees. I bathed in the warm waters of the willow storage and laid down on a nice spot of grass somewhere in the middle of it. It was a real nice day ... I even tried to create a haibun about this beautiful day several years later.

The Willow Storage

The willow storage is a wonderful place and as I was preparing this episode I thought back to that wonderful day.

Today our prompt is swamp and I don't hink it needs further explanation, so here is a haiku Jane wrote as an example for this modern kigo:

black cypress
draining into the swamp
strands of color

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

Awesome haiku I would say. Here is another haiku this time written by myself:

hot summer day
wandering through the swamp
mosquitoes buzzing

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... I hope I have inspired you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 30th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, waiting for autumn (Aki tikashi, Aki wo matsu), later on. For now ... be inspired and share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with us all.

Carpe Diem #1225 cool, cool evening, cool wind (Suzushi,Ryofu)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am a bit late with this new episode, because I had a very busy day-shift at work. So my apologies for this small delay. Yesterday we had "dunes" for prompt and today I love to inspire you with a classical kigo for summer, cool, cool evening, cool wind (Suzushi,Ryofu), and the first thing that came in mind was a haiku by my master Matsuo Basho (1644-1694):

Matsuo Basho

You remember for sure Basho's haiku 'Old Pond', this famous haiku we have seen here often, we even have created an e-book around this famous haiku (see for the link to this e-book, the right side of our Kai):

an old pond
a frog jumps in
the sound of water

The following haiku by Basho has the same third sentence but fails to achieve the importance that it does have in the above verse.

Basho wrote the following haiku in the Summer of 1688.

taneshisa ya   aota ni suzuma   mizu no ato

delightfulness
cooling one self in a rice paddy
the sound of water

As we look closer at both verses we can see the picture, but in 'Old Pond' the main figure is the frog and in 'delightfulness' it's a human. Basho uses the same third sentence but, there is a difference in 'the sound of water'. In 'Old Pond' the sound of water is very short. It's just the frog who breaks the water. That sound is the essence of haiku, short as an eye-blink, just an 'aha-erlebnis'.
In 'delightfulness' the sound of water is made by a human who is cooling his feet in the water of the rice paddy. That 'sound of water' is a longer sound, the sound of splashing. In 'delightfulness' the cool water of the rice paddy is the 'aha-erlebnis'. How refreshing the cool water of the rice paddy on a hot summer day.

In my opinion 'the sound of water' in 'Old Pond' is stronger and important for the picture. In 'delightfulness' 'the sound of water' is less important for the picture. It's the coolness of the water of the rice paddy that's important.
Well it's just a thought, a reverie ....

dew drops on grass

The above image I used several years ago as the cover for a haiku-book in Dutch, but it also was used to illustrate the haiku I wrote in response on the above delightful haiku by Basho:

with my bare feet
in the cool grass of dawn
Ah! what a feeling

© Chèvrefeuille

Another haiku by Basho with the same theme, coolness, is the following:

essential to life
the little space under my hat
enjoying the coolness

This is a not so well known haiku of Basho. The Japanese hat in this haiku is the so called "kasa".

kasa

The "kasa" was an umbrella like hat. In some way through wearing this 'kasa' Basho always had his own shady place at hand.

such a hot day
my shadow needs to cool down
under the willow

© Chèvrefeuille

Another one with the same theme:

hot summer day
the shadow of the willows
Ah! that coolness

© Chèvrefeuille

the shadow of the willos

In some of Basho's haiku he refers to himself as part of the scene or looks to the scene from a distance. Not very common for haiku poets. It isn't done to be part of your own haiku as haiku poet, but rules are there to be once read and than to forget them immediately.
In the following haiku he does both. He is part of the scene, but is also watching it from a distance. I think it's a great way to write haiku (unless it wasn't common).
This "not being part of your own haiku" is still in our times one of the rules. Rules? Basho once said: "Know the rules of writing haiku and forget them immediately". Well ... that's my way to write haiku. So I 'forgot' the rules of the classical haiku and embraced the rules of the Kanshicho style in which Basho wrote his haiku between 1683 and 1685. In that style the syllable count is different and less important. But as Basho said: "Forget the rules immediately". Well I can say "forgetting the rules feels good and makes my mind free". With that thought I have written a lot of haiku.

kawa kaze ya   usu gaki ki taru   yu suzumi

a river breeze
the one wearing a light persimmon robe
enjoying the coolness

© Basho

Basho wrote a preface to this haiku.

"Enjoying the cool breeze on the bank of Shijo, an observance is practiced from the beginning to the middle of June. A special floor is set up right on the river, and people enjoy drinking and eating all night. Women tie their sashes correctly tight, and men wear their formal long coats. I see even the apprentices of a cooper and the blacksmith. They seem to have too much leisure time, singing and making noise. This is probably a scene which can only be seen in the capital (Edo, now called Tokyo)".

summer coolness

observing the crowd
having fun on the seashore
almost naked

© Chèvrefeuille

I love the full beaches in summer. Everyone has fun enjoying the warm summer and the coolness of the sea.
Children laugh making sandcastles, grown ups reading, playing, drinking, eating and laughing. Summer is a wonderful season and I think ... everyone enjoys it.

Sorry ... maybe a long (to long) read this episode, but I was on a roll. I hope I have inspired you to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 29th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our next episode, swamp, later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1224 dunes

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and I hope I have inspired you with our "weekend-meditation". Today we will go on with our Summertime month full of classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords).
There are a lot of classical and non-classical kigo for summer and today I love to share another nice one, a modern one this time extracted from Jane's "A Dictionary of Haiku". Today I love to challenge you with dunes.

the cry of a seagull
resonates through the dunes
waves pounding the beach

© Chèvrefeuille

As I was preparing this episode the first thing which came in mind had nothing to do with summer. I thought of the novel series by Frank Herbert, Dune. I remember that I read this complete series (6 volumes) as a teenager and I loved it, loved it dearly. It inspired me to write my own novel several years later.

Dune (part 1) Frank Herbert cover

Let me tell you a little bit more about this beautiful series of novels by Frank Herbert:

Dune is a 1965 epic science fiction novel by American author Frank Herbert, originally published as two separate serials in Analog magazine. It tied with Roger Zelazny's This Immortal for the Hugo Award in 1966, and it won the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel. It is the first installment of the Dune saga, and in 2003 was cited as the world's best-selling science fiction novel.

Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which noble houses, in control of individual planets, owe allegiance to the Padishah Emperor, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides, whose noble family accepts the stewardship of the desert planet Arrakis. As this planet is the only source of the "spice" melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe, control of Arrakis is a coveted—and dangerous—undertaking. The story explores the multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other in a struggle for the control of Arrakis and its "spice".

Herbert wrote five sequels: Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, and Chapterhouse: Dune. In 1984 Dune The Movie was created. A great movie which followed (in my opinion) the novels in an awesome way.

Virginia Beach Dune

Okay ... back to our prompt for today, dunes, a modern summer kigo. Here are a few haiku by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) to inspire you.

rain-wet dunes
scraped with yellow light
of sunset showers

noon shadows
following the contours
of desert dunes

living in desert dunes
the ups and downs
of curved sand

© Jane Reichhold

Three beauties ... Jane was really a great haiku poetess. Here is another one by her. I think this one is one of her best on dunes:

the shape of wind
writing in dunes
loneliness

© Jane Reichhold

It will not be an easy task to create haiku or tanka in the same brightness and beauty as the ones shared here by Jane, but  ... I had to try.

hot summer day
seeking for relief and shadow
between the dunes
exchanging body fluids with the one I love
while seagulls cry

© Chèvrefeuille

Hmm ... nice tanka I think. What is your opinion on this tanka?

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 28th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, cool, cool evening, cool wind (Suzushi,Ryofu), later on. For now .... have fun!

 

 

Carpe Diem #1221 Cockroach (Gokiburi)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem's Summertime month full of kigo (seasonword) for summer. The kigo I use this month are classical and non-classical and the non-classical are extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku". The classical ones are extracted from the Shiki Salon Saijiki.

Today's prompt is a little bit strange, but this insect belongs to summer ... today's classical summer kigo is Cockroach (Gokiburi). I remember a holiday my wife and I had several years ago on the Canary Islands ... cockroaches crawling through the cabin we had hired. Cockroaches ... are there haiku written about these creatures?

While searching for haiku about cockroaches I ran into a "cockroach-haiku" written by a girl of 5 years, she created it for a school project about haiku:

Cockroaches crawling,
Looking for pieces of food,
People screaming loud.

© Viriginia P. (5 years old; Bucklands Beach Primary School)

Cockroach (Gokiburi)

Here is another haiku about cockroaches, this one is created by Dennis Siluk:

The night is so long and hot,
Here the cockroach rests
By my bedroom door!...

© Dennis Siluk

And here is one written by R.K.Singh:

Sipping coffee
at a wayside stall
cockroaches too

© R.K.Singh

I searched for other haiku, but the all the haiku about cockroaches I ran into were written by modern poets. I couldn't find any haiku about cockroaches, but ... maybe you can find some!

shadow on the wall
moves closer and closer
a cockroach

early morning
with bare feet crushing a cockroach
hot summer day

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... this episode wasn't easy to create, not so much through lack of words, but mostly through the low examples for cockroach haiku.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 22nd at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, beach, later on. I hope to be on time, because I am on the nightshift.

Carpe Diem #1220 Twilight

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a nice weekend and that you have been inspired to create haiku or tanka "triggered" by our "weekend-meditation". I am looking forward to your responses. Than this ... our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Autumn Retreat 2017 "departure" has started too. So you can create haiku or tanka themed "departure" for 30 days every day one (or several) haiku or tanka a day.

Today our Summertime-month is going on with its regular prompts, all kigo for summer and today I have chosen Twilight for prompt. It has been extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" and its therefore a modern kigo (seasonword) for summer.

White Zen

Here is the haiku by Jane Reichhold to inspire you:

twilight
some of the light underwater
in a white stone

© Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

What a wonderful haiku Jane has written on this modern kigo. The scene described is awesome and gives me a feeling of being rich. Isn't it beautiful to see the light of twilight in the white stones on the bottom of the brook?

As I re-read this haiku a haiku I once wrote came in mind:

deep silence
sunbeams breaking through the water -
the silence deepens

© Chèvrefeuille

Or this one, also from my archives:

the creek ripples
water circles grow
a pebble

© Chèvrefeuille

All haiku that share a beautiful scene with us, in which we only can bow our heads in admiration and praise ... Mother Nature is beautiful.

Twilight

And to conclude this episode I have gathered a few haiku, also from my archives, themed twilight:

in the twilight
only the song of cicadas -
my love's breathing

in the twilight
mist creeps over the fields -
stars twinkle 

in the twilight
as stars twinkle bright and clear
Honeysuckle perfume

© Chèvrefeuille

Maybe it's an idea to start your inspired haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form with the following first line:

in the twilight

You may choose of course if you use this first line or not.

I just had to create an all new poem inspired on this post ... so here is my newly created haiku:

in the twilight
silence deepens into mystery
last beam of light

© Chèvrefeuille

Well .. I hope I have inspired you with this new episode of our Haiku Kai, the place to be if you liuke to write and share Japanese poetry.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 21st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, Cockroach (Gokiburi), later on. For now just have fun!

Carpe Diem #1219 Kingfisher (Kawasemi)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

From a rainy Netherlands I wish you a great evening and welcome at a new episode in our exploration of the classical and non-classical kigo (seasonword) for summer. Today I have a wonderful classical kigo for you, Kingfisher (Kawasemi).

In my opinion the Kingfisher is one of the most colorful water birds. For sure here in The Netherlands. This Kingfisher is a wonderful fisherman and fast as the wind. I think this wonderful bird can inspire you all to write nice haiku.

Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australasia. The group is treated either as a single family, Alcedinidae, or as a suborder Alcedines containing three families, Alcedinidae (river kingfishers), Halcyonidae (tree kingfishers), and Cerylidae (water kingfishers). There are roughly 90 species of kingfisher. All have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes. Most species are tropical in distribution, and a slight majority are found only in forests. They consume a wide range of prey as well as fish, usually caught by swooping down from a perch. Like other members of their order they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground. A few species, principally insular forms, are threatened with extinction.

Wow! What a wonderful bird, really a King.

colorful reflection
throws shadows on the brook -
Kingfisher attacks
silver comes to live in the brook -
circles in water

© Chèvrefeuille

The above tanka is a re-done cascading haiku which I wrote back in 2013, also about the Kingfisher. And here is a (not so) new haiku written by me:

a blueish flash
in crystal clear water
only circles left

© Chèvrefeuille

kawasemi satte yubi ni yubiwa no nokoru nomi

a kingfisher left—
on my finger
only the ring remains

© Kusatao Nakamura

And now it is up to you ... share your haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form inspired on this prompt with us all.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 17th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend-meditation.

Carpe Diem #1217 Cormorant fishing (Ukai)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

This month it's all about classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) and today I have a classical kigo for you which brought immediately a haiku by Basho in mind, maybe you know this one it's a well known haiku by my master:

so fascinating
but then so sad:
cormorant fishing boat

© Bashō

Bashō  strikes a perfect balance of humanness - the fascination with this 'ingenious' method of fishing and, suddenly, the revelation of its implication, karmic and otherwise. The range of emotion from one mere moment to the next is, in itself, something of an analogy for the human experience.

Cormorant fishing (ukai)

But what is it ... cormorant fishing? Let me tell you a little about this way of fishing. Cormorant fishing is a method of fishing in which the bird has a snare attached to the base of its throat. When the cormorant catches a fish, it is unable to swallow it and the fisherman extracts it from the bird's throat. The process is repeated, over and over again.

This method of fishing, hundreds and hundreds of years old, inspired many haiku. And, as would be expected, most are in empathy with the plight of the bird.

Here is another example of a haiku on cormorant fishing:

my soul
dived in and out of the water
with the cormorant

© Onitsura

A not so nice way of fishing I would say, but well ... it's the only way for a lot of Japanese fishermen. Here is my haiku inspired on this theme for today:

at the seashore
the fishing-boats are overgrown -
playground for children

© Chèvrefeuille

Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 15th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, solar eclipse, later on.

Carpe Diem #1215 cold sake (hiyazake)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of Carpe Diem. This month we are exploring the kigo for summer. Kigo are seasonwords that are used in haiku to point towards the season in which the haiku took place. Today we have a classical kigo as used in ancient Japan. The most kigo were chosen with Edo as the tracking point, because of the long stretched country. Today the classical kigo is hiyazake or cold sake.

Sake is a rice wine and mostly it is served warm, but in the summer, when it is hot, it is served cold.

Hiyazake (cold sake)

Here are a few examples of haiku with this kigo:

Santoka Taneda (1882 - 1940) had an unhappy life which was, since his eleventh year, marked by the suicide of his mother, which she apparently committed because of her cheating husband. Santoka was raised by his grandmother, and whole of his life was marked by constant drinking which left him outside of community, irrespectively of his great poetic talent. He couldn't keep a job and all he was able to do was wandering and writing sad haiku poetry marked by his addiction to sake. The addiction probably killed him in the end.

As you (maybe) know Santoka's haiku have a free form and don't follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule. Santoka thus departs from the traditional haiku, but his poetry can be still classified as haiku, although it does not fit there with regards to form. It does fit in there, however, with regards to the spirit, because it remains faithful to revealing the whole world in a moment, in a single experience - in this, Santoka was a sad master.

Santoka wrote several haiku about or themed sake:

If I sell my rags
And buy some sake
Will there still be loneliness?

So drunk
I slept
with the crickets!

Beneath The River of Heaven
The drunkard dances all night.

sound of waves
far off close by
how much longer to live

© Santoka, (tr. Burton Watson)

Hiyazake

Or this one by Shiki, more for autumn and winter:

samukeredo sake mo ari  yu mo aru tokoro

it is cold, but
we have sake
and the hot spring

© Shiki (1867-1902)

And here is one by myself:

in the light of the full moon
drinking sake with my haiku friends
under cherry blossoms

© Chèvrefeuille (April 2017)

a strange sight
sailors loaded with sake
dance like fools

© Chèvrefeuille (October 2015)
Well ... it is up to you now ...

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until July 10th at noon (CET). I will (try to) post our new episode, a new "weekend-meditation" later on. For now .... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1214 dawn

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you all have had a nice and wonderful day full of inspiration and that you are ready for a new episode of our Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share haiku, tanka and other Japanese poetry forms, but ... I have a few concerns according to CDHK. Maybe it's the time of year, time of vacation for example or you all have other business to do, but it seems like CDHK is dying a slow death. I think it needs an adrenaline shot to revive.
Maybe it's the choice of prompts I have made or something else ... I don't know, but I have the feeling that I am loosing CDHK. The last weeks, the last month, the responses were at their deepest point ... there were prompts or features with only one or two, sometimes four haijin who responded. I don't know what to do. At this moment I have not one idea to revive CDHK. All the time I give for this community of haiku-loving poets seems not enough ... so I am rethinking CDHK, maybe I have to end this community ... I really don't know.

Of course I will make CDHK this month, because this month has already started and I am willing to create this month until the end of this month. As we are running against the end of this month, say in the last week, I will consider further if I will go on or will stop.

Today I have another wonderful modern kigo for summer extracted from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku", dawn. Will this episode be the dawn of the downfall of CDHK? We will see.

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 ...

credits

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
deepening silence 

© Chèvrefeuille

Well ... did you like this episode? I love it to challenge you a little bit more this month by e.g. using the "fragment and phrase" so have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 9th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, cold sake, later on. For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your poetry with us all here at our Haiku Kai.

Carpe Diem #1212 outdoor fun

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of our new Carpe Diem Haiku Kai month. This month we will have all classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) for summer. And today we will start with outdoor fun. Of course outdoor fun is not only for summer, but in the most countries the "light" part of the year (spring and summer) is the time of year were the most outdoor fun is seen. However outdoor fun can also point to the beauty of nature in summer. And for that kind of outdoor fun I have two amazing haiku by Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) for your inspiration:

finally it's Friday
the passion flower blooms
wrinkling the bedspread

crawling on the bed
tendrils of passion flowers
thick on the porch

© Jane Reichhold

passion flower blooms

And ... well there is also (maybe) a more erotic, sensual layer hidden in these two haiku by Jane. Well it is up to you to create haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry forms inspired on this first episode of July 2017.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until July 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, change of clothes, later on.

PS. You can find our new promptlist above in the menu or click HERE

 

Carpe Diem Extra #24 - Changes and the results of our second kukai "summertime"

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to read all of your responses on my question about changing the name of our Haiku Kai. It makes me happy and gives me a warm feeling. We are really a family of haiku poets and however I am your host we are making CDHK together. It's great to hear that you all appreciate that I feel that you all are evolved in CDHK.
I have decided to change a few things, after reading all of your opinions. I will not change the name of our Haiku Kai, but I have changed the description of our Haiku Kai as you already have seen (read) I think.
With the change of the description of our Haiku Kai I also have decided to close Tanka Shrine and bring it to our Kai, you can find a new page above in the menu "Carpe Diem Tanka Shrine". It's my goal to make a few more pages about e.g. choka and kikobun, because Japanese poetry has a very broad range of different forms. I am trying to create those pages this week, but I am in the nightshift so I cannot guarantee that.
I hope you all appreciate the little changes which I already have made.

Results of our second Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Kukai "summertime".

In this second kukai there were 37 haiku submitted (including two by myself). All wonderfully composed and with great touch of "summertime" in it. The judging was a little bit delayed and that delay was a lucky one, because I had an ex aequo, so the delayed votes broke that tied results.
I haven't given points by the way because I knew the names of the haiku poets who did submit haiku for this kukai, and in my opinion it was only fair to not vote.

Here are the results:

Haiku 36 > 12 points

horizon on fire
after a hot summer day
thunder and lightning 

© Chèvrefeuille, your host

Haiku 4 > 10 points

gathering seashells
the sound of summer jingles
inside my pockets

© Lolly


Haiku 20 > 8 points

warming in my palm –
a summer plum
plucked by the storm

© Jen (a.k.a. Paloma)


Haiku 21 and 31 > 7 pointsHaiku 13 > 6 points
Haiku 32 > 4 points
Haiku 6, 9, 17, 19, 23 and 24 > 3 points
Haiku 5, 7, 12, 14 and 30 > 2 points
Haiku 3 and 15 > 1 point
All they other haiku stayed without points

It's a bit strange to write this, because Haiku 36 I wrote myself, so that means that I am the winner of this second kukai "summertime". Of course it's a joy to be the winner, but I will not grant myself with the prize for the first place.
I have decided to let our runner up, Haiku 4, by Lolly of "Look for a lovely thing" create the E-book and she will be our featured haiku poet for August. By making that choice I also grant our third place, Haiku 20, By Jen of "Blog It or Lose It", the opportunity to be the "topic" of the first Tokubetsudesu episode of August.

As you all know I already have started the third CDHK kukai "juxtaposition" and I have already a few entries for that kukai. If you would like to participate in our third kukai than please send your entries to:

carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com

Write "kukai juxtaposition" in the subject line.

Well ... I hope you all are well and healthy ...

Namaste,

Chèvrefeuille, your host

Carpe Diem Utabukuro #2 theme: summertime

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Last Saturday I started a new feature here at our Haiku Kai. In this new feature you have no prompts or something it's just for sharing your favorite haiku or tanka with us all here at our Haiku Kai and put them into the "poem bag" or Utabukuro.

For this episode however I have a theme. That theme has to be found in the shared haiku or tanka and this week I love to ask you to share your favorite haiku or tanka about "summertime". This favorite haiku can be from a modern haiku poet or a classical haiku poet.
As you have found your favorite haiku or tanka than please tell us why you have chosen that specific haiku or tanka and than write an all new haiku or tanka inspired on the haiku or tanka of your choice.

For this episode of Carpe Diem Utabukuro I have ran through my archives and found the following haiku which I wrote back in 2012 as spring was departing and summer almost started. This is a cascading haiku about sunflowers. I like sunflowers, because I associate them with summer, even when the sun is not there through the sunflowers I can feel summer.

Sunflowers - Vincent Van Gogh

hopeful new day

available in yellowish
a great sunflower

a great sunflower
desirable to bright sunlight
bows its head to earth

bows its head to earth

a possible new flower opens
promising dreams

© Chèvrefeuille

And here is my all new haiku inspired on this cascading haiku written by myself:

bruised sunflower
it bowed its head to deep -
departure of summer

© Chèvrefeuille

Not as strong as I had hoped, but I like the opposite scene ...

This episode of Carpe Diem Utabukuro is open for your submissions at noon (CET) and will remain open until next Saturday June 27th at noon (CET). Have fun!

Carpe Diem #755 succulents

!!! LAST CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS OUR "SUMMERTIME" KUKAI CLOSES JUNE 15TH !!

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I hope you did like our new feature "Carpe Diem Utabukuro" and our recent CD-Special by Rallentanda. It's really a joy to create all these posts and to be your humble host despite of the time it takes ... it's a honor to be your host and it's an honor that I may use all Jane Reichhold's haiku to discover the modern summer kigo (seasonwords). I am grateful that Jane has an intense bond with our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ....

This month we are discovering all modern seasonwords (kigo) as gathered by Jane in her saijiki "a dictionary of haiku" and today's prompt is succulents. What are succulents?

Credits: Succulents (this is an Aloe)

In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents or sometimes fat plants, are plants having some parts that are more than normally thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word "succulent" comes from the Latin word sucus, meaning juice, or sap. Succulent plants may store water in various structures, such as leaves and stems.

I think you all know these kind of plants and I think that Magical Mystical Teacher, who lives in the desert, knows a lot about these succulents and I am especially looking forward to MMT's response, but of course I love to read all your responses.

I have tried to "come in contact" with this succulents, but it wasn't easy to write a haiku inspired on this prompt, but I think I have succeeded ....

deep in the desert
a drop of water in the cacti
gives new life

© Chèvrefeuille

Not a strong one, but as I said ... I had some difficulties myself with this prompt. And to conclude this episode I will share a few haiku by Jane on succulents:

a great pot
of green leaves with thorns
the unknown succulent

a breeze
shaping the yucca blossom
bird shadow

© Jane Reichhold

Yucca blossom

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until June 17th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, summer passing, later on. For now ... have fun!