Breakfast Renga

A wonderful renga in honor of Jane Reichhold.

writing in north norfolk

early morning rain
the dry sound inside the cabin
of oatmeal cooking
­                                                           comfort in heat of a pot
­                                                           and scrape of a wooden spoon
flood waters crest
someone by the river puts water
in a coffee pot
­                                                           echoing waterfall gush
­                                             …

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Restarting …

One of the Logos for this feature used on CDHK

Dear haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while that I created a post here at Carpe Diem Haiku Family, part of the CDHK-community, but from this weekend on I hope to publish here at least once a week. Just for giving you an update about the growth of the CDHK community or a re-blogged post from one of the other parts of the CDHK community.

Natsume Soseki

I love to re-publish / re-blog here one of the Tan Renga Challenges. This month at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (on blogger / blogspot) all the regular episodes are TRC or challenges to create a continuation on a given haiku. For example this Tan Renga published on September 3rd 2018:

over the wintry forest
winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow                                  ©️ Natsume Soseki

body poppers dance on the square
while the first flakes of snow fall              ©️ Chèvrefeuille

Than I have something else to give word to here. Our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai 2nd Troiku Kukai is still running. If you would like to participate in this Troiku kukai than please send your Troiku to: carpediemhaikukai@gmail.com Please write “Troiku Kukai 2” in the subject-line. You can submit your Troiku until September 15th at 10:00 PM (CEST).

Follow this LINK for more information.

Imagination Without Limits at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Dear friends, haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while that I posted here at Carpe Diem Haiku Family, but that’s going to change. I have found a bit more time to write about my passion, haiku (and other Japanese poetry forms), as I do almost 30 years. I discovered haiku in the late eighties and was immediately addicted to that small verse from the Far East, especially from Japan. I started reading several books about haiku and tried to create my first haiku-like poems.

Now so long after starting haiku-ing I am still addicted to this beautiful small poem. Next month we are celebrating the first lustrum of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, the daily haiku meme I started in October 2012. In those awesome five years I have created several special features and invented a few new ways of creating haiku. For example the Troiku and the Fibo-ku. Both are just nice ways of creating haiku in another form.

That same thing I am doing right now at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, I am experimenting with the haiku form. And that’s all through the beauty of images.

Than a haiku in my experimental way would look like this:

closed
forever
my heart

© Chèvrefeuille

This is what I call “experimental haiku” … it tells the story with a minimum of words and that’s what I love to challenge you with.

Use the above image to create an experimental haiku. You can submit your haiku now until September 21st 7:00 PM (CET).

Have fun!

A new “shadow”-challenge, create a troiku themed “cherry blossom

Dear friends,

It has been a while, but I am trying to manage all the things I like to do in a very strict time, but that’s not an easy task. I love creating my blogs and in particular the blogs of our Carpe Diem Haiku Kai family.

So I have tried to create a new “shadow” challenge, just because I feel the need to do that to promote the Troiku. Maybe you know that I have invented a new creative way of haiku writing. That new haiku creation I have called “troiku”, after that Russian sleigh, the troika. The troika is a sleigh with three horses and those horses brought me the idea of the Troiku.

A Troika, the Russian sleigh I used to create the Troiku

The goal of the Troiku is the following:

1. You create a haiku (three lines)
2. Than you create three new haiku with the three lines of your haiku
3. Your Troiku is ready.

I will give you an example:

Here is the haiku to start with, this one I call “the sleigh”

seeking knowledge
getting deeper insight
hermit’s choice

Than you have to create three new haiku with the three lines of “the sleigh”, those three haiku I call “the horses”

(horse 1:)
seeking knowledge
contemplating under the Bodhi Tree
like Buddha

(horse 2:)
getting deeper insight
while listening to the silence
the sound of rain

(horse 3:)
hermit’s choice
seeking refuge high up in the mountains
closer to the gods

© Chèvrefeuille

It is a wonderful creative way of writing haiku, and it gives you the opportunity to play with words without counting syllables.

And now … it’s up to you. Try to create a Troiku themed “Cherry Blossom”. You can submit your Troiku until next Sunday February 12th 10.00 PM (CET).

Have fun!

A New “Shadow” Challenge

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It has been a while that I posted here, but … well as you all know (maybe) I am a very busy guy not only on Internet, but also in real life.
I love to create weblogs and e-books and I love to challenge you to create haiku, tanka, haibun, haiga or other Japanese poetry form. Carpe Diem is a very nice and warmhearted family of haiku and tanka poets who are mostly busy creating as inspired on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

At Carpe Diem Haiku Kai this month its all about tanka and recently I started the Carpe Diem Winter Retreat 2016 “find the silence”, a period of 30 days to write a haiku or tanka every day inspired on the theme.

Here I love to reach out to you all and challenge you to create haiku and tanka based on the “shadow-side” of life.

House Altar (photo found on Pinterest)

An example:

house altar
photos of loved ones
I light a candle
in front of my brother’s photo –
the scent of Old Spice

© Chèvrefeuille

In this tanka you can sense the pain and sadness of loosing a loved one. In this tanka I refer to the death of my brother back in 1995. This is what I mean with the “shadow-side” of life.
You can submit your response until next Tuesday (November 29th at noon)

 

Autumn night–soliloquy no renga ~ Santoka Taneda

A beautiful Soliloquy no Renga

Tournesol dans un Jardin

Autumn night–
I received it from the dog
And gave it to the cat.

© Santoka Taneda

purring cat nestles
I slip into hypnotic trance

wake up suddenly
chilly autumn breeze
frissons on my neck

dog rests at my feet
as I turn in for the night

chirps invade my dream
wet tongue on my cheek
beckons me

morning dew glistens
speckled diamonds on the grass

java on the deck
a leaf floats by my cup
cat jumps on my lap

dog takes chase
barks up at the tree

© Tournesol’16/05/04

Now this was a very challenging prompt…I had no clue what to do about that dog and the cat. I kept asking myself, “What the heck did the dog give me?” And then I turned my attention to what my cat, Bette, would have done and this brought back fond memories of my Desirée, a mini-Schnauzer who would burrow…

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Souchou

Dear friends and followers,

There will be soon a new part of our Carpe Diem Haiku Family online … souchou an e-zine with a lot of joyfull articles, haiku, tanka and a lot more … I hope to have it online before the end of this year.

Have a great week … and I love to wish you all … Happy New Year …

christmas has gone
no more presents under the tree
only good wishes

© Chèvrefeuille

Content on life (haiga)

Awesome haiga

Tournesol dans un Jardin

Inspired by these gems written by our host at CDHK “frosted grass”

early morning sunlight
frosted grass around the yurt
puffs of breath
© Chèvrefeuille

hoarfrost on the grass
melts in the early sunlight
life passes
© Chèvrefeuille

rime tipped grass
catching rays of sunshine
co-exist

© Tournesol’15-11-02

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Ancient sailor (tanka)

Tournesol dans un Jardin

moors on Isle of May
mists over the foreign highlands
under harvest moon
old mariner feigns to see
heather in his Bonnie’s hair

(c) Tournesol ’15

We were to complete the following haiku:

Here is the challenge: We are to complete the haiku below; adding the first and third line plus we have to use another kigo (seasonword); in the second line the “mists” refers to autumn …

…………………….

mists over the foreign highlands

…………………….

Here is our host’s completed haiku:

ancient warriors ghosts
mists over the foreign highlands –
waiting for the full moon

© Chèvrefeuille

Heeding Haiku at Mindlovemiserysmenagerie

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In the light of the blue moon

Chèvrefeuille's haiku

I wonder … did you know that we had a second full moon today? A so called ‘blue moon’? Well … today this event occurred as it did e.g. August 31st 2012. For someone like me, a Wiccan-believer, it’s worth a celebration. And I had my own little celebration … I danced naked in the backyarf in the light of her … the Blue Moon. I belief that moonlight can give new, female, energy to bring the male guts in balance. I enjoyed my naked dance and it inspired me to write this tanka, my new found love … or my new addiction …

dancing naked
in the light of the blue moon
she cleanses me
her warmth cherishes my body
the sweet scent of Honeysuckle

© Chèvrefeuille

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

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