Thursday, January 9, 2014

Carpe Diem's "Use that Quote"


Good day dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am inspired today and have created another challenging special feature. I present to you Carpe Diem's "Use that Quote" in which the goal is to write a haiku, senryu, tanka or kyoka inspired on a given quote. And for today I have chosen a quote by Martin Luther King, the man who was assinated (as JFK was) in 1968. King had a dream ... he dreamed about being the first 'black' president of the US ... as we all know he didn't fullfill that dream, but his dream became true as Obama became president of the US.

Martin Luther King

His (King's) one-liner became one of most wellknown one-liners ever. I think you all know already which one-liner I mean. Yes ... that one.
Here it is to inspire you to write a haiku:

'I have a dream' - Martin Luther King

Here is my inspired haiku on this quote:

walking on pink clouds
dreaming about the first cherry blossom
today I saw the first


(C) Chèvrefeuille


First Cherry Blossom

Now it is up to you. Write a haiku inspired on the quote by Martin Luther King. Have fun, be inspired and share your haiku with us.
This episode of "Use That Quote" is now open for your submissions and will stay open until January 23th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will (try to) post a new episode later on that day.


Carpe Diem Haiga Festival #1


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at the first episode of a new  special feature on Carpe
Diem Haiku Kai Special. This feature is an awesome one, because in this feature it's all about Haiga.
Haiga is a nice kind of art and poetry it's a photo, painting or other kind of image with a haiku, senryu, tanka or kyoka included. The picture and the poem are making eachother stronger or making eachother clearer.
I have created a few haiga in the past years and I liked doing it ... so I hope you all appreciate this new feature and I will (try to) publish an every week episode of Haiga Festival.

For this new feature the only task is to share a Haiga with us. Maybe you have a special memory going with it ... or maybe your haiga is just that beautiful to share. This feature will not have a given prompt ... it's just free ... feel free to share your haiga which you like.

I love to share a haiga which I made not that long ago, and maybe you can remember it, because I shared it on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai and here it is:




This episode of Haiga Festival will stay open until January 16th 11.59 AM (CET) and I will (try to) post a new episode of this new feature that same date. NOW OPEN for your submissions!


Monday, January 6, 2014

Carpe Diem Goes Back to Its Roots #4


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I am proud to share my first post on my new Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special weblog. Today the goal is to write a classical haiku following the classical rules of haiku. So your haiku has to follow the next rules:


1. Describe a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water; so present tense;
2. 5-7-5 syllables;
3. Use a kigo (or seasonword);
4. Use a kireji (or cuttingword);
5. Sometimes a deeper spiritual or Zen-Buddhistic meaning;
6. First and third line are interchangeable and last but not least
7. No Self, avoid personal or possessive pronouns (I, me, my); it's an experience not how the poet feels about it.


As you can read at point 4, one of the rules is to use kireji (cuttingword). Kireji (lt. "cutting word") is the expression for a special category of words used in certain types of Japanese traditional poetry as is haiku. It's regarded as a requirement in classical haiku.
In English there is no exact equivalent of kireji and therefore it's difficult to define it's function. It is said to supply structural support to the haiku. When placed at the end of a haiku, it provides a dignified ending, concluding the haiku with a heightened sense of closure. Used in the middle of the haiku, it briefly cuts the stream of thought, indicating that the haiku consists of two thoughts held independent of each other. In such a position, it indicates a pause, both rhythmically and grammatically, and may tend an emotional flavor to the phrase preceding it.

The most common Kireji used in classical haiku are:

ka : emphasis; when at end of a phrase, it indicates a question.
kana : emphasis; usually can be found at a poem's end, indicates wonder.
- keri : exclamatory verbal suffix, past perfect.
- ramu or - ran : verbal suffix indicating probability.
- shi : adjectival suffix; usually used to end a clause.
- tsu : verbal suffix; present perfect.
ya : emphasis the preceding word or words cutting a poem into two parts, it implies an equation, while inviting the reader to explore their interrelationship.

How to use Kireji?

Haiku consist of 17 Japanese syllables or onji, in three metrical phrase of 5, 7 and 5 onji respectively. A kireji is typical positioned at the end of one of these three phrases.
When it's placed at the end of the final phrase (the end of the haiku), the kireji draws the reader back to the beginning, initiating a circular pattern. A large number of haiku, including many of those by Basho (1644-1694, founder of the "modern" haiku), and with either - keri, an exclamatory auxiliary verb, ot the exclamatory particle kana , both of which initiate such a circular pattern.



Let me give you an example of the use of kireji. For these examples I have used the four volume series "Haiku" written by R.H. Blyth.

shoku no hi wo shoku ni utsusu ya hara no yu

lighting one candle
with another candle;
an evening of spring

(c) Buson (1716-1783)

Buson is one of the four greatest haiku-poets next to Basho, Issa and Shiki. In the original haiku (written in romaji) the 'ya' is a cuttingword. In this one translated by a ; . Another example this time one written by Basho (1644-1694).

aki-kaze ya yabu mo hatake mo fuwa no seki

the autumn wind:
thickets and fields also,
Fuha Barrier

(c) Basho

In this verse the cuttingword is at the end of the first line 'ya' and is translated with

The goal is to write a classical haiku following the rules. I am not such a haiku-poet who is writing his haiku in the classical way, but sometimes I like to go back to the roots of haiku myself. So here is my classical haiku:


praying monks

the silence deepens
monks are shuffling through the garden
saying their prayers

(c) Chèvrefeuille, your host

Well ... I hope you liked this very first post on my new weblog "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special" and I hope that you all will find your way to this new weblog. Have fun, be inspired and share your classical haiku with us all here at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special.
You can submit your classical haiku until February 6th 11.59 AM (CET). This episode of "Back to Its Roots" is NOW OPEN for your submissions.


WELCOME


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I love to welcome you at "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special" a weblog about haiku, senryu, tanka, kyoka and all other kinds of Japanese poetry forms.

This weblog will publish all Special features (except the monthly Specials featuring a haiku-poet) of my other weblog "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai" for example: "Carpe Diem's Tanka Shrine", "Carpe Diem's Make the Haiku Complete" and "Carpe Diem Goes Back to It's Roots". By starting this new weblog I, Chèvrefeuille (a Dutch haiku-poet), hope to get more visitors on my Carpe Diem Haiku Kai weblog, because there I will only post the regular episodes of my daily haiku meme which I started in October 2012.


At my other weblog we are having this month a journey straight through the Soviet Union on board of the Trans Siberian Railroad with Paulo Coelho's novel "Aleph" as our guide. Until now we have had a wonderful journey with a lot of wonderful haiku, senryu, tanka and kyoka.

Here at "Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Special" we will have a great time too of course and it is my pleasure to publish my first Special feature here today.

Feel free to visit my other weblog and feel free to participate there and here in our world of haiku.

Namaste


Chèvrefeuille, your host