Dreams - January 30, 2015

Riva del Garda (TN) at Dawn

Dreams

walking in that city
well known plazas and streets
never visited

an old house
each room a treasure trove
with old lace

poetry and prose
written in a library
before awakening

§§§§§§§§§

A Dream (Choka)

near the train station
lines and lines of buses wait
starlings weave patterns
in the autumn skies of Rome
I jump on a bus
soon it rolls into a square
Savona long ago
getting off I see an alley
and smell warm pizza
here's a fair in Padua
under summer skies
I walk along bright streets
tall buildings - a park
bright green lawns and a fountain
greet me to my surprise
 I'm now in Athens, Georgia

refreshed and happy
seeing the clock on my wall
I get up and dress
drinking coffee at dawn
I reflect upon my life

© G.s.k. ‘15

This morning I'm writing about dreams ... inspired by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's prompt - First Dream - I'd already wrote the post for Bastet and Sekhmet's Library, but that was before the prompt post was ready, from the list of monthly prompt suggestions.  In his prompt though, Chèvrefeuille talks not only about the first dream ... but also dreams in general and lucid dreams in particular!  

I'm a dreamer ... and I feel that I'm very lucky to have this gift.  I can remember not only my dreams after I wake up ... but they become part of my memory, just like any other experience I have.  I remember dreams from as far back as my early infancy ... a trip in the sky on flying horses and one particularly lucid dream, going into the bathroom to get a drink of water ... when I did go into the bathroom, I discovered there was no glass to have drunk that water, so realized it had been a dream.

Here are some delightful haiku that were part of the dream prompt:

Fuji no yuki Rosei ga yume o tsukasetari

snow on Mount Fuji -

Rosei creates the world

in his dream

© Basho (age 34)

nanno sono jô hatsu yume mo naku karasu

you've wrecked
my year's first dream!
cawing crow

© Issa

And two dreams haiku from Chèvrefeuille, the first was inspired by a lucid dream:

Ah! that fragrance
delicate cherry blossoms
in the spring rain

© Chèvrefeuille

fly like an eagle
as free as a bird in the sky
living my dream

© Chèvrefeuille

First Soup - haiku and tanka - January 29, 2015

Zooni (picture taken from a Carpe Diem Haiku Kai)

waga io ya ganjitsu mo kuru zooni uri

to my hut too

New Year's arrives...

the zooni vendor

© Issa (1817)

Another interesting custom from Japan for the fifth season ... zooni or a soup made from specially drawn water from a particular well on the first day of the year. Seems that the water for this soup is drawn usually my the so called "zooni man" or a man chosen to draw the water either because he was born in the same animal symbol of the upcoming year or lacking that the "man of the house" fetches the water (which is called wakamizu - first water or "young water" and of course is reputed to bring youth to the old and good fortune) ... women were encouraged to stay away from the well, except in certain areas of the Island of Shikoku where "the woman of the house" draws the water.  This is the last hot food eaten before the fourth of January so that the women of the house and the hearth deities a little holiday to rest up for the coming year.

I can't think of any sort of Italian custom that quite coincides with this interesting custom nor American custom either, so I'll just play it by ear!

Christmas Day feast
the table groans with food
St. Stephen's feast
eating cold roast and pies
Mom rests on boxing day

New Year's Day
eating lentil soup for wealth
before midnight

first cup of coffee
made by the man of the house
New Year's morning

© G.s.k. ‘15

Shinnen (New Year's Eve) - January 1, 2015

reflections
the snow flakes didn't fall
New Year's Eve

awaiting change
fireworks and feasting
Happy New Year!

New Year's morn
the world sleeps soundly
after feasting

we celebrate
a New Year's beginning
and a illusion
change comes with clocks
or pages of calendars

illusive time
today is like yesterday
the cat yawns

(c) G.s.k. '15

Below I'd like to copy some great haiku reflections by the Classical Masters:

kageboshi mo mame sokusai de gyokei kana

my shadow too

in good health...

"Happy New Year!"

toshidama cha doko wo megutte mata modoru

New Year's gift of tea--

where did you go

on your journey back to me?

(c) Issa

haru tatsu ya  shin-nen furuki  kome go-shoo

has spring already come?

I feel wealthy this New Year

with five sho of old rice

ganjitsu ya  omoeba sabishi  aki no kure

New Year's Day

I feel lonely just like

an autumn evening

(c) Basho

nanimokawara nai  mainichionaji kono atarashii toshini naru desho u

nothing changes

every day will be the same

this new year

(c) Yosakura

And from the host of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Chèvrefeuille:

New Year's Eve

the sound of fireworks resonates 

against the snow

after the fireworks

the rustling of bare branches

nothing has changed

(C) Chèvrefeuille

Happy New Year 2015

The Swallow - Writing with Issa - November 1, 2014

lone swallow
seeking winter shelter
- in the belfry

(c) G.s.k. '14

Little Creatures - Spider Webs - October 18, 2014

Cedits: Dewy Cobweb

Today's featured writer on Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is Richard Wright (1908-1960) a modern haiku-poet. Famous as an early forceful and eloquent spokesmen for black Americans, author of "Native Son," and "Black Boy", he was also, it turns out, a major poet. In the last years of his life he discovered haiku and wrote in the classical 17 syllable form following the Zen precepts of writing about man's relationship to nature.  He wrote over 4000 haiku in the 18 months before his death.  Here are two:

 The webs of spiders
Sticking to my sweaty face
In the dusty woods.

© Richard Wright (1908-1960)

At a funeral,
Strands of filmy spider webs
On coffin flowers

© Richard Wright (1908-1960)

Here are also two examples from Issa and Buson on the same subject:

kumo no su ni tsuki sashikonde yoru no semi

on the moonlit spider web
an evening
cicada

© Issa

Spiders' webs
Are hot things
In the summer grove

© Yosa Buson

dry autumn flowers
 spider-web trap abandoned -
gnat's coffin

sticky spider-webs
in the abandoned house
cloying welcome

the spider's web
around the queen anne's lace
- reflects morning dew

© G.s.k. '14

  

Crow - September 21, 2014

The daily kigo for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's September meme is "crow":

Let's look at how the ancient master's saw the crow:

kare eda ni karasu no tomarikeri aki no kure

on a bare branch
a crow has stopped
autumn dusk

© Basho

 

ki ni naku wa yamome karasu ka ama [no] kawa

cawing in the tree
are you a widow, crow?
Milky Way above

© Issa

 

Now our modern haiku-poet Jane Rechhold (who's furnished this month's modern kigo)

 

a crow's wing tips
sweeps from the clouds
dark rain drops

 

 © Jane Reichhold

 

 

and now, our host: 

black on white

a flight of crows settles down

in an autumn field

© Chèvrefeuille

 

Autumn means crow season here in our valley.  You might find a couple any time of the year, but in autumn they fly in from other areas ... and we hear them bright and early in the morning, especially at my house which is not far from the river.

 

 

Credits: Big Crow on Snowy Branch (woodblock print by Koson (1875-1945)

 

at the bus stop
black crows filled the air
cacophony

from the east
a flock of crows arrived
reaping the river

© G.s.k. '14

Soliloquy No Renga - (or "catku" inspired by Issa) September 20, 2014

We have yet a new challenge at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai ... and it really looks a lot of fun.  I suggest that you follow the link though in order to understand what's going on!

 

To start my solitary renga ... I look to Issa for my hokku, and as my pen name is Bastet ... I choose write a "catku"  ;-)  :

having slept, the cat gets up,
yawns, goes out
to make love.

© Issa
(Translated by Robert Hass) 

 

Byeon Sang-byeok's "Myojakdo". (Wikimedia Commons)

 

sudden unholy howling
under the moonlight at dawn

startled monk wakes-up
his peaceful dreams disturbed
sandals in his hands

immodest lovers close by
monk's sandals fly through the air

errant haunting thoughts
the young monk on his futon
tosses and turns at dawn

cool breeze among the bamboo
inviting spring time visions

cat purrs satisfied
entering the monks bedroom
soon fast asleep

ageku:

having made love the cat yawns
curling up on the futon

Ghost Writer - Issa - September 4, 2014

Here is a quote from Issa on the Issa as Ghost Writer post by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai::

"I made a pilgrimage to the temple of Tokaiji in Fuse. Feeling sorry for the chickens that followed after me longingly, I bought some rice from a house in front of the temple gate and scattered it among the violets and dandelions. Soon they began to fight among themselves here and there. Meanwhile, pigeons and sparrows came flying down from the boughs and were quietly eating up the rice. The chickens coming back, they flew off to the branches again, sooner than they wanted, no doubt wishing that the kicking match had lasted longer. Samurai, farmers, artizans, merchants and all the rest are just like this in the way they live".

 scattering rice, -
this also is a sin,
the fowls kicking one another!

 Kobayashi Issa

Reading then meditating the quote above I couldn't help being impressed with Issa's conclusive haiku!  Here a seeming good deed created a scuffle among the chickens ... to the advantage of the sparrows and pigeons.  

Here in Italy the city squares are full of sparrows and pigeons.  One can hardly sit down at a sidewalk cafes without the little beggars swooping down on an unattended brioche or sandwich in some places!  So that particular view hit home easily.  As is the feisty nature of chickens ... which are always afraid some other companion will get more than it does.   However, the impressive intuition that the act of scattering rice indiscreetly, is also a sin because it created the scuffle is really very interesting!  We tend to say, look at those stupid chickens fighting over this or that, not look what I've done ... I've created a scuffle!

 §§§§§§§§§§§§§§

men, chickens and mice

living only to survive
have similar goals

 mighty leveller
rice among the marigolds
butterfly watching

the fighting pigeons
renounce the piece of bread
oh - happy sparrows

the abandoned barn
what a perfect winter home
for spiders and mice

 

Writing with Gibran - Beggar - August 31, 2014

This is the last  haiku prompt dedicated to "Sea and Foam" offered by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai the month began with the following quote:

I am forever walking upon these shores,

Betwixt the sand and the foam,

The high tide will erase my foot-prints,

And the wind will blow away the foam.

But the sea and the shore will remain 

Forever.

Something to always keep in mind as we reflect upon life!  Here are the quotes that will inspire the beggar series:

[...] "We are all beggars at the gate of the temple, and each one of us receives his share of the bounty of the King when he enters the temple, and when he goes out. But we are all jealous of one another, which is another way of belittling the King". [...]

envy at the gate
among the rich and the poor
always wanting more

beggars at the gate
searching for recognition
the king showers gifts

jealous of others
the gates of heaven close
againt the anger

the here and now
 enjoying life's bounty
gateway to heaven

©  G.s.k. '14

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

Now for a beautiful series from Kikaku and Issa:

the beggar!

he has Heaven and Earth,

for his summer clothes

© Kikaku

  Now a few haiku by Issa.

kimi ga yo wa kojiki no ie mo nobori kana

Great Japan!
even a beggar's house
has a summer banner

kiji naite ume ni kojiki no yo nari keri

pheasant crying--
it's a plum blossom-filled
beggar's world now!

hatsu yuki ya asaebisu suru kado kojiki

first snowfall--
early morning at my gate
a beggar

 

 

at the temple gate

I bow in front of beggars

honoring their spirit

© Chèvrefeuille

beggar's bowl,

chased by the autumn wind,

enters the temple

© Chèvrefeuille

 

Carpe Diem's Little Creatures - August 16, 2014

A new feature at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is dedicated to Issa and "the little creatures" like fleas, flies and spiders ...or may crickets and grasshoppers:

giddy grasshopper
take care...do not leap and crush
these pearls of dewdrop

© Issa (source)

how pitiful!
underneath the helmet
a cricket chirping.

© Basho (Tr. Ueda)

deep silence
this lazy summer evening -
song of a cricket

© Chèvrefeuille

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

 upon the branch
observing diligently
the bumblebee

all along the lake
ephemeral creatures fly
gnats and mosquitos

one short month
the life of the butterfly
fluttering merrily by

the mayfly's short life
a world in one day's span
the great trout passes*

© G.s.k. '14

*  The shortest-lived creatures on the Disc were mayflies, which barely make it through twenty-four hours.
Two of the oldest zigzagged aimlessly over the waters of a trout stream, discussing history with some
younger members of the evening hatching.
“You don’t get the kind of sun now that you used to get, “ said one of them.
“You’re right there. We had proper sun in the good old hours. It were all yellow. None of this red stuff.”
“It were higher, too.”
“It was. You’re right.”
“And nymphs and larvae showed you a bit of respect.”
“They did. They did,” said the other mayfly vehemently.
“I reckon, if mayflies these hours behaved a bit better, we’d still be having proper sun.”
The younger mayflies listened politely.
“I remember, “ said one of the oldest mayflies, “when all this was fields, as far as you could see.”
The younger mayflies looked around.
“It’s still fields,” one of them ventured, after a polite interval.
“I remember when it was better fields,” said the old mayfly sharply.
“Yeah, “ said his colleague. “And there was a cow.”
“That’s right! You’re right! I remember that cow! Stood right over there for, oh, forty, fifty minutes. It was brown, as I recall.”
“You don’t get cows like that these hours.”
“You don’t get cows at all.”
“What’s a cow?” said one of the hatchlings.
“See?” said the oldest mayfly triumphantly. “That’s modern Ephemeroptera for you. “ It paused. “What were we doing before we were talking about the sun?”
“Zigzagging aimlessly over the water,” said one of the young flies. This was a fair bet in any case.
“No, before that.”
“Er . . . you were telling us about the Great Trout.”
“Ah. Yes. Right. The Trout. Well, you see, if you’ve been a good mayfly, zigzagging up and down
properly -”
“- taking heed of your elders and betters -”
“- yes, and taking heed of your elders and betters, then eventually the Great Trout -”
Clop
Clop
“Yes?” said one of the younger mayflies.
There was no reply.
“The Great Trout what?” said another mayfly, nervously.
They looked down at a series of expanding concentric rings on the water.
“The holy sign!” said a mayfly. ”I remember being told about that! A Great Circle in the water! Thus shall be the sign of the Great Trout!”
The oldest of the young mayflies watched the water thoughtfully. It was beginning to realise that, as the most senior fly present, it now had the privilege of hovering closest to the surface.
“They say, “ said the mayfly at the top of the zigzagging crowd, “that when the Great Trout comes for you, you go to a land flowing with . . . flowing with . . .”
Mayflies don’t eat. It was at a loss. ”Flowing with water, “ it finished lamely.
“I wonder, “ said the oldest mayfly.
“It must be really good there, “ said the youngest.
“Oh? Why?”
“ ‘Cos no-one ever wants to come back.”

 © Terry Pratchett  from "Reaper Man"

Writing With Issa (5) "New Year's Writing" - July 28, 2014

For this post dedicated to Issa by Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we look to Issa:

wanpaku ya mazu tenohira ni fude hajime

in the naughty child's
palm first, a brush...
New Year's writing

© Kobayashi Issa

"It is a Japanese custom to write with a writing brush on the second day of the year. This haiku was written in Twelfth Month, 1819, several months after the death of Issa's daughter, Sato, so it could be a haiku in loving memory of her."  Chévrefeuille

giggling at midnight
tired children stay awake
to greet the New Year

©  G.s.k. '14

Writing with Shiki - "The cuckoo's cry" June 26, 2014

Unfortunately, I was late for the Ghost writer's prompt prepared by Jessica Slavin dedicated to Issa, one of my favorite haiku poets!  The post was lovely and if you haven't read it yet, please do so now by clicking HERE.

I wish to just dedicate a haiku to Issa before moving on:

rain falls on rooftops
cleaning away summer's dust
the wasps buzz playfully

I saw this happen yesterday and thought of Issa when under a brilliant sunny sky, rain started falling ... the wasps on my neighbor's roof seemed to be having a shower :-)

Now for today's post.  

 

 

 This fourth post dedicated to Shiki fell on the day of national mourning in the Netherlands for the victims of the Malaysian Airlines attack which occurred a week ago killing over 250 passengers, the majority, Dutch.  Our minds go to the victims and to their family and friends who must now cope with such a terrible loss.

 

Heres Shiki's poem:

 

minazuki no  kokū ni suzushi  hototogisu

in the coolness
of the empty sixth-month sky...
the cuckoo's cry

© Masaoka Shiki

And here is Chévrefeuille's haiku:

the summer heat
trembles at the horizon -
a cooling breeze

the summer heat
trembles at the horizon -
a cooling breeze

© Chèvrefeuille

 

 

 

under a crystal sky
raindrops fall copiously
the cuckoo cries

© G.s.k. '14

 

Writing with Issa (4) "Oh cooling melons!" - July 2, 2014

Today we will be inspired again by Issa, one of my favorite haiku poets.  Knowing as we do, about the tragic aspects of his life, I find that Issa's wonderful light-hearted haiku are especially inspirational. On Chèvrefeuille of Carpe Diem Haiku Kai quotes this lovely poem, with an explanation:

hito kitara kawazu to nare yo hiyashi uri

if anyone comes,
turn into frogs,
o cooling melons!

© Kobayashi Issa

Issa has just put some melons into a tub of water outside the house, to cool them. As they float on the surface of the water, their green bellies remind him of frogs, just at the moment that he has a feeling of hesitation, of uneasiness, at leaving them unguarded. This momentary see-sawing of the mind makes the notion of melons turning into frogs more than merely fanciful. The humour also, joins where it seems to separate.

And another Issa haiku follows:

 Another haiku on melons by Issa is the following:

nusubito no miru to mo shirade hiyashi uri

oblivious
of the gaze of the thief. -
melons in cool

© Kobayashi Issa

Here is our Chèvrefeuile's haiku:

cooling down
together with the melons
I take a bath

© Chèvrefeuille

In Italy, summer time means prosciutto ham sliced paper thin and honey-dew melon:

Senryu

 

fresh honey-dew melons
warmed in prosciutto blankets
no goose bumps tonight

© G.s.k. '14

Summer time is also the time of Arco's watermelon fests, the city council provides music and free watermelon for all:

Haiku

Arco's summer fests
merry dancing in the streets
cooled watermelon

© G.s.k. '14

Writing with Issa (3) - "sky light" . July 17, 2014

For today's visit with Issa, Chèvrefeuille from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai tells us:

"Today we have our third haiku by Issa and as I have told you earlier this month .... Issa looked very closely to nature and respected even the most little creatures such as mosquitos and flies. So for this episode I have an extra challenge for you all. Write/compose, by stepping into Issa's footprints, haiku about the littlest creatures on earth. So you have to write/compose a haiku about bugs. It's not easy I think, but maybe it helps to go outside and grab some earth in your backyard to discover the little creatures living in it."

Here are four haiku written by Issa to be used as a guiding inspiration:

sore abu ni sewa wo yakasu na akarimado

don't be mean
to that horsefly
skylight!

cha no mizu mo kakehi de kuru nari hotaru kuru

from the tea water's
water pipe also comes...
a firefly

tôshi tamae ka hae no gotoki sô hitori

let him pass
like a mosquito, a fly...
solitary priest

hae uchite kyô mo kiku nari yama no kane

while swatting a fly
today again...
the mountain temple bell

 ©  Issa

between lettuce

I spot a mating pair of flies -

no salad today

searching for insects

my grandson scoops up the mud

in the fresh puddle

sultry summer evening

the sound of buzzing insects

deepens the silence

© Chèvrefeuille

 

Now, my attempt:

§§§§§

watch the honey bee
gathering sweet nectar
faithful subject

rain on the skylight
little spider waits
to repair her web

the leaf bends
under its welcome burden
buzzing bumble bee

invisible
tiny green caterpillar
hides beneath the leaf

© G. s. k. '14

Issa (2) "simply trust"

Today's piece on Issa at CarpeDiem Haiku Kai is very interesting, besides a brief history of his trials throughout his life, there is also an interesting explanation about the difference between Shin and Zen.

Towards separate things, Issa is full of Zen, but this poem has a different flavour, for it expresses Issa's attitude towards the universe as a whole, his religion. However much we may say that Zen and the Nenbutsu have the same object, the way of each is radically different, and appeals to different types of mind. Explaining the difference intellectually, we may say that in Shin, we are nothing, in Zen we are everything. The emotional difference is still greater. Issa's poem mentions neither Amida nor Kwannon, it does not compare us with the flowers. But it leaves us with a sense of lachrimae rerum; this is never the case with Zen. In Shin, the evanescence of things is pointed to, as here, to remind us of our powerlessness, to remind us of the compassion of Amida, of the world to come. In Zen, impermanence, like the Emptiness of things, is emphasized as a means of getting us to give up the illusion of an eternal separate, impermeable self, so that we may be filled with all things and act in and through them, and they in us. (Source: R.H. Blyth, Vol. 2 Haiku series of four volumes)

tada tanome hana mo hara-hara ani tori

simply trust:
do not also the petals flutter down,
just like that?

© Kobayashi Issa (Tr. by R.H. Blyth)

This is a familiar sentiment which we in the western world have very little problem getting our mind around.  In fact, it could have been straight from on of Jesus Christ's sermons!

walk confidently

your path winds straight and true
one foot before another

© G.s.k. '14