Writing With Gibran - "sweetness" - August 4, 2014

Today's Carpe Diem's quote from Khalil Gibran is the following:

[...] "It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life. Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me'''. [...]

resplendent nature
beauty surrounds this valley
sunrise in Arco

bells ringing the hour
breaking the morning silence
first rays of sun light

(C) G.s.k. 14

Writing with Buson (5) "a glimpse of dawn" - July 28, 2014

As we're nearing the end of July, we visit the great 5 for the last time at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.  In this post I'll be writing with Buson:

shira ume ni akuru yo bakari to nari ni keri

the night almost past
through the white plum blossoms
a glimpse of dawn

 ©  Yosa Buson

Chèvrefeuille writes:

"Yosa Buson died on December 25th 1783 and the above haiku was, what we call, his Jisei or deathpoem. Even on his deathbed Buson wrote haiku as if he was painting ... what a gorgeous haiku he left behind as his soul travelled to Paradise."

A little cuckoo across a hydrangea(Haiga) by Yosa Buson

first splash of light
the whippoorwills sing softly
peaceful harmony

 © G.s.k. '14

Haiku - Drive July 15, 2014

This week for Haiku Horizons the prompt word is drive. A couple of things come to mind when I think about that word .. a drive through the country or the drive to achieve something.

driving down the road
familiar trees and mountains
homeward bound

§§§§

Brenner highway
leaving the flatlands behind
sweet green mountains

Writing with Shiki - A Flash of Lightening

Today for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, we visit with Shiki once again.

One of the important aspects to Shiki was to remove the religious aspects from haiku writing in favor of every nature and the everyday aspects of life.  Here is the poem today that we'll use as inspiration:

inazuma ya mori no sukima ni mizu mo mitari

a flash of lightning;
between the trees of the forest,
water appears

© Masaoka Shiki

And here is my haiku:

sudden piercing flash
illuminating grey skies
mountains tremble

© G.s.k. '14

Writing with Buson - "Fruitless Blossoms" Haiku - July 10, 2014

Today's post is dedicated to Buson - this is the second week in Carpe Diem Haiku Kai's month dedicated to the big five.  Here's today's poetic choice for Buson:

adabana wa ame ni utarete uri batake

fruitless blossoms
are beaten by the rain
in the melon fields

© Buson (Tr. by Thomas McAuley)

Reading this haiku and looking out my window in this rainy cold summer, makes me reflect on the problems our farmers in our valley are having this year with the fruit crops.  The cherry harvest has been nearly a disaster!  But fruitless blossoms also makes me thing about the poppies in the fields ... this is a beautiful haiku to get into the feel of country life!

flowering grape vines
tattered by the summer storms
poppies flourish

© G.s.k. '14