Carpe Diem Preview: A taste of Basho’s school for haiku, our new feature, soon to come: Hosomi
Check out this new feature at the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai link above. In short Hosomi is the poets ability to connect to nature due to their sensitivity.
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Unfortunately I have been unable to access my computer for several weeks. It started with crashing whenever I went online and then stopped booting up. Age and another bad motherboard led my to invest in a new one. Still trying to learn the opperating system and download programs I need for work. Luckly I was able to get the old one to boot up and stay on long enough to copy all my important files.
I did write a lot of my daily haibuns and will post them as I get a chance.
autumn leaves spiral
filling up the birdbath
rain stained day
After taking twenty-five days off from writing, not just fifteen, I am going to start back up tomorrow. My past record for writing was just under six years of daily haibun paragraphs and haiku. I am surprisingly really missing my writing. This daily writing was started as a way to help me with my cognitive functioning. I have had difficulty reading and wiring since the start of my illness in 1999. In March of 2000, I had to retire from teaching special education learning and behavior classes. When you have no answers for your medical and mental difficulties it is very frustrating. I believe my daily writing has made a tremendous contribution to my attitude. Focusing on something other than yourself is very important. When i couldn’t walk or get around much I started hand quilting and moved on to art quilts on the machine. I started sitting with hospice patients so family members could go shopping or just get out of the house for a bit. These helped but the writing challenged me and made me look for the positive things around me. My writing is not of extraordinary adventures, but of looking outward and finding the beauty and stories in the mundane. It’s been quite a ride for me. I have enjoyed my break but tomorrow I will start again. Wondering if I can make it to ten years this time. Hope you enjoy my thoughts.
Carpe Diem #1688 Troiku Month (17) Breathing Silence
alone on the beach
only the cries of seagulls –
breathing silence © Chèvrefeuille
Carpe Diem #1607 Tan Renga Challenge Month 2019 (11) an open window
the sound of the surf
enters my home through the open window
and a butterfly © Chèvrefeuille (2018)
lounging in the sunshine
on a settee drinking tea
Carpe Diem #1554 Haunted Houses (modern kigo)
As a child I would lie awake at night watching the closet, afraid something would emerge from the giant inside. By day just hole in the wall filled with a previous owner’s discarded magazines became a portal to some netherworld .Too paralyzed to get up and close the forgotten door for protection, I’d implore my sister to no avail. Long hours were spent next to my snoozing sibling listening to the night sounds, terrified with each hoot of an owl, creak of the floor, tap of a branch. Yes, as the first hints of light formed outside, the tree transformer to an evil witch pointing her long snarled finger at me, scraping the glass. Finally as the last shadows of night were discarded, and villains became ordinary objects, I would dose.
moaning autumn wind
branches claw at the window
my haunted bedroom
Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #60 The Quest For A Masterpiece goes on … journey
Deep in the woods surrounded by sandstone walls. The damp smell of decaying autumn leaves mingles with pine. The only sound the cascading leaves as the bounce off other branches and the occasional rustling of your shoes. We hike past the cathedral windows carefully picking our way along a narrow ledge. I peer over the edge and take a step back. The path disappearing in the undergrowth. We hike further then we feel anyone has gone. Reaching for a rough ledge I pull myself up, only to make a realization that many have been here before and left their mark.
Carpe Diem #1527 Rustling Leaves (extreme haibun)
An autumn walk the woods, squirrels chatter overhead. Straw colored grass-heads bow in the breeze. Leaves skate down the pine trees with a cascading rustle. Afternoon sun casting long acorn shadows on the ground.
full hunter moon
shines on a scattered carpet
of autumn color
Carpe Diem #1413 Loneliness (Haibun in the classical way)
Sometimes, usually, I love being alone. I love a quiet walk in the woods, or sitting out looking at constellations. Wrapped up in nature I am at peace. Alone in my garden I find delight. Loneliness creeps in when we fail to communicate.
Adas Poetry Alcove 