Wordle MLMM- Three Dodoitsu – April 12, 2016

 

needless painful heartbreak comes
upon each awakening
with monumental effort
she fills empty space

the macrocosm of love
where’s the sweet of philosophy
of subtle nuzzling ’til noon
[lovingly kissing]

it would lacerate her soul
to indiscreetly reveal
the history of her people
[she’s monachopsis]

© G.s.k. ‘16

 

 

“Dodoitsu is a form of Japanese poetry developed towards the end of the Edo Period. Often concerning love or work, and usually comical, Dodoitsu poems consist of four lines with the syllabic structure 7-7-7-5 and no rhyme or metre.

It was a traditional form for popular and folk songs and the name (“quickly city to city”) appears to refer to the speed with which such new songs spread. In Japanese, the “dodoitsu” contains twenty-six sound units (onji) composed of four phrases in 7-7-7-5 sound units. It’s hard to find examples of “dodoitsu” among literature because most of these songs, sung accompanied with the shamisen (a banjo-like instrument with three strings), relied on the oral tradition and are therefore lost to us. Since the subject matter was either love or humor as viewed by inhabitants of the pleasure quarters, the existing works have attracted very little attention in English.”

 

Wordle #105 “April 11th, 2016” Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie

Happy Day 12 of NaPoWriMo and GloPoWriMo, all!

 

Morning Haiku and Waka – American Memorabilia – October 6, 2015

my first baseball game
watching the Cardinals lose
at Busch Stadium

little Italy
even in St. Louis
walking on the Hill

an Illinois fall
vast fields of soy and sorghum
stunning red tree tops
a tornado siren screams
deer walking Cambria’s streets

© G.s.k. ‘15

Wal-Mart ®

in the early dawn – shopping
cleaning the cart with Wipies ®
an old man in pyjamas
four litres of milk

in the early dawn – shopping
among blankets and donuts
computers, clothes and cell phones
don’t forget the bling

cleaning the cart with Wipies ®
this odd modern novelty
fear of germs and terrorists
pulsing every where

an old man in pyjamas
in the supermarket lanes
imagine an Italian
red-faced with shame

four litres of milk
all in one huge container
everything’s bigger here
walking for miles in Wal-Mart ®

© G.s.k. ‘15

I’d been away from the United States since 1979.  When I arrived, the first thing I noticed of course was the TSA, something that had not existed the last time I’d been home.  A couple in the line before me had a small child and the child, a bottle of milk, which they had to throw in the trash.   I had a box full of rings in my hand bag (we were told to carry valuables in our hand luggage) a beeper beeped and three guards jumped out and told me to open my bag and step back – slowly. A guard took out the box of rings (and just about everything else) and when I tried to help her open it another guard began to shout at me.  They asked me what they were.  I told them – rings (?).  They took my fingerprints – I was worried they’d take my rings too … one never knows what dastardly damage I could have done with them.

paranoia
bling and baby’s formula
flying in the States

© G.s.k. ‘15

(Well, I got carried away with my American Memorabilia and didn’t follow our guest writer very well in his style and spirit … I may try later.)

Carpe Diem Special #171 Cor van den Heuvel’s “baseball”

The goal of CD Special is to try to write a haiku in the same spirit as the poet presented .. today we read about Cor van den Heuvel in the featured article … and here are some of this haiku from which to be inspired:

 

conference on the mound
the pitcher looks down
at the ball in his hand

pitcher and catcher
head for the dugout
the batter stares at his bat

© Cor van den Heuvel (from: baseball)

shading his eyes
the wooden Indian looks out
at the spring rain

late autumn-
sunlight fades from a sandbank
deep in the Woods

© Cor van den Heuvel

Morning Cobwebs – Tokubetsudesu – September 16, 2015

shining on cobwebs
this early morning dew
crystallizes time

a crystal umbrella
made of spider silk
on the autumn path

imprisoned fly awaits death
caught in an old spider’s web
composing its fly jisei
it’s saved by the storm

even these morning cobwebs
are cleared away with breakfast
I’ll make some coffee and toast
thinking of autumn

© G.s.k. ‘15

Written for:  Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #61 crystal cobweb

Last Days of Summer – Dodoitsu – September 2, 2015

the umbrella forests – gone
the streets empty of tourists
the children ready for school
last days of summer

the vendemmia begins
slow drives behind carts of grapes
smell  of mashed fruit fills the air
first sign of autumn

soon swallows will be going
back to their African homes
another summer passes
the autumn leaves fall

© G.s.k. ‘15

Written for: Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #59 Variety … “end of summer”

Carpe Diem Special – Waka – August 31, 2015

Birthday

just another day
so like every other day
this miracle – life
funny to think you weren’t
and then suddenly you were

[a world without you]
it’s hard to imagine days
before you were born

a tiny web
grows daily on the tree of life
anchored by fine threads
glistening gossamer lines
fragile – easily broken

§§§§§§

Ah – hello my bouncing boy
at last you’ve joined the party
may bright sunshine warm your days
and love be your home

© G.s.k. ‘15

Lolly’s inspirational tanka is about a life passing – my waka are about life becoming – the cycle of life is so mysterious if one thinks about it.

One moment the world is turning and someone isn’t a part of it and then it’s like they’d always existed.  At the moment of passing – the world goes on as though that person never was. Fragile spider’s webs indeed.

August is the month when two of my son’s came into the world – and though they’re now grown and far away, a fragile thread remains, reminding me of the day they became a part of life, so many years ago.

from where did you come –
where will you finally go
when winter winds blow

© G.s.k. ‘15

§§§§§§§§

Lolly wrote:

[…] “This tanka was inspired by a Carpe Diem prompt “spider web.” I like its dark, gothic mood and the alliteration in the last two lines. It definitely suggests death and grief as we all have to go through a loved one’s personal items when they pass. I remember doing so for my mother-in-law as well as my mother and both grandmothers. The last two lines really bring the thought home. After the death of a parent it seems one’s “anchor”  or security or a part of what made us feel secure is loosened or even gone.

It’s a sad tanka, but I love for it because it expresses what I often feel when I think of all the women in my family that have passed away” […]

sifting through
the personal effects
of a spider’s web
an autumn wind loosens
another anchor thread

© Laura Williams (a.k.a. Lolly)
published: American Tanka; Issue #13

Written for:

Carpe Diem Special #164 Lolly’s 6th “another anchor thread”

My Childhood Sunday – Dodoitsu – August 30, 2015

sitting by the kitchen door
watching mamma fry chicken
biscuits in the oven bake
my childhood Sunday

laying on the shaggy rug
reading the funny papers
Jimmy Dorsey plays his sax
my childhood Sunday

a walk with my dog Panda
a trip to farmer’s market
coming home an ice cream cone
my childhood Sunday

but here and now I’ve no dog
no funny papers or rug
Jimmy Dorsey is long gone
with childhood Sundays

© G.s.k. ‘15

Morning Haiku and Waka – August 29, 2015

there, in the dawn each morning
a promise seems to linger
something new will come about
but then it passes

§§§§§§§§

hear the bells
like every morning they chime
echoing at dawn
then the silence pulses
inside like a waterfall

§§§§§§§§

an old dusty trail
wind-blown and rutted
a banjo plays
somewhere in my memory
hides the Grand Ole Opry

§§§§§§§§§

Saturday morning I think of pancakes – Mom in the kitchen humming.

§§§§§§§§§

Late summer – their chicks grown,  the swallows fill the morning sky in silence.

© G.s.k. ‘15

Brush – Waka and Haiku – August 25, 2015

(Haiku)

my fingers
delight running through his hair
brushing his brow

(Dodoitsu form: 7-7-7-5)

This brush with winter’s snowflakes
Brought to mind summer’s heat wave
Not that I’m never happy
I just prefer fall

(Tanka)

his fingers brushed
across her breast, tenderly
raising feelings
that had seemed forever gone
just sweet memories of youth

(Troiku)

the bells ring
the sun tops the mountains
another morning dawns

the bells ring
the pigeons always surprised
fly away in fright

the sun tops the mountains
darkness flees the light
hiding in the forest

another morning dawns
the sun’s brush
paints the valley gold

© G.s.k. ‘15

Written for Haiku Horizons – Brush 

and linked to B&P Shadorma and Beyond, Carpe Diem Haiku Kai (Dodoitsu)

And still more every day life – Dodoitsu – August 27, 2015

A gift from Tumblr

He walked along the pathway
Without signposts or road maps
Until he arrived one day
At a ripe old age

Hear the shamisen weeping
This song was written for you
Lost in long spent tragedies
Poor wayward lover

Cherry blossoms now long gone
The fruit of the tree eaten
Here under the bare tree stands
The lady –  Winter

Drip drip drip of falling rain
Tip tapping on my Quechua
And I lay and contemplate
Hot coffee and toast

© G.s.k. ‘15

a Quechua 

 

Dodoitsu is a form of Japanese poetry developed towards the end of the Edo Period. Often concerning love or work, and usually comical, Dodoitsu poems consist of four lines with the syllabic structure 7-7-7-5 and no rhyme or metre. – Chèvrefeuille

Love Like Raindrops

Love, like raindrops falling down
Embraced the dried barren earth
Each drop a soothing caress
That softens… and wins.

© CynthiaBuhain-Baello (2015)

One Night

one night I searched for a star
what I found was a full moon
now my every day is
full of shooting stars

© Ben Gieske (2012)

her shadow on the white wall
her nude silhouette arouses me
I smell her fragile perfume
Honeysuckle blooms

© Chèvrefeuille

This post was written for:

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #58 Dodoitsu