Shuukan : C= Considering – Cascading Haiku – July 5, 2015

considering
the sky and fields
life abounds

life abounds
in each rain drop
seek the heart

seek the heart
among the weeds
a flower grows

a flower grows
raising its golden head
considering

© G.s.k. ‘15

§§§§§§§§§

Inspired by Joan Halifax’s Grace:

Gathering attention
Recalling intention
Attaining to self other
Considering
Engaging

Episodes of Carpe Diem Shuukan can be found HERE  this episode was found Here

Changing Goals – Shuukan_two – March 19, 2015

 

two points of view
goals shift in the dawn
like wayward arrows

we live together
Eeyore, Winnie and I
in one soul
glimpsing illumination
while – bemoaning thorny paths

© G.s.k. ‘15

This is linked to Carpe Diem Shuukan:

Each arrow flies differently. You can shoot a thousand arrows and each one will follow a different trajectory: that is the way of the bow.

Every Arrow Flies Differently – Shuukan – March 19, 2015

even as these gulls
each arrow finds its own path
flying through the wind

© G.s.k. ‘15

Today’s thought for meditation on Carpe Diem Shuukan is the following from “the way of the bow” based on the e-book by Paulo Coelho:

[…] When the archer draws the bow-string, he can see the whole world in his bow.

When he follows the flight of the arrow, that world grows closer to him, caresses him and gives him a perfect sense of duty fulfilled.

Each arrow flies differently. You can shoot a thousand arrows and each one will follow a different trajectory: that is the way of the bow. […]

Linked to Carpe Diem Shuukan – ‘The Way of the Bow’

Haiku Shuukan – Perfection – February 6, 2015

cold winter morning
tea rose’s perfection
spider’s web

© G.s.k. ‘15

This week on Haiku Shuukan we begin a new spiritual journey, let me quote our host:

” … I have found a new “spiritual” series of prompts starting this week with “I have managed to reach perfection”.

This sentence is from the short novel “The Way of the Bow” by Paulo Coelho. In this novel he describes the spiritual path of the Bow, the Japanese art of archery. This sentence is said by a man who challenges Tetsuya, the most important character in this novel, to shoot the bow with him.”

I’m inclined to believe that perfection doesn’t exist … in the sense that something that cannot be improved, which of course is the meaning of perfection, doesn’t exist.  But we can try to look for a relative perfection … always considering that in this world of constant change that perfection will be gone with a blink of the eye.  So I’m looking at perfection as a relatively perfect moment.

I took th photograph of the above rose a week ago.  It was really very nearly a perfect shot in the sense that the rose came out beautifully … of course the photo isn’t perfect because the background is not very pretty and to work around this I’d have to cut the rose out and superimpose it onto a better background.  I decided that I would monochrome the photo and see what would happen – whilst I was looking at it in my editor, I noticed for the first time a tiny spiderweb among its leaves… an imperfection right?  Well obviously not from the spider’s point of view!  So I decided that that spiderweb would be my idea of perfection … a beautiful rose which also gives hospitality to a spider one  cold winter morning.

Shuukan – Haiku – November 2, 2014

In this week’s Carpe Diem Shuukan prompt we begin a spiritual voyage … through the mantra:Om Mani Padme Hum … Here’s the meaning of the mantra explained to us by Chèvrefueille:

Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods); Ma purifies jealousy and need for entertainment (realm of the jealous gods); Ni purifies passion and desire (human realm); Pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (animal realm); Me purifies greed and possessiveness (realm of the hungry ghosts); Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm).

 

The Shuukan prompt is to write a haiku for OM.

early morning
silence before the rising sun
raindrops on a branch

(c) G.s.k. ’14

Xenolith – Tanka – October 9, 2014

Xenolith is the word I found this morning on Carpe Diem Shuukan and using that word I’m to attempt to write a haiku (or perhaps a tanka).

First of all … what is a xenolith … xeno comes from Greek and means foreign … something that comes from the outside  … lith means stone but in Middle English lith also meant member, limb and in Proto Germanic it meant … man or people.

Of course, our host was thinking of xenolith which is a stone that has had a foreign stone  embedded in it, usually through volcanic activity, sometime in the geological past.  But I’m going to cheat and write about foreign people who become embedded in a host society, due to the various cataclysms that shake our human existence.  Many have been the people who’ve had to leave their native lands in order to survive … human existence is chock-full of great migrations, our age is no different from other ages because the driving forces remain the same, only the means of transport has changed.

war and poverty push
social cataclysms drive
human lava flows
into established homelands
creating new xenoliths

© G.s.k. ’14

Carpe Diem Shuukan

N.b. The stones here are probably not xenoliths, they are just  a metaphorical image. They are stones I’ve found around the Sarca Valley which was formed by a massive glacier flow a long long time ago – or so I’ve been told.  😉

 

Shuukan – The Universe! – September 14, 2014

First of all let’s look at Chèvrefeulle’s haiku examples:

Orion’s Belt
brighter than ever
in a moonless night

in a moonless night
wandering over the heath –
the Milky Way

the Milky Way
a path of thousand stars –
like a river

© Chèvrefeuille

§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§

vastness of space
the void inside man’s soul
reflected

ant’s in a row
voyage through the universe
running on the gravel

infinite stars
a tiny creature’s wonder
– being

the galaxy turns
in an infinite voyage
through our universe

© G.s.k. ’14

Dawn Thoughts – August 2, 1014

Thoughts About Persimmons …

This morning I was thinking about persimmons.  Here in Trentino, as indeed most of northern Italy, you can find persimmon trees all over the place.  In private or public gardens they abound and when it’s persimmon season the ground under the trees are often covered with this delicious fruit.

The persimmon is a delicate fruit which looks kind of like an orange tomato.  Some new breeds have a thicker skin, but the classical persimmon is thin-skinned, it’s fruit reminds me of jelly and when ripe is very sweet with its own particular flavor.

You can find persimmons for sale for about 3 weeks to a month, then nothing until the next autumn.  Often people just can’t gather all the fruit from their persimmon trees and so the garden becomes a lurid muck of rotting fruit, so people are usually happy if you’ll take some off their hands! They can’t be preserved and you can’t even make a decent jelly out of the fruit.

I think this is one of the few fruits that has defied our push to conquer nature.  It refuses to comply, like apples or oranges.  Not even the new breeds can be conserved for months on end like apples which have become the symbol of our region.  Bravo for the persimmon tree!  Of course the birds love this tree and no one chases them off.

Here are some photos of  persimmon trees that can be found in Riva del Garda, Arco and in the fields around my house.  Aren’t they cool in their stark leaflessness with only the fruit there to decorate the tree?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

ripe persimmons
colorful sybil of winter
in Trentino

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai . Shuukan

Shuukan – Jacob’s Ladder June 21, 2014

Jacob’s Ladder

delicate blue steps
reaching for the summer sun
sleepy meadow

Jacob’s ladder
bees buzzing in lavander
grass grows tall

---

Written for Carpe Diem’s Shuukan #10

Haiku Shuukan #4, Dreamcatcher

hung above my bed
dreamcatcher weaves
poems from my sleep

beads and feathers
bind my night visits
through oniric lands

each drop of dream dew
like honey flows
back to me in melody

let the nightmares lie
they rarely inspire
beauty in verse

---

I particularly liked this Shuukan … I’m a vivid dreamer and of course I have a dream-catcher hanging in my room, which is part of a mobile windchime!

Inspired by Carpe Diem Shuukan – Dreamcatcher