Harbingers of Change – Haibun – September 4, 2016

 

A colourful leaf fell past my window this evening, bright harbinger of change, awakening me to other signs that I should have noticed.  The silence of the empty swallow’s nest, the chicks have long gone but when did they fly away? There, listen carefully, do you hear the honking of passing geese overhead?

Autumn is boldly approaching leaving behind it the suffocating heat of summer. The seasons tumble one into another, each day passing quickly, soon the blackbird will sing in spring again!

leaf and bird
in winter and summer
harbingers of change

© Gsk ’16

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille August 31 2016 colorful leaves – Mindlovesmisery’s Menagerie

In the Park – Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille – July 13, 2016

ducks mating in spring
in this American park
just like being home

© Gsk ’16

Spring and passing – haiku and tanka – June 30, 2016

in passing
even a single tile
tells a story

late spring
after the thunder-storm
fallen trees
the sun shines brightly
the wind whispers softly

© Gsk ‘16

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Confucius

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille June 29th 2016

Tanka Prose for Chèvrefeuille – Moonlight – March 3, 2016

When I was a child, I lived in the Philippines with my parents.  One day my father came home with painting for my mother.  It  was a scene of a full moon over the ocean painted on black velvet.

The painting itself was composed of just a few well place strokes of white and brown oil paint giving the impression of a white river flowing from a hovering moon over the ocean, shimmering towards a high abandoned cliff.    I loved to look at the picture imagining the sound of the wind and the adventures that took place in that magical dark world perhaps inhabited by pirates or explorers.

Even now though many years have come and gone, I’m still fascinated by the memory of that painting … and I realize that from time to time I try to recreate it.

a glowing river
flowing on the night-time ocean
in a child’s dreams
silent winds blow up the stream
the smell of salt air abounds

© G.s.k. ‘16

Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille and Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu 

 

Morning Haiku and Waka – Blog Hopping – January 11, 2016

Love, what is love?  That potent attraction that pulls two people together?  No perhaps that’s hormones and little else.  Well, might it be then, the fascinating encounter with a great thinker who can mesmerize one into ecstasy with words? I think not, intellectually fulfilling perhaps, at least for a time but love, no, not love.  What about that perfect body, those lovely eyes and that suave voice.  Aesthetically pleasing perhaps, but no, not love.  We in the west, raised and nurtured on fairy tales and romantic novels, have a vague idealistic vision of love and I suspect that that vision is just an illusion.  If we search for love guided by all the nonsense that we watch on television and read in books our love affairs will be quickly over because they’re based on “fried air” as the Italians like to say.

So what is love – are there different kinds of love, or is there just Love with a capital letter?  Is that feeling you have for your dog or cat any less important to you than  the feelings you have for your child. (I can hear the scandalized voices now .. but Let’s be honest.) Don’t you get all torn up and feel miserable when your dear four-legged friend dies.  I know I still mourn my old friend Maao to the point that I never want to own another cat.

If we’re talking about sentiments and emotions, I suppose we could call a summer encounter or a meeting of minds on the internet a love affair, but if we’re looking for something deeper that involves something more universal maybe we should look within.

a quick flash
star-crossed summer loves
autumn cinders

© G.s.k. ‘16

§§§

sun and moon
lovers always separated
forever linked

this heart
one with the universe
love

a warm touch
the cherry tree blossoms
in love with life

creation
attraction and repulsion
love’s paradox

© G.s.k. ‘16

This post is linked to:  Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #69 An Essay About Real Love, Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille February 10th 2016 and

Haiku Horizons – Fast

NaHaiWriMo – Zest

Heeding Haiku and NaHaiWriMo – Classical Haiku – February 4, 2016

“Classical Haiku”

evening walk
even in the cold snap –
plants blossom

old sea-gull
creeling and fighting
– his old age

winter oasis
palms bend under the snowfall
– for one afternoon

© G.s.k. ‘16

 

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille, February 3rd 2016

“I love to challenge you to write a classical haiku, which means you have to follow a few classical rules:

1. Your haiku must be the “impression” of a short moment, as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water;
2. Your haiku has a “kigo” (or seasonword) in it;
3. You also have to use a “kireji” (or cuttingword, like e.g. “;” or “!”);
4. You have to use the classical count 5-7-5 or 3-5-3;
5. Your first and last line have to be interchangeable;
6. Last, but not least, try to catch a deeper meaning in your haiku.”

NaHaiWriMo – February 4

Mountain Walking – Haibun – January 15, 2016

to the olive grove
ten minutes as a crow flies
fond memories

When you’re fit climbing up the side of a mountain is paradise.  The very air seems to help you up, your heart of course increases its beat and maybe your breath comes quicker and soon dopamine starts pumping through your veins. If the hike up is a real challenge finally adrenaline joins the cocktail of hormones and whatever else is making that walk fun, is it a wonder that walking can become addictive. Time flashes by as you fall into your own breath, feel your leg muscles flexing and elongating, hear the sound around you sort of muffled but very much alive.  Before you know it, you’ve reached your goal, maybe a lodge where you’ll spend the night, or a land-mark, like an abandoned village or a cross on a hill-top and you think how quickly time flies by when you’re having fun.

imagination
dishes up fond memories
back in training

© G.s.k. ‘16

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille, January 13th 2016

Winter 2015 – Haibun – December 30, 2015

No snow has fallen yet and this winter the weather is so warm it feels like early spring.  The trees aren’t fooled though by the deceptive day-time temperatures, because they drops below 0° C at night.  The blackbirds are quiet too, in fact, everything says winter, except for the hot sun shiny days.

On the weather channel we’ve been warned that today is the last day of this long autumn.  Everyone’s waiting for the cold snap, some with joy other’s with trepidation, worried that winter will decide to stay into the summer.

untimely spring
decorating their bare trees
persimmons

© G.s.k. ‘15

§§§§

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille December 30th 2015

Heeding Haiku With … December 26, 2015

James Tissot. Journey of the Magi, 1894. WikiArt.

silver moon-lit night
this magic Christmas evening
guides our footsteps
like the Magi long ago
to seek the king of peace

© G.s.k. ‘15

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille – December 23, 2015 – We Three Kings

A Christmas Journey – Haibun – December 16, 2015

The bus left Arco’s cemetery’s parking lot at 6:00 a.m. destination, Innsbruck’s Christmas Market!

The sun climbed over the mountains revealing the small towns nestled along the road, how beautiful they are but oh, how isolated. There’s usually snow for tourists to enjoy but this year machines whiten the slopes with artificial snow to accommodate skiers.

The first sight of Innsbruck is breath-taking nestled in its valley where the Inn flows impetuously. The sun shone brilliantly. Our bus parked just outside the Hofgarten with instructions to be back by 4:00 p.m.

The Market wasn’t open when we arrived … the kiosks tightly closed looked like a lot of light laced abandoned huts, but by 11:00 they did open and people began to flow into the streets from all around the world.

The hubbub of different languages bounced in the streets mixed with children’s laughter, parental scolding and Christmas music. Wonderful smells charged the air, as food vendors began to ply their wares .. fried potato rings on sticks, sauerkraut and sausages, mulled wine, roasting chestnuts and pastry lured hungry visitors this way and that.

The sun began to dip under the mountains, surprisingly,  it was nearly 4:00 and the evening chill seeped into our limbs. It had been a great day, but we were happy to be back on our warm bus, homeward bound.

bright wintry spirit
this merry-go-round of joy
celebrating life

© G.s.k. ‘15

Heeding Haiku With Chèvrefeuille December 16th 2015 “narrow road”

“I love to challenge you to write a haibun about a short trip, journey, you made. try to imagine how that trip was, remember the scenes and landscapes you saw and so on … Of course it has to be a challenge 🙂  so there are a few rules:

1. your haibun has a maximum of 250 words (including the haiku)
2. the haibun’s time is around Christmas (if possible)
3. try to “paint” the scenes which you saw”