Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year's Eve


Carpe Diem #638 New Year's Eve (Shinnen)



winged dreams take flight
as long shadows cross threshold
new year's eve

kikôbun- White Elephant

Carpe Diem GW # 40 Hamish Managua Gunn 
kikôbun
•It is structured somewhat like a haibun, a passage of prose with at least one short poem (haiku or tanka)
•It features landscape and nature, and interaction between writer and the landscape
•The key specification is that a kikôbun involves movement of the writer, in that it is a short travel diary
•The haiku should not repeat what is in the prose, and should not attempt to ′globalize’ the prose like a conclusion
So the task is to write a kikôbun, similar to haibun, but the writer is traveling, and recording.

So the task is to write a kikôbun, about a journey, or part of a journey or wander. The idea of it being about wandering and observing is very relevant.

Decided this was a perfect prompt for our short travel today. This was my day written in brief intervals. (not quite sure if it is a kikôbun or just a rant, but hope it makes you laugh.)

White Elephant

I rise this morning in anticipation of our trip.  The sun is streaming in my window and it promises to be a glorious day.  My youngest will want to travel with her brother and his wife, so our starting trip will just be my husband and me.  I am wondering what book or sewing project to bring to occupy my thoughts since my husband is not a conversationalist.

gifts and suitcases
stowed for traveling
cold winter morning

As we leave on our trip you can see an almost three quarter moon hanging  in the bright blue afternoon sky.  I am finding I am impatient, as we should have left sooner for all the stops we need to make on the way.

winter moon
beckons me
to tarry longer

I am told to go to a particular area and they will send someone to help.  They never do.  I wait in line again and get a lecture about exchanges for a    mistake the store made.  Now I know I am impatient and so annoyed with the sales girl, whom I normally would not be.  But the store’s mistake is making me late. The moon is still overhead and I see two Peregrine falcons as we travel on our way. 

day time moon
and Peregrine falcons
sky full of surprises

We stop to visit the grandchildren, who I have not seen over the holidays.  Both are sick and excitable.  It has been a year since they have seen my son.  He arrives 15 minutes after us and spends ten minutes more wrapping gifts in his car. The older one is excited and the younger runs and hides.  Now I know I’m just being cranky.  We only stay a short while, but are now going to be two hours late for my sister’s party. Don't get me wrong, I love my babies, but all I want to do is disinfect  everyone. Not to hurt anyone’s feelings, but maybe I should go back and vacuum.

hugs and kisses
hands coated with candy-cane
sweet angelic smiles

We stop to grab a quick bite to eat.  The moon is still overhead but now the sky is jet black.  Maybe, I’m becoming a real bitch, but when you order a plain hamburger, it should be plain not slathered in cheese.  Due to one child’s food allergies it must go back.  I say “I’m sorry, but we asked for a plain hamburger, just meat and bread.”  I’m told when you order a plain burger it doesn’t automatically take the cheese off.  What the ....  Thank you for making us another 20 minutes behind schedule.

winter moon hangs
in a jet black sky
wishing I could rise above

We arrive at our destination.  I am the only one ruffled.  We have a great time, but it really gets old when the skakely, the lime Dotson and four pounds of starbursts get re-stolen more than 15 times each.Over 30 people have come for the annual white elephant exchange. We almost go home with an antique rocking chair.   My stress level goes way down as all the guests leave and only family remains.  My daughter stakes out a claim in the basement killing orks with her male cousins.  I am grateful, because the shared twin bed has become a bit too cozy and I can move to the small love seat. I can hear loud snores from my parents room, and laugh knowing my mother will blame my father for keeping her awake when we all no the truth. Doubly blessed. I can plug in my laptop and get an internet connection.  I wonder if I am the white elephant in the room.

into the streets
laughter and talking spill
holiday celebrations


Wishing you all a happy New Year filled with love and inspiration!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Departing Year

Carpe Diem #636 departing year


fresh snow on road
blankets the past
new year’s eve


Richard Wright "keep down this block"

Carpe Diem Special #124 Richard Wright's last haiku of this month

keep straight down this block,
then turn right where you will find
a peach tree blooming

© Richard Wright


walk across the yard
stop beside the old oak tree
smell the linden blossoms




drive down the old lane
past the pond and round the bend
mimosa in bloom 

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Fireworks

Carpe Diem 636 Fireworks


blazing flowers
sizzle overhead
new year dreams




Ancient Laughter

Carpe Diem "Tan Renga Challenge #66 Jen's Ancient Laughter
Nez Pierce Indians are lead by wayakin or spirits, which young boys or girls receive during a vision quest.  They bestow the powers of the bird or animal that is seen upon the quester.


ancient laughter
captured in a canyon wind – 
yucca leaves, rustling                 (© Jen)


wayakin guardian guide
bestows animal power



Friday, December 26, 2014

Stars


brilliant stars
decorate the sky
Christmas eve



crooked star
paper and gold glitter
shines with memories



dazzling gem
shines in the night sky
just out of reach



I also wrote some star haiku in to days post on medium. Day 56 - Haibun Journey View from My Window

Thursday, December 25, 2014

White Christmas

Carpe Diem #634 White Christmas

fresh snow
decorations of white
on every tree





new boots and mittens
children bundled up
waiting christmas snow


~


suddenly door slams
man and reindeer tracks 
in fresh snow
six kids waiting for Santa
race to bed worried

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Hum

Om Mani Padme Hum

The prompt this week at Haiku Shuukan is Hum.  Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm)

pride and arrogance
fueling  our wars
with hatred


one child
of humble birth
to save us all


arms laid aside
momentary peace
between countrymen


Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas Tree

Carpe Diem #633 Christmas Tree



artificial tree
to avoid pine needles
still sheds



lovely Christmas Tree
strung with lights and popcorn 
family memories

New Born King -It was Not a Silent night


oh holy infant
fulfilling prophecy
lamb to be slain

Choka for the Christmas Story from Luke 2:4-20

our dear savior’s birth
was not a very still night
no pristine setting
no comfort or family
young maid far from home
without mother or doctor
gives birth in a cave 
amongst all the animals
no clean fresh bedding
no towels or pain medicine
just a frightened maid
and her bewildered husband
angles from another realm
spoke to herders in the fields
shepherds came to call
spreading the news of his birth

not a very silent night
for our blessed king to come
fraught with filth and noise
amongst cold and poverty
blessed by maiden’s gentle love

Christmas Play

Carpe Diem seven days to Christmas # 5 Angels

Mary and Joseph
Enter from the side aisle
her toenails lime green
his arm gingerly offered
narrator recites
old familiar passages
rickety manger
enhanced by two wide-eyed cows
sheep noisily crawl
ears flop and tails waggling
followed by shepherds
hurrying to their own tune
sweet angel faces
unsure of their position
voices raise in song
quietly filling the church

Christmas story told
as so many years before
Silent Night echoes
on the lips of the parents
innocent smiles beaming

Choka - Fireside Thoughts

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer Post #39
I was not familiar with the Choka so I have excluded an excerpt from Georgia of Bastet and Sekhmet's Library and our hosts inspiration image.

Choka were long, commemorative poems (in fact choka means the long poem) and the longest ran sometimes over 100 lines!  They were usually sung.  There were about 400 choka copied in the 8thcentury anthology of waka entitled Man'yoshu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves).

The classical choka is formed by writing 5-7 syllables couplets for as many lines  as you like ending however with an extra 7 syllable line.  
©  G.s.k. ’14


Fireside Thoughts

wet snow and ice cling
branches bowed from extra weight
winter sun rises
beyond the blue mountaintop
wrapped in threadbare coat
peasant woman shuffles by
head bent against wind
hands tightly wrapped in old cloth
cheerful morning lark
chirps his gay song from treetop
yellow dog limps by
fur lightly coated in frost

I squat by my fire
stirring a can of red beans
drinking in sunlight
thoughts drifting away on smoke
oblivious to the cold




Monday, December 22, 2014

Christmastime

Carpe Diem Timeglasss #15 Christmastime


Christmastime magic
family and friends gather
joyous chaos


Old Scarecrow's Hat Soliloquy No Renga Challenge



The scarecrow's old hat
Was flung by the winter wind
Into a graveyard.

© Richard Wright

momentarily teetering 
on an obelisk before dashing on

that old scarecrow’s hat
wheeling across the field
like a drunken sailor
dancing with the spirits
in wild abandonment

then pinned by the wind
against a picket fence
until happily plucked
by a scarecrow of a boy
and placed proudly on his head



Shooting Star

Carpe Diem Seven Days to Christmas # 4  Shooting Star



under sleeping bag
huddled on sidewalk
Geminid Shower


brilliant streak
momentary glory
igniting our hope


sizzling flash
lights the night
carrying my wish

Advent Candles

Carpe Diem Seven days to Christmas #3 Candles

This is my second piece.  For Christmas, I cannot help think of Advent Candles lit during a time when we prepare our hearts for the coming of the savior who's birth was for his death, his death for our rebirth.


Advent Candles

four colored candles
in a wreath of evergreen
surround Christ candle


prophecy candle lit
root of jesse springs up
God of hope

Bethlehem candle 
lit in preparation
of God’s salvation

Shepherd's candle
rosy and pink
bringing great joy


Angel candle
announcing good news
Savior of love


Christ candle
pure and white 
lamb to wash our sins


wreath of victory
penitence and preparation
for the coming King




Sunday, December 21, 2014

Candles

Carpe Diem Seven days to Christmas #3 Candles

in each window
candles burn brightly
flickering of hope


candles drip
long shadows spread
on our romance


window candles
cast dancing shadows
on fresh snow


Frost

Carpe Diem # 632 Frost

frost patterns
dance across the window pane
December morning


frost
upon the meadow
dazzles the grass


heart
touched with frost
grows bolder

Winter Solstice

Carpe Diem #631 Winter Solstice


after longest night
mornings do not come earlier
commute in darkness



winter solstice
long night does not compare
with your absence


Christmas Decorations



ice storm and snow
transform all
winter wonderland


trees bedecked
in natures finest jewels
winter morning

Since I love homemade Christmas decorations our tree and house are usually full of an eclectic mix of old and new.  Some years we work together making new ornaments to hang, once from necessity, now as a fun tradition 


christmas decorations
assortment of memories
hung on my tree





Christmas time
icicles and snowflake fairies
dance overhead


from the archway
twinkling icicle lights
all year long



Saturday, December 20, 2014

Straw



on a cold bleak night
maiden rests her new born babe
in a bed of straw



giggling children
resting in straw
old fashioned hayride



as lovers walk home
one last golden straw
pulled from long hair

Me

Om Mani Padme Hum

The prompt this week at Haiku Shuukan is Me purifies greed and possessions (hungry ghost realm)
Be sure to visit and read some of the great posts.


hungry ghost lie
enticing our desires
devouring souls

government reform
greed and possessions
tossed out the window

our slaughtered boys lay
in unmarked fields
to placate greed

Friday, December 19, 2014

Tan Renga Challenge - Northern Lights

Carpe Diem Tan renga Challenge #64
My piece will actually be a Solo Rega piece as I was honored in having one of my pieces selected for his challenge.

curtain of light
shimmers in the winter cold
flight of fancy                                         (© Dolores)

in the middle of the night
Mother Nature's light show                   (© Chèvrefeuille)



curtain of light
shimmers in the winter cold
flight of fancy

wild images conjured
northern lights dancing overhead

Christmas Stockings

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #15 Christmas Stockings




peppermint and holly
tucked in top of each stocking
added touch of joy



bits of love
stuffed in homemade stockings
snuck in by each child

Mistletoe

Carpe Diem - Seven days to Christmas # 1 Mistletoe

there she stood
laughing her wonderful smile
"kiss me quick"

© Chėvrefeuille




mistletoe dreams
rarely come true
but sometimes ....



within the mistletoe
what secrets are held
causing lovers to blush

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Woodpeckers

Carpe Diem #629 Woodpecker
I really enjoy the woodpeckers in my yard. These images are some of those visitors.


red-bellied woodpecker 
waits on the rail
peanut butter treat


shrill churr
resounding in the woods
red-bellied woodpecker


pileated woodpecker
head bobbing up and down
feasting on insects


downy woodpecker
flittering antics
at the suet feeder






Skating


I remember my mother’s white ice skates, with there sharp silver blades as a thing of fascination.  My feet still not big enough to fill her shoes.  My memory only recalls seeing my mother skate one time.  We were in Virginia at the time.  My mother took all six of us to a frozen lake.  I still remember how she tested the ice and her warnings about the darkened ice.  She wore a white wool coat with a black furry trim around the hood.  She gracefully skated over the ice, pulling us two at a time on a round silver sleigh.  I ran after her in my red rubber boots, the snow on the ice crunching.  There was no polished ice surface, bright lights or shimmery costumes.  But to me this bundled figure was the most glamorous I had ever seen.  The bumpy ice beneath my feet and the slight spray from the sled on my face and my determination to catch her and become beautiful and graceful fond memories of a cold afternoon.


boot tapping pond edge
large stone hefted on the surface
testing ice thickness



Silver Creek - Richmond, Kentucky
 (do not have a picture of the skating event except in my mind.  This is a photo taken years later on an icy creek.)


graceful ice-skater
glides over the frozen lake
pulling child in sled



Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Ghost Writer #38

Carpe Diem "Ghost Writer #38"

So I wrote 2 haiku for prompts each  of the three prompts:
withered mums, winter grasses, orchids


feathery plumage
dusted with snow
winter grasses


feathery pampas
brown and gold
against winter white


end of the season
heads bowed in sorrow
withered mums


withered mums
forgotten on doorstep
faded dreams



aerial roots 
spreading tendrils
fragrant orchid



fragrance abounds
in overgrown hothouse
winter orchids

Monday, December 15, 2014

Richard Wright -Troiku

Carpe Diem Special # 122,  Richard Wright's 3rd haiku

I give permission
For this slow spring rain to soak
The violet beds.

© Richard Wright







I give permission
for mayhem in the garden
weeds left unchecked

for this slow spring rain to soak
the parched ground prays
on a hot june day

the violet bed
yawns with yellow dandelions
awakened from sleep


inspired Haiku


under decaying leaves
one green shoot
shows itself



Fog and Rime

Carpe Diem # 627  fog and Rime

edges of dry leaves
piped in lacy frost patterns
crunching underfoot


bitter morning
ghostly fog lingers
sun kisses the sky


garden remains
decked in winter’s jewelry
frost and rime


in the winter sun
eyelashes frosted with tears
heart crystalizes



Sunday, December 14, 2014

Winter Wonderland

Carpe Diem Time Glass #14 Winter Wonderland

Challenge to write a short chained poem with a maximum of eight stanza following the classical rules (5-7-5; 7-7; 5-7-5; 7-7; 5-7-5; 7-7; 5-7-5; 7-7) and your last stanza (classically called "ageku") has to close the chain by associating on the first stanza.



dawn breaks through the trees
shadows sashay across snow
deer tracks mar surface


startled white tail buck takes flight
I pause in awe of splendor


Crystalline flakes
dance to the wind’s symphony
evoking spirits


whirlwind of snow gaining power
overtaking my footsteps




icy drizzle falls
crystalizing everything
glistening like diamonds


branches coated with thick ice
creaking under extra weight


evening deepens cold
roads covered with icy paths
and weary travelers


ground covered with new snowfall
just waiting for fresh footprints


Saturday, December 13, 2014

Mountain Cabin



It’s been just shy of thirty years since I’ve been in a mountain cabin.  Although nothing would suit me better for my idea of a perfect vacation.  I love the woods and mountain air, being out in nature with no TV, radio or even phone.  That perfect trip ruined by my sorrow. I had married Dr. Jeckle, but awoke to Mr. Hyde.  How could a person change so dramatically  overnight.  How could such a beautiful setting be blurred by so many tears.  Although, it took me only one day to realize my biggest mistake, it took me five years and two children to gain the strength to walk away.  Since then I prefer tent camping.  No room for extra baggage.   (Side note: I have spent the past 21 years married to a wonderful man, who unfortunately is not a hiker or camper.)


quaint mountain cabin
steady flow of water
river and me 

_


dapple sunlight
spills on the cabin floor
earth fragrances dance


Friday, December 12, 2014

Glacier

Carpe Diem #625 Glacier

I know nothing of glaciers so was at a loss, until I read Hamish ‘Managua’ Gunn's post on the beauty and the danger of the glaciers.  Then I found some pictures to further my inspiration.
Environment 360

melted channel
carves its way
through glacial ice


Morraine

blueish glacier
looms against the arctic sky
beautifully dangerous
deep caverns traverse beneath
fortress of ice demons