Carpe Diem My Favorite Haiku by … *Chiyo-Ni’s “butterfly’ s dream”*

It is not easy to choose my favourite haiku, written by one of the most known female haiku poets – Chiyo-Ni (1703-1775), but I gave it a try. Why the following one? Because with that graceful feminine touch only Chiyo-Ni has she once again brings me closer to nature. Or nature closer to me. She makes me hold my breath, to notice and treasure more than meets the eye. There’ s something so real in that moment, caught in her haiku, yet so volatile as well. You know…the feeling of almost being afraid to blink not to miss the moment when a butterfly dreams…

a dandelion
now and then interrupting
the butterfly’s dream

Here’ s what I wrote, inspired by Chiyo-Ni’ s haiku:

plum blossoms
snowflake turns into
butterfly

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Carpe Diem Tan Renga Challenge *Chèvrefeuille’ s “A Dog Barks”*

This week Carpe Diem Tan Renga inspiration is a beautiful haiku, written by our Carpe Diem host Chèvrefeuille. I haven’ t written tan renga for a while therefore this seems a good time to give it a try. Our challenge is to add a second stanza (two lines of approximately 7 syllables each) to the haiku:

sweet perfume
mingles with the sound of rain –
                                                         a dog barks                       (Chèvrefeuille)

at the end of empty street
                       puddle filled with cherry blossoms              (Ese)

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Carpe Diem Haiku *Fireworks*

* * *
yet another year
marked with firework blossoms
across the winter sky

* * *

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Carpe Diem Haiku *Tapestry*

* * *
after heat wave
withering on the wall
tapestry blossoms

* * *

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Shadow *Meadow*

* * *
meadow silhouette
delicate frost work blossoms
across window panes

* * *

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Shadow

Carpe Diem Haiku *Kuheli’s “Nature”*

* * *
traced by drizzle drops
fragile iris blooms
in her kimono

* * *

Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Pink

It’ s not that pink is intrinsically bad, but it is such a tiny slice of the rainbow… /P.Orenstein/

Rhododendron pinkness in Latvia

Probably the only flamingos in Riga, Latvia

A bit of a color near the docks of Marseille, France

When everything blossoms in Valencia, Spain

And in the end – something that seems to fit quite well and rounds it all up:

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Pink

Love Affair With Nature

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. /Lao Tzu/

Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. /C.Monet/

Gardens are poems where you stroll with your hands in your pockets. /P.Albert-Birot/

See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence;
see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence
to be able to touch souls. /Mother Teresa/

Carpe Diem Haiku Special *Kyoshi Takahama’s Spring Breeze*

* * *
fragrant blossoms
ripped off by ruthless spring breeze
trees don’ t bend easily

* * *

Carpe Diem Haiku

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Garden

There is always music amongst the trees in the garden,
but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. /M.Aumonier/

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place
where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant
than ever again. /E.Lawrence/

When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy,
there is always the garden. /M.Aumonier/

A Word A Week Photo Challenge – Garden