Saturday, September 1, 2012

September Heights, day 1: drawbridge

Inspired by the theme at


Well ... this is it ... the kick-off of a new Haiku Heights Challenge. Let's go and have some fun with writing haiku inspired on given prompts.

Another new September Heights Challenge to write an every day haiku on a given theme. I loved doing this last April and I hope this new September Heights will be again a joy to participate in.
Let's go starting the haiku engines (smiles).

Today the prompt given is drawbridge. I think I can write some nice haiku with this one. So ... let's get on with it.

As you know I am living in The Netherlands. We, the Dutch people, have a long history in conquering the waters, but we are also known for our skills in bridge building. In our lovely capital, Amsterdam, we have some well known drawbridges e.g. "De Magere Brug" or "The Skinny Bridge".

Credits: The Skinny Bridge
It's one of my favorite bridges of Amsterdam. So I thought 'maybe I can write a haiku (or two) about this Skinny Bridge'.

walking through the city
crossing the canals of Amsterdam
the skinny bridge

the skinny bridge
here I lost my heart to her
walking through the city

Hm ... not a strong one I think, but that's not up to me to decide ... you my visitors can say what you think about it.

See you tomorrow,

Chèvrefeuille (a.k.a. Basho2012 and Kristjaan Panneman)


Friday, August 31, 2012

The Path of the Honeysuckle #2


The Path of the Honeysuckle part 2:  Closing the garden.

Today I will look closer to the spiritual meaning of the next haiku.

closing the garden
no one to disturb my thoughts -
Virginia Creeper

This one I have published in last February's Haiku Challenge of Someone Is Special. It was inspired by a picture of an open fence of a concentrationcamp. I remember that I also have written a blog about closing the garden on Basho Revisited my other blog. And I even have used the theme of the closed garden in one of my Tackle It Tuesday Previews 'Closing the garden' must have a spiritual, deeper meaning, because I have used it already a few times on my weblogs. So let's look a bit closer to the given haiku.  

In this haiku the closing of the garden is meant to give the mind some peace, but also to search for the deeper meaning of the thoughts. Thinking about the future? Thinking about life? All thoughts that are tumbling around in my mind. My head is so full of thoughts that I sometimes think that I need a second head. But ... that's of course not possible ... so I have to retreat for a while to order my thoughts. I have to close my garden, my house to find the peace back in my head, body and soul. Than I will find my freedom of thoughts back and that is the deeper meaning of the Virginia Creeper. The spiritual meaning of Virginia Creeper is 'seeking freedom and progress'. So the deeper meaning of this haiku is:

'To find freedom and progress in thoughts I have to empty my head by going on a retreat'.   Isn't it a wonderful haiku? So less words, with so much meaning.
Credits: Virginia Creeper
See you again ... next week for another quest into the spiritual meaning of haiku.  

Namaste,  

 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Sensational Haiku Wednesday, freestyle

Join the fun!

Dear Haiku friends,

It's a long time ago that I participated in the Sensational Haiku Wednesday, because of lack of time and of course keeping my other blogs up-to-date. I remember that for this meme it's necessary to write a haiku on the given theme in the classical way. As several weeks ago I gave my own 'Back to Basic' theme for my haiku meme. It's not my piece of cake to write in the classical 5-7-5 way, but I can say right from my heart that I love to write sometimes a classical one. So this week's theme of Sensational Haiku Wednesday "freestyle" I will use to write another classical haiku.

finally dark clouds break
after the rains and thunderstorms
the bright and warm sunlight

This is really not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed it very much. (Had to use a syllable counter ... smiles). Thank you for this opportunity to try (again) the classical way of haiku.

Thunderstorm
Well ... maybe next week again ...?

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday, Blue Moon



Dear Haijin,


Another week has gone by … I feel a bit sad … I had hoped to see more contributions to last weeks theme Aurora Borealis, but … well I will not complain. It’s holiday time, maybe other business to do or just no time or no inspiration at all. Of course it could be the theme, or maybe Blogger isn’t easy to find by other weblogs such as wordpress. I don’t know. It makes me just a bit sad … I hope this weeks theme will bring back the spirit to Tackle It Tuesday.

The theme for this week’s Tackle It Tuesday is Blue Moon. Blue Moon is a phenomenon that occurs not so many times. It’s a second full moon in one month.
I am close to the Wiccan tradition and live with the lunar calendar. It is amazing to see that sometimes we have twice a full moon in one month. In the Wiccan tradition we call that Blue Moon this will occur this year in August. In August we have a Blue Moon (on August 31). Blue Moon is for Wiccans worth a celebration and it will be a great celebration.
Credits: Moon above Seta
Basho wrote a haiku on this event of the Blue Moon. It occurred in the Autumn of 1692 as we may belief, but I did some research on this and came to the conclusion that in Basho's lifetime a Blue Moon had occurred twenty times. According to the year in which the following haiku was written, the Blue Moon, wasn't in Autumn but on April 30th (or in March, as we follow the lunar calendar).
In 1689 a Blue Moon occurred on August 30th and as we know, according to the lunar calendar, this has to be July and that's in the midst of summer. I think Basho was impressed of the Blue Moon and wrote this haiku later. Until now, in my lifetime (1963 - now) a Blue Moon occurred 20 times.

Matsuo Basho has written a wonderful haiku on this event of the Blue Moon.

the full moon
even coming twice in a month
the moon of Seta


As I already said earlier in this post this event will occur on August 31th. And of course this is a wonderful theme for this week’s Tackle It Tuesday, because this will be in this week. I hope the weather will be good and the nightsky will be clear to watch this event happen. I love the full moon and if it comes twice in one month … awesome …

Credits: Blue Moon

wonderful event
another full moon in one month
awesome


awesome
to witness this Blue Moon
wonderful event



Well … this was my post, contribution to this weeks Tackle It Tuesday. Come enjoy the fun and be part in this meme. Be inspired. The Linky Widget will appear Sunday August 26th around 8:00 PM.

Please leave a comment after linking your post. Thank you all for your support on this meme Tackle It Tuesday. This theme will close on Monday, September 3rd at 11.59 PM

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Path of the Honeysuckle #1

Also shared with: The Poetry Pantry of Poets United


Dear Haijin, visitors, friends,

I would like to introduce to you a new series of blogposts which I have given the title "The Path of the Honeysuckle". As you know Chèvrefeuille is French for Honeysuckle (or in Dutch: Kamperfoelie) and Honeysuckle is a wonderful flower with a very nice sweet perfume, but it also has a deeper meaning. In her deeper spiritual meaning Honeysuckle is the path of wisdom to find your inner self.
Maybe Honeysuckle did do that for me, but there is of course another reason why I have chosen the 'nom du plum' Chèvrefeuille. I try to write my haiku in the classical Kanshicho-style (as performed several years by Matsu Basho (1644-1694)), but I am also a big fan of the classical way to take another pseudonym as a haiku poet. Well ... that's not everything yet. I was born in a city called Kampen (that's here in The Netherlands) and I love the Honeysuckle. In Dutch Honeysuckle is Kamperfoelie and so I thought I am born in Kampen so I have to choose a pseudonym which I associate with that city. So I took Chèvrefeuille for a 'nom de plum'.
My first haiku I wrote was a haiku with Honeysuckle in it, I can't remember the right one, but I think it was such as:

midsummer night -
the scent of Honeysuckle
tickles the senses


It's a nice one I think and it's a haiku with some deeper meaning. In this one I think the deeper meaning is in tickles the senses. Why? The scent of the Honeysuckle, so sweet and delicious does remind me to my first encounter with my lovely wife. She had a perfume called Chèvrefeuille and that scent made me mad and tickled my senses ... smiles.

In this new series I will try to publish old and new haiku in which I am going to search for the deeper, spiritual meaning in it. As you know from the Tackle It Tuesday preview, back to basic a deeper meaning is one of the classical (and modern) haiku rules. So enjoy this new series ... and if you have a comment on it please share it with me. Thank you.

Chèvrefeuille

Monday, August 20, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday Aurora Borealis


Dear Haijin,

Welcome to another Tackle It Tuesday This week's theme is Aurora Borealis or the Northernlight. I think this one is a lovely one to write haiku about. As you could have read here Aurora Borealis (Northern hemisphere) an Aurora Australis (Southern hemisphere) are quite remarkable phenomena through the magnetic field of our wonderful planet Mother Earth. It's really a wonderful sight when this phenomena occur as you can see on the picture below.

Credits: Aurora Borealis (Alaska 2010)
Look at those nice colors and shapes. This one is made in 2010 somewhere in Alaska. (The site to which the link beneath the picture goes is (unfortunately) in Dutch, but you can find some more pictures there of the Northernlight.
It's a treat of Mother Earth ... and I love it. I myself saw this phenomena once in my country (The Netherlands). On the next picture you can see Aurora Borealis occurring above the country of province Groningen in The Netherlands.

Credits: Aurora Borealis above province Groningen The Netherlands
It's for sure a great sight.

treat of Mother Earth
coloring the skies
Aurora Borealis

Aurora Borealis
a palette of colors 
treat of Mother Earth

Aurora Borealis caught in a few words ... what a sight ... isn't it?

Well ... be inspired through the pictures and the haiku to write your own. Enjoy the fun and let me smile.
This theme will stay on 'till Monday August 27th 11.59 PM. The linking widget will be open around 10 PM tonight.

Please leave a comment after linking. And if you have a suggestion for a new theme/prompt please share it with me (with us).

The last theme of August starts 27th and will be Blue Moon, it's wonderful happening when a second full moon occurs in the same month . I will post a new Tackle It Tuesday Preview soon.

Warm greetings, be inspired,

Chèvrefeuille

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Haiku Heights 'green'

Haiku Heights

Another Haiku Heights is on. This weeks prompt is green a nice prompt I think, but not a difficult one. Let's go do it ...

Summer heat
Green leaves turning yellow
Already autumn

Already autumn
This tropical heat in the Low lands
Yearning for coolness

Well see you all next week.

Have a great weekend.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Tackle It Tuesday Preview Aurora Borealis


Dear Haijin,

A new Tackle It Tuesday Preview for next week's theme. Next week's theme is Aurora Borealis or The Northernlight as seen on the Northpole and Southpole (than called Aurora Australis or The Southernlight)

The Northernlight or Aurora Borealis
An aurora (plural: aurorae or auroras; from the Latin word aurora, "sunrise") is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth's magnetic field into the atmosphere. Aurora is classified as diffuse or discrete aurora. Most aurorae occur in a band known as the auroral zone, which is typically 3° to 6° in latitudinal extent and at all local times or longitudes. The auroral zone is typically 10° to 20° from the magnetic pole defined by the axis of the Earth's magnetic dipole. During a geomagnetic storm, the auroral zone will expand to lower latitudes. The diffuse aurora is a featureless glow in the sky which may not be visible to the naked eye even on a dark night and defines the extent of the auroral zone. The discrete aurorae are sharply defined features within the diffuse aurora which vary in brightness from just barely visible to the naked eye to bright enough to read a newspaper at night. Discrete aurorae are usually observed only in the night sky because they are not as bright as the sunlit sky. Aurorae occasionally occur poleward of the auroral zone as diffuse patches or arcs (polar cap arcs[), which are generally invisible to the naked eye.


In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the aurora borealis (or the northern lights), named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete aurorae often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoctes. The northern lights have had a number of names throughout history. The Cree call this phenomenon the "Dance of the Spirits". In Europe, in the Middle Ages, the auroras were commonly believed a sign from God.

Aurora Australis or Southernlight

Its southern counterpart, the aurora australis (or the southern lights), has almost identical features to the aurora borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone and is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America, New Zealand, and Australia. (Source: Wikipedia )

It's a phenomenon which I find wonderful ... such nice colors the night's sky gets when this occurs ... really awesome. So the theme for next week's Tackle It Tuesday will be Aurora Borealis, but you also may use of course Aurora Australis. I am looking forward to your contributions next week. Have fun reading this Preview and let your thoughts go over it ...

See you next week for a new Tackle It Tuesday issue.

Sincerely

PS.: By the way ... as a I already had thought ... Aleph ... was a difficult theme so this Tackle It Tuesday on Aleph will be open for another week. For Tackle It Tuesday Aleph you can contribute your haiku 'till August 27th 11.59 PM. Good Luck everyone.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Blue Monday

Smiling Sally

Blue Monday ... the wonderful weblog of Smiling Sally I knew already, but I never really posted something there or I was to late. I remember that I posted something around Easter 2012, but it was to late. So now ... I am on time I hope.

blue waves scatter
the seashore destroyed
clouds moving

clouds moving
showing a sky full of stars
still dark blue


still dark blue
dune grass rustling
blue waves scatter


Credits: Blue Waves

Well ... Sally I hope I was on time this time ...

The Mag #130

Credits: Francesca Woodman

I visited The Magpie Tales weblog today and ran into this wonderful Photograph. It's a mysterious one ... is this human male or female, maybe both or is it a mystical being such as e.g. a mermaid or merman. I can't figure it out. As I look to the hands of this being I surely would say it's a male, but I have read some post of other contributors to The Mag in which it's a female. So what to do?

a neuter image
can't figure it out
it's all humanity

it's all humanity
searching for the truth
finding it


finding it
wasn't easy to do
this is mysterious


this is mysterious
it's a male Venus with his shell
a neuter image


Credits: Sharon Sieben - Venus of Milo
Well ... what do you think of this one?