Carpe Diem #675

 Carpe Diem #675, House (au Auvers)

I'll admit that sometimes - OK, often - poetry baffles me.  So it was with yesterday's CD entry.  I simply could not wrap my head around it.  The inspirational poem was totally opaque to me, and I couldn't find any way to relate.  Today, the painting, as odd as it is, gives me something to grab onto. 

Credits: House au Auvers - Vincent Van Gogh

My impression: I do find this picture to be quite illusionary, evocative, and perhaps even elusive.  Where does one house end and the next begin?  How many structures are there?  The roof lines in particular seem almost surreal, the perspective is weirdly off kilter, and the lighting seems unnatural.

None of this is intended as criticism - it's just an accounting of how the picture strikes me. 

amid the lush fields

of the sunny countryside

a shadowed manor

~:~

this old rambling house

what mysteries does it hold

in its shadowed halls

~:~

under the thatched eaves

in the deep purple shadows

orb weaver's secret

~:~

who would imagine

van gogh as a house painter

what a big surprise

 ~:~

all those stars and fields

why did van gogh never paint

a moose and a goose

~:~

L.A. Times Crossword puzzle Blogging

 Wednesday, February 25, 2015  Jeffrey Wechsler

Theme: ROLE PLAYING IN A WELL STAGED PUZZLE.  Common movie or theater roles are humorously recast [so to speak] as belonging to people in appropriately considered occupations.
 

Carpe Diem Haiku Writing Techniques #8

Karume [Lightness]

I love this example:

just one leaf
struggles with the wind
like Basho

© Chèvrefeuille

~~::~~::~~

My thoughts:

shining green gecko
between the tree and the grass
hunting the cricket

~~:~~

learn about the rose
ponder its lovely blossoms
ponder its thorns

~~:~~

photons

the secret ingredient

in light beer

 © JzB

~~:~~

The 2/24 Tuesday Platform

From the Imaginary Garden

Plus Monday Writes [on Tuesday]

Limericks

On 50 Shades

I had 50 hot cups today
Of milky and sweet Earl Grey,
‘Cuz that’s what it took
To get through this book.
Now babe are you ready to play?

On 50 Shades of Gumby

I’d say it’s nifty and keen
To get kinky with someone who’s green
But I’d prefer a fuzz muppet 
To a clammy clay puppet
It’s more cozy, ya know what I mean

On and on

The cat couldn’t hack up his fur ball
After he swallowed the gerbil
He gets no relief
As he struggles to breath
And he’s turning 50 shades of purple

Summa Appoligica

These modern times most poets won’t
Object to rhymes made on a slant
Keep everything right 
With rhythm that’s tight
And rhyming can be nicely bent

On learning the word "doggo"

My doggie avoids every fight
‘Cuz fights give him such a bad fright
So he’ll always try
To carefully lie
Doggo in the still of the night

On trading verses with Mad Kane on Facebook

I’m dancing with Maddie Begun
Kane and we’re having such fun
Tripping light and airy
With vocabulary
Now that the beguine has begun



That's all folks

Carpe Diem # 672 and Imaginary Garden Play It again #14

If any of my Imaginary Garden peeps are interested in haiku I highly recommend Chèvrefeuille's Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.   This month we are exploring impressionist paintings, and today's selection is “Sonce” (Sun) by Slovenian impressionist Rihard Jakopič (1869-1943).

Obviously, the I G archive challenge I've chosen is Grace's Old Pond from 2/15/12.  
 
The key idea this painting is chosen to illustrate is Summer.  I am keying on the sun as a summer kigo.  Also, I'll point out a couple of other haiku techniques.  In English language haiku the cutting word is often implied by what is known as phrase and fragment structure.   With this approach, between the phrase and fragment is an implies caesura, and grammar, as such, is not particularly important.  In fact, a specific goal is to avoid a 17 syllable run-on sentence.  Another goal in an elegant haiku is first-third line interchangeability.  The idea is that if you read the lines in reverse order, the ideas and images persist.   I'll try to illustrate that with my group of three examples.  A haiku should also suggest a deeper meaning.  I'm not sure I've achieved that.

Here's a remarkable summer song that I'll pay homage to along the way.

Here are three haiku with very different takes on the summer sun.

in the cotton fields

black men stooped under the sun

work does not make free

 ~~:~~

as the bright sun proves

sumer is icumin in

sing lusty cuckoo

 ~~:~~

sun’s bright morning light

over blooms and my window

lazy bee hovers

~~:~~

Carpe Diem Time Machine #4

YELLOW

This prompt is from November, 2012.

Paloma gives us a painting by Van Gogh.

Vincent Van Gogh.  Langlois Bridge at Arles with Women Washing, 1888. Wikimedia.

 My inspired haiku doesn't quite work, I think.   Maybe I still want nudes.

by yellow bridge arch
on the water round ripples
shoreline lady’s curves

~~:~~  

There is a clump of yellow crocuses that emerges in our yard every spring, with one purple interloper.  In keeping with the Time Machine concept, here's a picture I took in March, 2012.  These blooms are so fragile and transitory, I'm concerned that March, 2015 will be very rude to them.

 Do you see the honey bee?

  these ephemeral blooms

shining in their brief beauty

  a bee hovers near

 

~~::~~

Imaginary Garden February List

You can ENLIST here

From grapeling:

I got to thinking how close yet how far some words are, and started thinking of pairs that share a root, as it were, but not necessarily a sense. So not tense/intense, which are closely related, but... well, these:

miss / remiss
deem / redeem
wager / dowager
pulse / repulse
file / defile
peat / repeat
sent / absent

Your challenge is to select at least 2 of these pairs - or come up with a pair of pairs of your own, words that share common spelling but not common meaning - and weave them into a *new* poem, however you please.

~~:~~

Well, I'm in limerick mode.  I hope weaving them into two separate, unconnected verses doesn't violate the terms too severely.

~~:~~

The snake thought that he'd be remiss

To not tempt the lovey young miss

So he did his foul duty,

Enticed with things fruity;

And she gave Adam's apple a kiss

~~::~~

The dowager wanted to gamble

So to the casino she’d amble

And wager on red

Till her coin purse was dead

Then beat it home in a mad scramble

~~::~~

Carpe Diem Special #133

FUYUKO TAMITA'S how lonely

From Paloma:

For today, we return to our featured poet, Fuyuko Tomita. Here is a wonderful tanka I think we can all relate to:

さんさんとそそぐ朝日の文机に遺す未完の歌ぞ淋しき

Sansan to/ sosogu asahi no/fuzukue ni/ nokosu mikan no/ uta zo samishiki

How lonely I would be
left behind on my desk
an unfinished poem
in the glorious morning sun  

© Fuyuko Tomita 

~~::~~ 

I do have an unfinished poem haunting me, but that is not likely to be resolved any time soon.  And that is not what this poem makes me think of.  Instead it's the idea of loneliness itself.

My mother-in-law passed away in January two years ago.  She spent the last few months of her life in a nursing home.  It was not a happy place.   My lovely wife made a round trip of about 150 miles almost every other day to see her, and check on her situation and care.   There were many people there living out their last days who never had a visitor.  

she sits on her bed
nurses coming and going
making duty rounds

one more sunday afternoon

 nobody comes to visit

~~::~~

My other thought was of a loveless marriage.  Ever have one of those?  I did once.  It is the most exquisite agony.

the worst loneliness
feeling left out and ignored
when you’re with someone

in the cold hard marriage bed
two people with their backs turned 

~~:~~

Tree Word Wednesady #415

Today's Words:

content
evolve
sober

In my view, all of human history displays two overarching themes:
1) warfare,
2) the desire of a small privileged elite group of leeches to dominate the rest of the population.

These both result from greed.  To the greedy, no amount is ever enough.  Whatever you have, they want, and they are coming to get it.

sober assessment

when will we evolve enough

to be content

Carpe Diem #671

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

A Sunday Afternoon - Georges Seurat

~~ my impressions ~~


girl with a bouquet

among the pleasure seekers

thinking about love

~~::~~

in the tree shadow

under the umbrellas

shades of meaning

~~::~~

ignoring others

in the colonnade of trees

two lovers walking

~~::~~

at the water's edge

on this sunny afternoon

where are the nudes

Carpe Diem Writing Techniques #7

Wabi-Sabi Continued

So the essence is simple ego-free humility coupled with the authenticity that comes of noble aging.

At some visceral level, I think I get it.  Perhaps being deep into my 7th decade helps.

Kristjaan maintains that this is also the essence of haiku.

Examples

the morning's snow
i can chew dried salmon
alone

© Basho

in the backyard
of my ancestor's mansion
roses still bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

~~::~~

What I do not see in either of these - nor in many other fine haiku - is a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown in water.  Surely one cannot chew dried salmon in that quick manner.  So - what you may have is an extended moment, but one that is imbued with some special characteristics that might even suggest a deeper meaning.

In the second example we have the antithesis of a brief moment - something that is in fact timeless.  I think that is wonderful.

And that it, too, hints at wabi-sabi.

in these old pictures

you and i were so young

and now this moment

~~:~~

It also reminds me of this sculpture by Rodin.  It was mentioned in passing in a Robert Heinline novel I read decades ago, and was delighted to find the relevant passage - and a picture of the subject sculpture here.   For some reason this passage stayed with me over the long years.  I'm not sure Jubel Harshaw's exposition on the sculpture quite gets at wabi-sabi, but it at least hits the right corner of the universe.

~~:~~

Getting rid of ego is something I struggle with.   Playing the trombone is humbling - but still.  For the past year or so I've been doing something I haven't done since high school - practicing semi-diligently, specifically with the goal of developing a more extensive, secure and reliable high register.   I may be giving in to ego, but I want to share with you a moment from last month where I performed one of the iconic trombone songs from the swing era. An old man, old horn, and old song coming together - a bit of sabi, perhaps.   It's not perfect, but a year ago, I wouldn't have thought this possible.

King 2B Silversonic - A gift from my father in 1963

my old king trombone

it’s finish spotted with age

still hits the high notes

 ~:~

LOVE in the Imaginary Garden

 LOVE, friends, love! All you need is….

OK, then - a poem of love, that strange, mysterious primal life influence.  And one that is, to a fair degree, the story of my life.  Now you know.

I wrote this several years ago, - obviously a pastiche with a boat load of pirated iconic source material, stitched together with my own unique blend of herbs and spices, - and just reconstituted it from memory.  Some things just stay with you.


TIME AND ALL THE WORLD

When do I love thee - let me count the days:
One day in love’s first incomplete caress
When we were young and in young carelessness
Lost love we thought, we didn’t know the ways

Love comes, and goes, then comes again and stays.
Away you went, and I, or we, to press
Another plight, a troth, and then loveless,
Distressed returned to love at last in May’s

Warm glow surprised we loved on that day too:
Love ever fixed, not shaken, now we chose
To measure our souls’ reach and passion through
True minds quiet needs and old griefs lose.

The best is yet to be, our one from two
Now we have time and all the world to use.

Carpe Diem #670

Bathing

Credits: Large Bathers - Paul Cézanne

 "  .  .  .  Cézanne moved away from the traditional presentation of paintings, intentionally creating works which would not appeal to the novice viewer. He did this in order to avoid fleeting fads and give a timeless quality to his work  .  .  ."

 the lure of water
the alluring female form
these things are timeless

~:~
 

indistinct faces

 i can so clearly see
bare breasts and buttocks

 ~:~

to be like water
lapping at your bosom curves
flowing through your thighs

Imaginary Garden

Sunday Mini-challenge - Promising

 "You can if you wish simply write about an experience or day or object that seems particularly promising, or unpromising; a poem, if you will, about anticipation or disappointment.:" 


"Zero - that's nothing." A harsh winter quip
from an old man long gone
as snow flies in the canine dental wind.

But such memories he had
of sun-sered sandy beaches
thorn-stemmed roses, cooling rain.

"Don't despair," he admonished, "Summer is coming."


distilled to a haiku


snow and howling wind
in the beak depth of winter
the promise of spring

Carpe Diem #669

THE SCREAM

Credits: The Scream Edvard Munch

I was walking along the road with two friends
the sun was setting
suddenly the sky turned blood red
I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence
there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city
my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety
and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

© Edvard Munch

Not all art is to be liked, in the sense that it is pleasant or comforting.  There is a place for that.  But there is also a place for the eerie, the disturbing, the square root of nightmares, and this panting certainly qualifies in that regard.

The mis-shapen androgynous face is weirdly reflected by light colored regions [tongues of fire?] both above and to the right.  The walk-way and the railing are realistically rendered; the two apparently nonchalant walkers in the distance more in the manner of traditional impressionism, and these things only heighten the strangeness of both the central focal figure and everything else in the background.

I didn't know the story behind The Scream and somehow I've always associated it with Picasso's Guernica.   So, I see in it an anti-war statement that Munch probably never intended.  But what more than mankind's greatest evil, with all it's collateral damage on life and mother earth could evoke this scream?

I find this idea reinforced in both the surreal turbulence of water and the tortured bleeding sky.

this dying planet

plagued with murder rape and war

screams along with you

Carpe Diem Time Glass #21

 FOG

fog can make the world seem surreal, and that's what i'm going for here

also i'm thnking of the weirdly mysterious scene in a dance with dragons when theon/reek encounters the hooded man

as the fog rolls in

i see faces approaching

one of them is mine

Carpe Diem Sparkling Stars #18

John Stevenson's The Train

the train picks up speed,
in a paper coffee cup
concentric waves

the river always
out there in the dark
late train home

coming home
on the train
... the backyards

(c) John Stevenson

 

~~::~::~~

laborers toiling
under the blaze of the sun
to lay down the track

~:~

on the tracks
red disappearing
last caboose

(c) JzB

 

 

 

Carpe Diem #668

DREAMS

Strange that DREAM should come up just now.  Earlier today I learned about the SEVENLING at Mama Zen's place.   So I tried my hand at one.  It's about Bran Stark's coma dream in his third chapter from A Game of Thrones, the first book in G.R.R. Martin's series A Song of Ice and Fire.


In Bran’s fever dream:
one rush to earth, two sisters
[visions from the three eyed crow;]

three shadows;
two boys grown - Stark steel, ice cold Snow;
free cities, bleak Vaes Dothrak, shadowy Asshai.

But in the cold, dead heart of Winter, what thought of dragons?

Distilled to a senryu

a broken child’s dream

of his family’s tragedies

all in prophesy

~~:~:~~ 

A dream painting to contemplate -

The Dream - Henri Rousseau, 1910

my impression

so peaceful a dream

but there is danger lurking

in the dark shadows

Rousseau explains it with this poem:

Yadwigha in a beautiful dream
Having fallen gently to sleep
Heard the sounds of a reed instrument
Played by a well-intentioned [snake] charmer.
As the moon reflected
On the rivers [or flowers], the verdant trees,
The wild snakes lend an ear
To the joyous tunes of the instrument.

my distillation

naked polish girl

in a moon-lit jungle dream

wakes to snakes dancing

Carpe Diem Special # 132

Fuyuko Tamita's 'the corner"

Kantooka  magatte shimatta  magarikado

Under a cold
street lamp
I’ve just turned
the corner

© Fuyuko Tomita

~~::~~::~~

turning the corner
lamp light fades in the distance
where am i going

~:~

leaving the harbor

high waves and strong wind ahead

uncharted waters

©JzB

Carpe Diem #667

TULIPS

I wanted to take a stab at the acrostic haiku, using TULIPS as the root word, but couldn't come up with a connecting liaison.   So I put together two [sort of] connected 3/5/3 haiku with the Letters of TULIPS starting each line.  This image that Kristjann posted caught my eye.

tulips hide
under fallen snow
lie in wait

in tulips
people find symbols
so kiss  me


Not very good, I'm afraid.

My experience with tulips in the garden is that they are very fragile and one storm will knock off the petals, leaving at best ragged, battered flowers.    This leaves me with a wabi sabi impression.

Image Source

delicate tulips

a morning of wind and rain

reduced to bare stems

Is Love a Tender Thing in the Imaginary Garden

Can you imagine?

For a suitable thorn and flower visual, I'll refer you to MMT's recent post.



i saw her today
that girl i once loved

years ago when we were young
chaste foolish catholic kids

nobody planned this
i turned and there she was

a muddle of memories
joy and pain the awful pain

heartbreak that was long ago
so why do i feel this longing inside

those agonizing memories
let me go i’m leaving now

and then she smiled

Carpe Diem # 666 and Three Word Wednesday No 414

CD -- Poppy Field Impressions

Credits: Landscape with Poppies - Claude Monet (1873)

my first impression

in the poppy field
burning with a russet glow
no need for sunset

a more light hearted impression

down the poppy slope
that girl catching my eye
she impresses me

For 3WW

today's words:

devious

frown

venemous

i took the challenge of forcing these works into a quasi-ku, 

which drove a dark turn into the opium trade

devious ladies
[each smile an inverted frown]
pick venomous buds

L. A. Times Crossword Puzzle Blogging

Wednesday, February 11  Peter A. Collins

Theme: "WHY, WHY?" you wonder.  Let us consult the WISE MEN.   I'll defer the complete explanation till we get to the unifier.

Carpe Diem Writing Techniques #6

Sabi and/or Wabi

These concepts are not easily definable.  

Nor can I explain or justify why I think these senryu succeed.

at the shopping mall

alone in the corridor

teenagers pass me

~~::~~

as goose is molting

moose sheds last years antlers

spider eats her web

Carpe Diem #665

Sunset over the Harbor

The Siciliana by Respighi that Kristjaan posted is from his Suite #3 of Ancient Airs and Dances, and is based on a much older anonymous piece of lute music.  It has a definite 16th century sound.

That same source also inspired Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo for this selection.

Fantasia para un gentilhombre

Classical guitar totally defeated me, but I once tried to play a very simple piece of music from the Book The Renaissance Guitar compiled by Frederick Noad, which is the original source music I was speaking of above.  In the book, this piece is called Spagnoletta, "Little Spanish Tune."  It is taken from an Italian manuscript sourced by the 19th century musicologist Oscar Chilesotti.

Here it is played by the master

Andres Segovia

~:~

on the sandy shore

in the sunset's fading gold

old man strums his lute

~:~

airs and dances suite

a more modern impression

of ancient music

Wordle 198

Link

Some Thoughts on Life Love and Pain

we‘re wound together

like brambles of a thorn bush

i will not wound you

~:~

for a brief moment

our tumble in the hay loft

i’m falling for you

~:~

my moth to your flame

scent of lust that you emit

might be pheromones

~:~

she promised her love

on a lamb’s wool filled with fleas

i was fleeced on fleece

~:~

i sang her love songs

rasping loud and out of tune

not a sound idea

~:~

after the cloud burst

in clothes all wet and clingy

she burst into tears

~:~

ink stamp on paper

this official document

does it seal our love

~:~

once like an hour glass

now so much sand has drifted

more like a tumbler

~:~

your love has wandered

I can fill that empty spot

until he returns

~:~

in a still moment

i could instill in your heart

loving thoughts for me

~:~

left for another

bring the pieces of your heart

i will comfort you

~:~

with my silliness

am i the joy of your life

or just a sad clown

Limerick Off

Via Mad Kane

"I hope you’ll join me in writing a limerick using either “CLIPS” or “ECLIPSE” at the end of Line 1 or Line 2 or Line 5. (Homonyms or homophones are fine.)"

Because I take a challenge like this so very seriously  .  .  .

loony barber will only do clips
on the days of the solar eclipse
he likes to get paid in the moon’s umbral shade
by aliens in lunar space ships

Imaginary Garden - Sunday's Mini Challenge

Carilda Olivar Labra

She is a Cuban poet who wrote on philosophical and social topics, but also of love and passion.  You can read about her and see some examples of her work at the link above.

'Our challenge is to write a new poem or prose poem in response to Carilda's words."

My response is to the last one presented at the link.  No politics or war in this one; only the  .  .  .

~~::~~

FORBIDDEN FRUIT

when the tip of my tongue moistens

the tip of your sweet breast

i think of naked coquette eve

and how she enticed the serpent

it was the fruit she pleaded

its syrup cloying sticky on her chin

and adam could no more resist than gravity’s apple

plummeting headlong into boggy mother earth

that is how i fell into you crazy love-crazy

turbid salacious over-ripe and bursting with seeds

Carpe Diem Time Machine Plus Imaginary Garden

Blue

UPDATE 2/11/15 for The Imaginary Garden Tuesday Platform [a day late]

Since it's all about the stage and the applause, I'll take this opportunity to blow my own horn - literally.

~~::~~

Carpe Diem theme originally from Nov 7, 2012.

My grandson Nate is a smart, healthy boy.  He'll be 12 1/2 on Valentine's day.

But he got off to a rough start.  He was born with transposition of the great arteries - his pulmonary artery and aorta were hooked up in reverse.   So instead of a complete circulatory system, he had two closed loops.  Fortunately, this condition was observed in an ultrasound.  So he was born at Mott's Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where fixing these things is a matter of routine.

When he was born, he turned blue immediately.  But the neo-natal cardiac team was on high alert and quickly performed a radical procedure that stabilized him until the open-heart surgery could be performed a week later.

It was a success, and everything turned out well.    Which is pretty remarkable since they opened him up like a clam, and the great arteries in a newborn have about the same diameter as a pencil lead.

So I wrote this song for him.  A blues of course.  A minor blues for a little guy.  The barely audible bass riff at the beginning and end is supposed to represent a heart beat.  There is other symbolism in the song's construction, some of which was unconscious.  Trombone solo by me.

I tear up every time I tell this story.

new little blue boy

here is a song of the heart

from my horn to you

Imaginary garden

KUMULIPO

muddy maumee river

remnant of the great black swamp

i was born along its bank

in a hospital long since abandoned

and grew up next to what

i was told was once the other bank

before it changed its course

as rivers sometimes do

that dry watercourse was a playground

its flat bottom held a football stadium

a running track and baseball diamonds

the trees on it’s sides a child's jungle

i can’t say now what formed in my mind

in those long ago formative years

what ideas flowed into me from that dry river

even today i never know what will flow out

Carpe Diem #663

Starry Night

venus moon and stars

seen by eyes knowing darkness

listen with your heart

Three Word Wednesday

No. 413

Desire
Shiver
Wilt

those nights of desire

your fingers made me shudder

why then did it wilt

Carpe Diem #662

Water Lilies

Claude Monet

Among these lilies
in Monet’s pond
Basho’s water sound

© Sylvia Forges-Ryan & Edward Ryan

~~::~~

floating lotus bud

gives yellow back to the sun

green frog is silent

~:~

among lotus leaves

orb weaver spins quietly

wary of the frog

 © JzB

Imaginary garden

The Tuesday Platform invites us to share our poetry, new or old.   So I will.

 I'll admit I'm a romantic: I believe in true love, and happily ever after.

Howevah  . . .

When love and fate mesh, it is a wondrous thing. But so much can go wrong, even if we are careful. Here is a wistful look at love, destiny, and the vagaries of fate that I wrote quite a few years ago.

THE SUBSTITUTE

There are those whose lives are meant to be entwined,
Lovers thrust together by the force of destiny,
When choice and fate converge, that they may be
Connected at the soul, the heart, the mind.

Within their closed circumference one can find
Two curves in perfect fit -- his yang, her yin,
That in each cycle once again begin
To cluster into love's sweet spiral bind.

But consider -- if in the vast span of infinity
One of them becomes displaced in small degree;
Is born a decade late, perhaps is sent
To the farthest corner of the continent --

The distant echo of an unfelt touch, an unseen face.
Who will be the one who comes to take his place?

~~:~~

reduced to a haiku-shaped word cluster

 come to me my love

you who would complete my soul

not a substitute