Thought Prints

Carpe Diem #1808 LOVE acrostic challenge Dodoitsu is a form of Japanese poetry developed towards the end of the Edo Period. Often concerning love or work, and usually comical, Dodoitsu poems consist of four lines with the syllabic structure 7-7-7-5 and no rhyme or metre. An example of a Dodoitsu: One Night one night I searched for a star what I found was a full moon now my every day is full of shooting stars © Ben Gieske (2012) R ing on her finger says married O verjoyed with life ahead S urprised by a gift so large E dger not listed! © petra domina Thanks to our faithful teacher, Chèvrefeuille, for new and different challenges to improve and expand our writing skills.  Namaste.

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday (8) New Year's Morning New Year's morning the first day begins in the same dream © Jane Reichhold (1937-2016) awakened to reality by rockets red glare © petra domina Enjoy haiku or other forms of Japanese poetry?  Would you like to learn more about the art of haiku?  Maybe you just want to read some nice poetry.  Come on over the Carpe Diem Haiku Kai .

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #38 A Trip Along Memory Lane #1 Carpe Diem Special How happy! Bathing in the tub full to overflowing  The above one line poem by Sumitaku Kenshin (1961-1987) really sent me down memory lane.  Until I was a teenager my family lived on a farm.  The year Sumitaku Kenshin was born, my family moved "in town".  That move brought us into a new age, indoor plumbing.  Until that time there was a galvanized tub for baths and a path for other bodily necessities. Baths were taken on the screened in back porch during the summer months.  There would be 3 to 4 inches of water in the tub.  Water drawn from the well just outside the house.  Some of the water would be heated in the teakettle on the stove in the kitchen.  Youngest child would bath first.  Then up through the ages of the children.  Daddy was always the last.  In the same 3 to 4 inches of water.  Once baths were done, the tub was o...

Carpe Diem #1339 The Merchant and the Genius life and death money matters little ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI  

Carpe Diem Namasté, The Spiritual Way #8 Spiritual Imagination among the rocks laughing in the face of time the old pond rests ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI  

Carpe Diem Namasté The Spiritual Way #5 self consciousness Oneness with everything.  Goodness that is an ideal that seems almost unattainable.  Then I think about the words 'self consciousness'.  I have most of my life been self conscious in a condemning way.  I'm:  fat, uncaring, mean, quick to anger, ugly and that crooked nose.  That is not the same as the first definition of conscious:  aware of and responding to one's surroundings; awake.    To become aware and respond to all that stuff that is out there.  Within this awareness we could then be led to self awareness (the good kind) and become one with the universe.  One with all before and all that follows.  One with each person that reads this.  It feels so challenging until I realize one small thing, we share our humanity.  We have common experiences.  It hit me.  The naked dream.  What better place to start looking for our connec...

Carpe Diem #1140 arriving at the right moment sun angles instincts stir within  migration thoughts feathers preened and gullets full one takes flight into the blue warming breeze beneath their wings gives rise yearnings for homeland far brings focus to the flight there below the call is heard and passed along each glides to rest arrive with the sun's last rays it is just the perfect time ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem Universal Jane #4 abalone shells and lovers Sometimes the stars are either aligned perfectly or so imperfectly it is amusing.  The event you are about to read is one such event.  As was the tradition of our farming family when something not farm like happened we had to participate in the event.  One such event was when my sister's husband went on a business trip.  He flew in an actual airplane! A little background to help understand the significance of this.  The folks were not the wealthy Southern Plantation owners.  No, my folks were just a notch above share croppers.  The land, which usually included a house for us to live in, was rented from an owner.  A portion of the crop proceeds paid the rent.  There was no running water nor any type of indoor plumbing.  Daddy had wired the house for electricity shortly after we moved into the house.  Only recently had we 'moved to town' where we actually had 'modern p...

Carpe Diem Full Circle #1-2016 deep rainbow colors announcing autumn flight seagulls fill the sky cranes arrive for winter warmth  cherry blossoms bid goodbye love's own call above sunflower fields fills the blue sky rainbow clouds on butterfly wings nectar drips as once more the old men sing, laugh and clink their mugs of beer ©    petra domina The challenge was to use the following words in order in a haiku or tanka....  how about a tan renga? 1. rainbow 2. autumn 3. seagull 4. crane 5. cherry blossom 6. love 7. sunflower 8. blue sky 9. clouds 10. butterfly 11. nectar 12. beer Give it a try and link up with the others at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.  Or just go and read for the fun of it! Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #1033 the cold night [...] "These flowers, which were splendid and sprightly, waking in the dawn of the morning, in the evening will be a pitiful frivolity, sleeping in the cold night's arms." [...]  Pedro Calderon de la Barca. 'Sleeping in the cold night's arms' brought to mind a night spent in a tent outside Glacier National Park.  The tent was not made for cold weather.  Nor was it made to withstand a battering of wind.  It was a most unpleasant night for the two not so young campers.  When checking out the KOA store we mentioned our tent.  The clerk's look and response, "oh, you're thooose tent people.  Surprised your tent is still standing" helped us decide on a couple of additional purchases.  The second night was much better. daybreak night's icy breath subsides pansies smile ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #924 humour (reprise) The family motto was, "We laugh to keep from crying."  Laughter could be heard during 'family visitation', a tradition that is part of the grief and burial rituals in parts of the US.  Not ever really class clown type folks just folks that could take any situation and see the humor (humour).  Dad accidentally called a quick stop store to ask if they were the undertakers handling a deceased friend's remains.  Dad asked, "Do you have Bill Morgan's body?"  The owner did not understand and yelled to see if Bill Morgan was in the store.  A couple more exchanges occurred before Dad realized he had not called an undertaker.  Oops. Later in regard the same deceased friend, he and Mom were to take the late night shift of 'sitting with the body', a ritual of unknown origins.  Dressed to the nines in suits and Mom in heels they prepared to leave our home.  Dad backs the car out of the garage.  Mom closes ...