Thursday, August 28, 2014

Carpe Diem's Little Creatures #3, Seri


Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Time flies as we all will agree I think, so it's already time for a new episode of our "Little Creatures"-feature and after two episodes about little insects, this episode is about little plants and flowers e.g. Sheperd's Purse as we can read in this haiku by Basho (1644-1694):

furu hata ya nazuna hana saku kakine kana

if you look closely
a sheperd's purse flowering
underneath the hedge

(c) Matsuo Basho (Tr. Tim Chilcott)

Credits: Sheperd's Purse

Isn't it gorgeous this little Sheperd's Purse? That also is a "Little Creature", a creation of God. This above haiku by Basho is almost as famous as his "frog-pond" haiku is. It shows the mastership of Basho in looking closely to the world around him even the smallest creatures (insects and flowers/plants) on Earth.

As I was preparing this new episode of "Little Creatures" I ran into a wonderful haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784):

furudera ya hôroku suteru seri no naka

a
ncient temple
clay pot tossed around
in the seri (*)  field


© Buson (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)
(*) Seri = Oenanthe javanica = water dropwort

Seri (source not found)
Seri is one of the seven sacred herbs of spring which are used in the spring festival "Nanakusa no Sekku" or "The Festival of Herbs". It happens to be that the Sheperd's Purse, in the haiku by Basho, also is one of the Seven Sacred Herbs of Spring. What a coincedence that I have used both in the same post.

Well enough ... time for haiku-ing and so here is my haiku for this episode of Little Creatures:

in the meadow
peeling the leaves of daisies,
does she loves me?

© Chèvrefeuille

What a cute haiku, I saw this right in front of me and I just had to compose a haiku ...

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 4th at noon (CET). For now ... have fun, be inspired and share your "Little Creatures"-haiku with us all.

3 comments:

  1. I think I have seen Shepard's Purse (is in the mustard seed family) in my yard by the creek. the Water Dropwort looks a bit like Queen Anne's Lace - the two are indeed of the same family or genus of Apiaceae - celery, carrot and parsley family.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apiaceae

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota

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  2. Your haiku needs to be made into a tan renga...then some answers might arrive....nice post.

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    1. I thank you for your nice comment Managua, maybe I have to use it next week for our Tan Renga Challenge, or maybe the Tan Renga Squared feature ....

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