23.11.13

Haiku: A Thanksgiving Gathering...

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily." Gerald Good

Haiku: A Thanksgiving Gathering - First Thanksgiving painting by Brownscombe

Haiku: A Thanksgiving Gathering... A colorful Hanukkah Menorah via HuffPost


Before the bloodbath
Pilgrims, Abenaki ate
With Pawtuxet tribe

The Thankful gathered
Our Mayflower colonists
Broke bread in Plymouth

Many will agree
Turkeys, Torment, Thanksgiving
Shaped our history

Now, we meet to eat
Food, Family and Football
Giving thanks for all



 This week, the prompt is: BloodThanks!


What is a haiku?
 As Leo of Haiku Heights aptly explains, a haiku is a three line poem. It shows what the author wants us to understand from it, rather than tell it directly. The limitation to a haiku is seventeen syllables. It can be at maximum, that much. If you wish to go by the traditional Japanese structure even with English haiku, you can use a 5-7-5 syllable, or 3-5-3 syllable structure 






With Thanksgiving around the corner, this is a perfect choice for the week. This year, we will celebrate a rare occurrence of the start of Hanukkah with Thanksgiving Day - dubbed Thanksgivukkah. What a gift to celebrate Thanks in more ways than one.  I've been thinking of all the ways we say Thanks and celebrate our gratitude for the blessings in our lives. What comes to mind is the passionate sermon offered by Pastor Frank Santora at Faith Church NYC.

At a recent Sunday service, he reminded us that it is important to always begin with ... saying Thanks to God because our Creator is good to us physically, emotionally, spiritually and readily helpful in all areas of our lives. So while we celebrate our love for family, friends, life, and more, lets begin with a big Thank you God! I agree.  Happy Hanukkah! Happy Thanksgiving! 
More Haiku - Tan Renga below



"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul." Henry Ward Beecher 
 
Haiku: A Thanksgiving Gathering... A Thanksgiving at a military camp in 1861 by Alfred Waud



With light in your eyes
You embrace me in your arms
Our hearts beat as one
(c) The Imaginator

For all the times we embrace (by Me)
Thanksgivings float to heaven                                           

oh, sweet october...
spare thy frost on yonder grapes
our sweet summer wine
(c) Opie Houston

In November, teach us grace (by Me)
A thankful heart appreciates

October forest
With amethyst enchantment
Frost greeting sunlight
(c) Gene


November rains, remind us (by Me)
Each season holds its blessings


gathering seashells
while ocean tide rise and falls
two sisters bicker
(c) Sun

Gathering for Thanksgiving (by Me)
Family feuds, set aside

the Buddha himself
did not start enlightened
he walked the path
(c) Cathy Tenzo

The path to full surrender (by Me)
Lay bare, a sharp razor's edge

old beacon
hailing all strangers -
mind the land (c) WabiSabi

Plymouth Pilgrims did oblige (by Me)
Gave God thanks and mined the land



Today, the words are:  Tan Renga:  With Light In Your EyesOh, Sweet OctoberOctober Forest, Gathering SeashellsThe Buddha HimselfOld Beacon

What is Carpe DiemBlog Owner, Kristjaan Panneman,  describes it as:  "a weblog on haiku. It's a new daily haiku meme where you can write a classical or non-classical haiku on a given prompt. Haiku is an ancient Japanese poetry form. A haiku has three short lines and describes a short moment (as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water). Mostly a haiku counts 5-7-5 syllables and is sometimes called 'counted verse."





As much as I enjoy the indulgence of a Thanksgiving meal, I believe we should be thankful every day. In a world where many suffer, feel powerless, abused or ignored, offering daily thanks for our small and large miracles is imperative. What are you thankful for? For me, it begins with family, friends, health, love, and ends with gratitude for the gift of life. What about you?

By now, if you've read previous posts, you know what a Tan Renga is. This week, since I don't post daily, I've picked six more off Kristjaan of Carpe Diem's Tan Renga list. While I find them a bit more challenging than our usual 5-7-5 Haiku, I'm enjoying the process of learning to push my thinking cap over the creative edge. Would you like to try writing haiku? I must warn you that it can become addictive but worth the grey matter investment. If interested, visit the websites mentioned on this post, sign up and join in.  I'll happily support your haiku efforts. As always, my Tan Renga are below each color coded one above.  Thank you!

 
 
 Some Food for Thought: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? What are you Thankful for?  What do you do differently for that special day?   If you could change one thing for others who are Thankful, what would it be? Happy Thanksgiving in  2013?   Love and Peace!

I would love to hear from you: Please leave me a comment. Thank You!

PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photographs: First Thanksgiving by Brownscombe,  and Thanksgiving 1861,  via Wikipedia, News media, Flickr or my personal collection. Hanukkah Menorah via HuffPost

Tan Renga Haiku by The Imaginator "with light in your eyes."
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "with light in your eyes."
Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank

Tan Renga Haiku by Opie Houston "oh, sweet october."
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "oh, sweet october"
Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank

Tan Renga Haiku by Gene "October Forest"
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "October Forest"
Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank

Tan Renga Haiku by Sun "Gathering Seashell"
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "Gathering Seashell"
Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank

Tan Renga Haiku by Cathy Tenzo "The Buddha Himself"
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "The Buddha Himself"
 Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank

Tan Renga Haiku by WabiSabi "Old Beacon"
More Carpe Diem Tan Renga: "Old Beacon"
 Final two lines © 2013 by Me - E. Obih-Frank



 Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet


41 comments:

  1. ☻/ღ˚ •。* ˚ ˚✰˚ ˛★* 。 ღ˛° 。* °♥ ˚ • ★ *˚ .ღ 。°♥ ˚ • ★ *˚ .ღ
    /▌*˛˚ღ •˚Wishing You Happy Thanksgiving Blessings & A Holiday Season Filled with Bliss, Peace, Love, and Gratitude!★.✰
    / \ ˚. ★ *˛ ˚♥* ✰。˚ ˚ღ。* ˛˚ 。✰˚* ˚ ★ღ ˚ 。✰ •* ˚ " •* ˚ "

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  2. happy Thanksgiving to you Eliz - enjoyed all your completions ♥

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  3. WOW! What a wonderful post you share here with us Elizabeth. An awesome range of haiku and Tan Renga inspired on the given ones at Carpe Diem and all inspired on Thanksgiving. Well done ...

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    1. TY Kristjaan! You are always so kind and i apologize for not keeping up with all of them. TY again for the haiku! ;-)

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  4. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Eliz :)

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    1. Thanksgiving blessings to you and yours too. TY! :-)

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  5. happy thanksgiving and happy hannukah! saying thanks for our big and small miracles is precisely why i have my gratitude journal :D

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    1. I love your journal and it is a great reminder for us all. TY! :-)

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  6. Happy thanksgiving to you and your family.

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    1. Blessings to you and your loved ones Allan! :-)

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  7. What a great set of Thanksgiving poetry.. well done.. really worth reading.

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  8. Wow. What a big post. Thanks for sharing your work.

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    1. TY so much Alice for your feedback... appreciated. ;-)

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  9. We do not celebrate Thanksgiving here but we do have Feasts celebration for each town's patron saints. I am always thankful for having a family. It may not be a perfect one but they the best I ever have. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving there.

    Mommy Maye
    www.momaye.com

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    1. I love the celebrations of the saints and the feasts as they serve the same purpose and help us focus on gratitude. TY!

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  10. Beautiful post! Every day is a blessing and we should be grateful for that! Thank God for all the blessings everyday and not just on Thanksgiving day.

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    1. Amen to that and may we all find blessings in our lives and be a blessing to others. TY!

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  11. This thanksgiving we give thanks for everything we have in life.

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    1. Indeed. Plus all the pain and suffering around the world has made it even more urgent that we remember to be grateful and pray for others... including lend a helping hand. :-)

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  12. Good work on the haiku! :) That day was really memorable for the Americans, and for the rest of us, having a grateful heart is always a blessing.

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    1. I agree... sometimes we experience such great pain and it takes all we have to stay in faith; trusting that God's hands are in the details... Gratitude helps. TY!

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  13. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your Family great Haiku's:)

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  14. Happy Thanksgiving! A great reminder to be Grateful.

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    1. Amen to that and Blessings to your loved ones and to all.

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  15. Happy thanksgiving! I hope we also have thanksgiving here in the philippines because there are sooo sooo many things that this country went through and so many blessings to be thankful for

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    1. I hear you and I am thankful for all the blessings in our lives. TY. :-)

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  16. Thanksgiving is giving thanks to all the blessing you receive and dinner with family and eating Turkey is just add the perfection of the event. Happy Thanksgiving again. Melgie #2 http://wish4less.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Melgie, I have to remember your new blog... Hope it's going well. Writing two blogs is more work... TY! :-)

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  17. Oooh, I love your third haiku! I really like alliteration in poems. Happy thanksgiving to you (albeit belated!)! :D

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    1. TY Marie and good to see you here again. I always loved alliteration too until I had a poetry teacher who hated them... It's fine with me. lol. :-)

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  18. Happy thanksgiving. Let's always be grateful with everything that comes in our way, be it big or small, triumph or sorrow.

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    1. TY tet! So much has transpired in our word and lives this year, and they have served as reminders; both happy and sad, to see the ray of light and be grateful for it.

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  19. Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you had a good one.
    I love what you have written:
    For all the times we embrace
    Thanksgivings float to heaven

    We do not have Thanksgiving in the Philippines but whenever there is something to be thankful for, we offer a mass and gather the family to share a wonderful meal.

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  20. I always appreciate your feedback. TY and happy holidays too. ;-)

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  21. I think Thanksgiving is a wonderful reminder that life has so much to be grateful for. Sorry haven't commented regularly here Eliz, but I savored your writings via the RSS feed. I love the way you embed lovely quotes in your posts, "Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. ", now that is a gem of a thought.

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    1. TY Reshma! I appreciate your visit. With so much going on in our lives, I really appreciate the feedback. I've been remiss too so I'm thankful for your comment and will make extra effort to keep up too.
      Blessings for the holiday season!
      Eliz

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  22. What lovely haikus and poems! I love reading these. Thank you for sharing!

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