The Renku Sessions: Salmon Run – Week 3
Hello, renku friends. I am John Stevenson and I will be leading you in a brief, twelve verse renku before Kala Ramesh starts her session in February.
For verses that require a kigo (formal season word or phrase) we will be using The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words: https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/821
Here is my short list for the third verse:
so surprised
to stay
in my body
Laurinda Lind
burying
her nail clippings
so no one can hex her
Kristen Lindquist
a gentle landing
and the first step
on foreign soil
Urszula Marciniak
young parents
peeking in
after bedtime
Curt Linderman
trapeze act
stuns
the audience
Debbie Feller
the first Muslim
elected
mayor of New York
Michael Henry Lee
a ghost light
keeping the stage
alive
scott anderson
consulting
Robert Frost
for advice
Joshua St. Claire
we dance
to the radio’s
late nite jazz
Belinda Behne
the happy hour grin
still plastered
on his face
Laurie Greer
with a backward look
and a Hey
Diddle Diddle
Laurie Greer
spinning
the weathervane
just for fun
Sharon Ferrante
the curtain opens
on a spectacular
scene
John Daleiden
one last bang
of his gavel
on the judge’s desk
Tracy Davidson
scrambling for coats
children head for the door
to catch the school bus
Abigail Friedman
at the potluck
one dish remains
a mystery
Debbie Scheving
old guard
and his flashlight
on their rounds
Margaret Anderson
a banana in gaffer tape
making art
history
Keith Evetts
father and son
play catch with the
home-run ball
VJ Green
mama grins
from ear to ear
over spilt milk
Diana Ming Jeong
a tea stain
shaped almost
like a leaf
Orense Nicod
twenty laden trucks
depart
the hoarder’s house
Pauline O’Carolan
falling
for the empty promises
of a puppy
madeleine kavanagh
This is where the party gets into gear. It’s great fun to see your imaginations at work.
I have been giving minimal instructions for each verse, so far. My feeling is that people who are new to renku can be turned off by the sense that it is about “rules.” All the same, I found myself writing the same thing to several newcomers this time and I’ll repeat that here in case I missed someone.
It can be useful to think of renku as a fanciful mini catalog of the objects, activities and phenomena that make up our universe. Obviously, it cannot be a complete listing but we will try to make it as wide a survey as twelve verses can accommodate. One way of doing this is to think of each image as representing a class of things. Our first verse, for instance, includes salmon and, by implication, the rivers and streams in which they can be found. So, we will not need any further mention of aquatic creatures or bodies of water. Our second verse is a moon verse. It will be the only appearance of the moon.
Here is my choice for the third verse:
a ghost light
keeping the stage
alive
scott anderson
Many verses were tempting this time. Especially Michael Henry Lee’s current events verse, Pauline O’Carolan.s “clearance” image, and Laurie Greer’s nursery rhyme reference.
The first two verses are outdoors. An indoor verse is welcome here. The linking is obvious. A ghost light is a single bulb (usually) left alight on the stage in an empty theater. It is to that indoor space what the moon is to the outdoors. This is a tradition in the world of live theater. So, our third verse brings in the topics of tradition and the arts.
Here is our renku, so far:
Salmon Run – A Twelve Verse Renku
a brief rest
before the rapids
salmon run
Sally Biggar
crescent moon
clearing the fence
Orense Nicod
a ghost light
keeping the stage
alive
scott anderson
This week we will be writing the two-line fourth verse. This will again be a non-seasonal verse. It must not contain anything from our list of seasonal words and phrases.
It might be good if this was either a current events verse or something featuring abstractions (so that it is neither indoor nor outdoor). We will be writing a pair of love verses later but, for now, avoid anything that would suggest that topic.
Please use the submission box, below to enter up to five of your verses. Submissions will be closed at midnight, eastern US time, on Monday, December 1. My selection of a fourth verse and instructions for the fifth verse will appear here on Thursday, December 4.
Have fun!
John
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