The Renku Sessions: Salmon Run – Week 2
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
I have tried to clarify, in previous sessions, the differences between renku verses and haiku. Since we have new participants joining us, most of whom have been writing haiku, I have tried to write to some of you individually, but it can be hard to keep up with that. So, let me just say again, for everyone’s benefit, that a renku verse (other than the first verse – hokku) is not a haiku and must not have the two-part structure of a haiku. The first challenge of collaborative verse is to let go of the habit of writing a complete, stand-alone poem. A renku verse looks upon the space between verses as functioning like the cut within a haiku and provides a single phrase. That phrase, in turn, is altered poetically by a next verse, which is also a single phrase and not a complete poem.
Here is my short list for the second verse:
harvest moon’s
full circle
Beth Ramos
a second moon appears
as the drawbridge opens
Sean Murphy
ripples
in the moon’s twin
Kati Mohr
the moon through
overhanging leaves
Richard Straw
a halo
rounds the moon
Belinda Behne
glints of moonlight
stipple the bear’s fur
Kristen Lindquist
moonshine lights
the bubble tent for two
Milan Rajkumar
myriad moons
among the rocks
Joshua St. Claire
bears watch and wait
under the bright moon
Debbie Feller
the moon the whole moon
and nothing but the moon
Michael Henry Lee
howls bouncing off
the autumn moon
Dan Capbell
passengers moon viewing
from the ferry boat
Carol Jones
slowly, the moon floats by
the lily pads
Lorin Ford
the same full moon
our parents saw
Keith Evetts
stepping-stones
tonsured by the moon
Keith Evetts
a moon lit path
parting the field
Anne Fox
closing the circle
under the autumn moon
Andrew Pineo
we join the day moon
in working all hours
Laurie Greer
crescent moon
clearing the fence
Orense Nicod
the moon dips into
a river of stars
Jonathan Alderfer
moonlit maple leaf
in a river eddy
Margaret Anderson
the moon passes
through Pisces again
Sally Biggar
harvest moon captured
in a reverse eddy
Lyle Smith
campfire smoke
drifts across the moon
VJ Green
mackerel clouds gather
beneath a rising moon
rob barkan
a squirrel’s cache of truffles
underneath the digging moon
madeleine kavanagh
A majority of these short list verses would be excellent choices here. I feel as if, as a group, we have all turned a corner and are working with a good understanding of how renku are meant to function.
The sad part, of course, is that I will have to pass over so many excellent offers. Here is my choice, like one of a beautiful bounty of salmon:
crescent moon
clearing the fence
Orense Nicod
I see in the crescent moon the shape of a leaping salmon and the fence as one of the obstacles ahead. These parallels make for a close linkage with the hokku while broadening the opening scene. At the same time, they enhance the “rest” of the hokku, with the moon’s clearing of a fence a quiet, slow-motion version of the salmon run to come.
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
This week we will be writing the three-line third verse. This will be a non-seasonal verse. It must not contain anything from our list of seasonal words and phrases. And, while linking to verse two, it should be a sharp departure from our first two verses, in content, setting and tone. The salmon run, figuratively, begins now. The rest of the way should feature fabulous leaps!
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, November 24. My selection of a third verse and instructions for the fourth verse will appear here on Thursday, November 27.
Looking forward to your offers!
John
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