The Renku Sessions: Breathing In – Week 9

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1. tendrils
   of a morning glory
   in the old bike spokes

2. a mango and sunset
   blend into one
   at the reggae fest
   *
   *
   cool cave walls
   after a long hot
   hike uphill
   *
   *
   mixing watercolors
   to capture the hues
   of a blazing sunset

3. Lorin, that’s one amazing verse! Love the collocation of a traditional way of experiencing the world with a different (and similar) way to make sense of the source of life. A lot to think about!
   *
   I didn’t read the early entries about incorporating a blossom in this stanza until just now, and so having just finished the following offerings, there won’t be one.
   *
   the rainbow snake redrawn
   as nucleic acid
   -Lorin Ford
   *
   seeding
   a dry sky
   with dry ice
   *
   *
   a mirage
   at the horizon
   of a desert road
   *
   *
   cooling
   a summer classroom
   with watercolors

   1. Many thanks, Victor. 🙂
      .
      You know, John is not strict about how many verses people offer, so you could also do a summer flower on if you wanted to. (as long as it’s in by the deadline)
      .
      – Lorin

4. down the road from here
   a rock festival blasts out
   its chemistry

5. doodling
   on my science text book
   instead

6. the hiss
   of summer rain
   on Lago di Como

7. Very clever verse, Lorin! Thank you for the stimulus.
   …
   Verse 1:
   …
   English roses live and die
   in Hyde Park
   by the Serpentine
   …
   Verse 2:
   …
   thunder and summer lightning
   polka in the sky
   and rain fills waterholes
   …
   Verse 3:
   …
   Dutch masters
   planted peonies
   in canvas vases

   1. Thanks, Pauline.
      .
      – Lorin

8. survey tape runs through
   the field of daisies and lupines
   and milkweed and cosmos

9. another try:

   *

   strangling wisteria
   stretches over
   the planned entrance

   *

   cicadas louder than
   angry disputes about
   the gerrymander

   *

   clutching plans
   the agronomist surveys
   blighted leaves

10. Most people are scared of snakes even if they are non-venomous, but we seldom expect flowers to be toxic.
    .
    colorful petals
    of hydrangeas carry
    traces of cyanide

11. a hole chewed
    in the green leaf circling
    the eddy

12. rivulets
    rejoin the stream beyond
    the swimming hole

13. a watermelon
    and beer cooling
    in the creek’s flow

14. playing along…
    .
    that spot
    on the mountain
    where the edelweiss blooms

    1. ahh, Polona, I can hear the song by the Baron in _The Sound of Music_
       —– Edelweiss

       1. glad the allusion comes through 🙂

15. she greets
    the homeless man
    forget-me-nots

16. untended sweet peas
    riotously blooming
    unexpectedly

17. flies torment
    the first picnic
    of the season

    ***

    we doze off
    in a field
    of swaying poppies

18. Candide learns how
    to recalibrate and picks
    oranges off the tree

19. the rainbow snake redrawn
    as nucleic acid
    .
    Lorin Ford
    ,
    Candide learns how
    to recalibrate and plant
    a fruitful garden.

20. Congratulations, Lorin.

    ***

    manifestations
    flying even higher
    into blazing skies

    *

    a tight squeeze
    on the cormorant’s throat
    bring home dinner

    *

    a rough sketch
    of what, if any, moisture
    might transpire

    *

    a rough sketch
    of scorching temperatures
    yet to come

    ~~~

    1. Thanks, Barbara.
       .
       – Lorin

    2. correction:

       a tight squeeze
       on the cormorant’s throat
       brings home dinner

21. see those sugary
    looking crystals on each bud
    of sinsemilla!

    1. maybe should say:
       feel those sugary
       crystals on each bud
       of sinsemilla!

22. sweet pea blossoms
    left on some
    unmarked graves

23. Lorin, your verse surprises and delights
    *
    ever traveling
    this mobius loop
    of humanity
    .
    from one taproot
    our infinite garden
    of unique flowers

    1. Oh dear. Neither is summery.
       –
       from one taproot
       an early June garden
       of unique blossoms
       .

    2. from one taproot
       an early June garden
       of unique blossoms

    3. Thanks, Jackie.
       .
       – Lorin

24. the judge awards
    a red rosette
    at the county show
    *
    yarrow flourishing
    on the plot
    awaiting development

25. ++++++++++++++++++
    the coastal road
    lit by color
    of bougainvillea
    +++++++++++++++++
    those oleanders
    along the highway
    are colors of holiday
    +++++++++++++++++
    the lifeguard is watering
    a vase of geraniums
    on the sunny beach
    +++++++++++++++++++

26. Congrats to Lorin and others selected since I last checked in on this renku!
    *
    hydrangeas in bloom
    by our old front porch
    still the same blue

    1. Thanks, Linda.
       .
       – Lorin

27. Congratulations to, Marietta, and Lorin. Well done ladies. Interesting searches.
    .
    gathering
    hag’s taper for
    the dark nights ahead

    1. Thanks, Carol.
       .
       How interesting! I wasn’t familiar with the name “hag’s taper” so googled it and found the familiar, yellow-flowering roadside plant (which does bloom in summer here) that I tried to plant in my backyard (without any success).
       .
       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum_thapsus
       .
       – Lorin

       1. Thanks, Lorin.
          It’s a lovely plant which has grown naturally at the entrance to the farm for the past four years.
          They like a poor, gritty soil structure, don’t pamper your next attempt 🙂
          It also grows here in the summer, those woolly leaves are so lovely.
          .
          https://thedruidswell.com/2014/11/14/hagtaper
          .
          I don’t know if this link will work.

          1. Hi Carol, this link to the same website does work for me, though one needs to scroll down:
             .
             https://thedruidswell.com/tag/herbs/page/1/\
             .
             I have a woolly-leaved, low-spreading plant which flowers from little star-shaped cups. I don’t know what it’s called as I originally took it as a cutting. But a Greek neighbour likes to have some every year. She told me she “makes candles” in the tiny cups to “light for the Virgin Mary”. Interesting, these various traditional, ritualistic uses of plants.
             .
             – Lorin

             1. Glad that worked, Lorin. Thanks for letting me know.
                .
                I’m wondering if the plant you mentioned could a member of the sedum family.
                I find these old traditions quite fascinating to read, both here and in other countries.
                Since your verse post I’ve been looking up the art work on a digeredoo, I had about thirty years ago, the places these posts take us, marvellous 🙂

    2. So interesting to learn what ‘hag’s taper’ was and how it was used, Carol! Mullein grows wild on roadsides near where I live. On a personal Caravaggio ‘pilgrimage’ some years ago, I noticed the painter included a Verbascum plant in the foreground of several works. An article describing The Entombment of Christ, in the Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome, explains the symbolism:
       .
       “In the bottom left of the painting is a plant known as Verbascum thapsus, common name mullein. Believed to possess medicinal properties and to ward off evil spirits, it symbolizes the coming resurrection and the triumph over death. Caravaggio also included it in his Saint John the Baptist (1604, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), and Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1586, the Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome).”
       — http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-paintings/entombment-of-christ.htm

       1. And thank you, Carol!

       2. Thank you for the reply, and your link, Marietta, most interesting.
          There are many symbols within paintings and having the ability to find and read them
          must take many years of training, I did start taking an interest but this went by the wayside many years ago. The art historian and critic sister Wendy Beckett, had a series during the ’90, this took my interest for a while. How I wish I’d kept it up.
          Thanks again 🙂

          1. Hi Marietta. I’ve been looking, yet again, at the painting, there is something that wasn’t quite right, to my eye, from a perspective point of view. I see the six people and the mentioned plant. It could be me but I see a seventh person in the picture.
             Who’s is the hand behind John the Evangelists head? Far too large for the hand of Mary, and the length of the arm would be far to long.
             There’s a very faint shadow in the background, which would put this hand in perspective.
             What do you think?

28. sun salutations
    as one
    lotus blossoms

    1. nevermind…repetiting “as”

    2. sun salutations
       to the one
       blooming lotus

29. Still playing along:
    .
    a family gathering
    to ooh and aah over
    night-blooming Cereus*
    .
    *Hylocereus undatus, the white-fleshed pitahaya or pitaya, is a species of Cactaceae. It is a clambering vine with undulate stem margins. Its scented booms produce Dragon Fruit.

30. A cool verse, Lorin! 🙂

    1. 🙂 Thanks, Marion.
       .
       – Lorin

31. Hello,

    Very interesting verse this rainbow snake reference and double helix ladder (ADN), which brought me back to summer (a short one in the Yukon) and how to choose the right days for either hikking the mountains or accomplishing some chores with open windows, like painting! Here Forget-me-not is the mountain state flower of Alaska and I find it ironic that is says “don’t forget me” as to say, “I am also the fabric of this country, part of its DNA” (as Alaska was the last states to join USA!)

    On another level, Forget-me-not flowers apparently got their name from a legend where a knight wanted to greet a lady but due to its heavy armor fell in a lake. Just before drowning, he threw her a blue flower while saying “forget-me-not”. It’s like a last attempt at being there, an echo the genetic heritage we leave when we are leaving this visible world. Part of our genetic continue to leave on, through the double helix ladder. And here, the painter’s ladder, would be creation/universe itself. Our own little contribution and “color” in the vast universe palette. So here’s my humble attempt at a verse:

    Forget-me-not drop on the painter’s ladder

    1. That’s interesting, Sandra. I didn’t know that forget-me-nots were Alaska’s State Flower.
       .
       “. . .as to say, “I am also the fabric of this country, part of its DNA” . How true! As if reminding that ‘big things from small things grow’.
       .
       – Lorin

32. Excellent, Lorin!
    .
    .
    spirals
    of petals
    in the rose garden

    1. Thanks, Judt.
       .
       – Lorin

    2. Well, I’d like to withdraw this! I was thinking of Fibonacci, but it’s way too close…writing too fast 🙄

33. Clever correlation to draw, Lorin. I imagine a multi-coloured 3-D model of the double-helix, both from the Snake’s form and its stories passed down by humans. Congratulations.

    1. Thanks, Marietta.
       .
       – Lorin

34. Wonderful, Lorin. I will be dreaming of cosmic serpents now. And thank you again John, for your selecting my verse for commentary. I imagine some of the debate around the non seasonal use of season words gets pretty nuanced. It never crossed my mind. Still playing along for fun before I head to El Salvador for a Habitat build.
    *
    a circle of young girls
    braid daisy chains
    on the grassy lawn
    *

    1. Thanks, Liz Ann. 🙂
       .
       – Lorin

    2. I would love to hear more about your Habitat build, Liz Ann. Will you be documenting it, eg., on Facebook? — Marietta

35. nucleic acid / one I never had access to / Very clever
    ************************************************
    Leary’s statue
    shimmering in the
    afternoon sun
    ****************
    time lapse photography
    combines three
    lightning strikes
    *******************
    a drive in double feature
    showing Fantastic Voyage
    and Innerspace

    1. Thanks, Michael. 🙂
       .
       – Lorin

       1. Michael . . . “nucleic acid / one I never had access to ” 🙂 🙂 🙂 Ha! 🙂
          .
          You might be interested in this review of some books from the New Yorker in May this year:
          https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-science-of-the-psychedelic-renaissance
          .
          (“How to Change Your Mind . . . ” looks interesting, I think.)
          .

          – Lorin

          1. Thanks much Lorin I will check it out

36. Congrats to Lorin Ford for his beautiful verse, I just enjoyed reading.
    Thanks to John Stevnson for reporting my …. Moebius tape.

    1. Thank you, Angiola. 🙂
       .
       – Lorin

    2. ps, Angiola. . . my mother saw my name in the end credits of some film in the 1940’s, some musician or composer, and she liked it, so Lorin is my name. But I’m a GIRL 🙂 (well, an old lady now). I know it’s confusing.
       .
       (I only discovered it was a Spanish boy’s name this century!)
       .
       – Lorin

       1. me too Lorin is a girl over the years, I find your name is very sweet 🙂

          Angiola

37. quite impressive, mythology/religion and science covered in mere two lines!
    .
    .
    I have a question, John, and it might be of interest to all the participants.
    As we’re beginning the last third of the renku and we haven’t had a flower verse yet, perhaps the summer slot would be the most appropriate for it?
    Especially since we’re yet to have the (autumn) moon…

    1. That’s a good idea. We can also do an autumn blossom but summer gives us many more blossoms from which to choose.

    2. What a nice surprise when one least expects it! So glad it works for you, John. Lovely to have a verse selected for this renku.
       .
       Thanks, Polona, I’m happy you like it.
       .
       🙂
       .
       – Lorin

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