The Renku Sessions: Cotton Clouds – Week 4
Welcome to the current renku session. I am John Stevenson and I’ll be your guide for a twenty verse, nijûin renku.
We will be using an on-line list of season words and phrases (kigo) for those verses that require a seasonal reference: https://yths.org/season-word-list/
Here is my short list of verse 4 offerings:
the gloaming deepens
into darkness
Mary White
we follow a moth
into night scents
John Hawkhead
brushing off webs
from window screens
Clysta Seney
dishes clatter
in the kitchen sink
Curt Linderman
the long shadows
of street lights
Lorraine Haig
the scented softness
of new toilet tissue
Tracy Davidson
fluffing the pillow
I catch a feather
Sharon Ferrante
a prodigal son
searching for a porch light
Dan Campbell
the comfort of song
sung together
Anne Fox
the Ruy Lopez opening
followed by some tea
Michael Henry Lee
hiss of a match
as it meets the wick
Margaret Anderson
an all-night discussion
turns to lucid dreaming
Laurie Greer
streetlights flicker on
as dusk falls
Jonathan Alderfer
another ring paints
the mahogany table
Orense Nicod
It seems that many of you heard what I said last week about renku verses in contrast to haiku. The result is a longer “short list” this time. But some seem not to have heard me, so I will repeat myself. Renku verses are not haiku. They do not feature internal juxtaposition of disjunctive images. They do not feature grammatical breaks.
The next thing to point out, I think, is that certain topics (the moon, love, blossoms, the seasons) have assigned positions within a renku. These topics should be avoided until announced as required subject matter.
Here is my choice for the fourth verse:
the comfort of song
sung together
Anne Fox
So, here is what we have, so far:
Cotton Clouds (working title)
a pinto colt
canters the meadow
cotton clouds
John Stevenson
muddied boots
on the welcome mat
Jennifer Sutherland
a bounty
of tulips spilling
over the vase
Eavonka Ettinger
the comfort of song
sung together
Anne Fox
This week, we will be working on the fifth verse. This will be three lines. It can be either a summer or a winter verse, so it must contain a word or phrase from our list of season words. It is a moon verse, so it should contain the moon itself or moonlight. It should not register as a complete poem in itself. In collaboration with the previous verse, it should create a poem that takes us somewhere poetically different from previous combinations of verses. Here are some other considerations:
- This is the first verse of the middle (ha) section – verses five through sixteen. It should offer a clear contrast to kinds of linking we have done, so far.
- It may be helpful to know that the next two verses will be love verses. While that should not be a characteristic of verse five, it is possible to “set up” the love verses without going directly to that topic.
Please enter a maximum of five verse-five offers. The deadline for submission will be midnight, eastern US time on Monday, May 19.
This is going to require some skill. I know you can do it.,
John
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