The Renku Sessions: Pilgrims' Stride 27
Welcome to The Renku Sessions. Renku is a participatory literary game, following a set of rules that are implemented by the leader of the session. If you would like to learn more about renku go here. And if you would like to see a sample of a complete renku go here.
I’m John Stevenson, and I will serve as your guide for this session, a thirty-six verse (kasen) renku. I have supplied the opening verse (hokku) and each week I will select an additional verse from among those submitted prior to the Tuesday deadline.
Fifteen poets collectively presented fifty-four verse offerings this time, a good turnout considering that we lost part of our submission period to site maintenance. My post will once again be abbreviated, because of a combination of the time lost to site maintenance and the demands of my day job.
We had an auspicious debut from Maureen Virchau. She offered fourteen verse twenty-seven suggestions, the majority of them encouraging strong consideration. Only technical matters have prevented her from joining our renku on the first try. Some examples of technical issues:”telephoto lens” in an earlier verse precludes photographs or glasses, “century” in an earlier verse precludes us from specifying a number lower than one hundred, “scraping the ice” in a recent verse precludes “buffing out the scratches.” I hope Maureen will keep playing and, if so, I expect we will soon be including a verse from her.
Our twenty-seventh verse comes from Sandra Simpson. Alcohol is often included as a renku topic. “Voddy tonny” may be an idiom in more general use than I know of but I read it as having a sort of “baby talk” quality and that could be fun to play against in our next verse. I’ve made a couple of changes in Sandra’s original text – principally, moving line three to the beginning to avoid a cut and changing “second” to “next” in order to skirt the retrograde numbering issue. Not that it is in any way a requirement, but I am pleased with the symmetry in our renku – having two love verses from male poets and two from female poets.
Here is the verse you must link to:
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife–Sandra Simpson
The next verse, the twenty-eighth, is non-seasonal. It will be followed by an autumn moon verse. Here are the formal requirements for verse twenty-eight:
- Non-seasonal (should not include words or phrases from our season word list)
- Written in two lines, without a cut
- Linking with the twenty-seventh verse, and only the twenty-seventh verse
- Shifting widely to a new topic and setting
Add your suggested two-line link below, in the Comments box. You have until midnight EST, Tuesday, September 16, 2014. You may submit as many verses as you like, but please use a new comment box for each one. I will announce my selection for the next link on Thursday, September 18 here on the blog, and provide information and instructions for submitting the next link.
What We’ll Be Looking For — Throughout the Session
There are many schematic outlines for a kasen renku. We will be using one set out by Professor Fukuda in his book Introduction to World-linking Renku. It will not be necessary for you to have a copy of this book since instructions will be offered before each verse is solicited.
It is a good idea for those participating in the composition of a renku to make use of the same list of season words. There are a number of these lists available and I intend no judgment of their relative value. For purposes of this session I am suggesting the use of The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words.
Pilgrims’ Stride to Date
comparing maps
to the mountain pass–
pilgrims’ stride–John Stevenson
a sun-warmed stone bridge
over snowmelt–Billie Wilson
dampened soil
of seed trays
in the glasshouse–Margaret Beverland
grandmother’s silverware
polished every monday–Polona Oblak
a sonata
on the concert Steinway
played to the moon–Lorin Ford
dragonflies hover
by the swaying reeds–Karen Cesar
slight hum
of a drone
in fog–Alice Frampton
the atmosphere
thick with teenage pheromones–Norman Darlington
I stumble
trying to reply
“I plight thee my troth.”–Paul MacNeil
thinking of a red wig
during chemo–Asni Amin
the woodland
of silent stories
and shadow–Alan Summers
he makes a wish
to become real–Marion Clarke
each mirror reflects
only the cool moon
rising–kris moon
freshly-caught fish
sizzles in the pan–Aalix Roake
a wealthy prince
exiled in Nigeria
soliciting my help–Christopher Patchel
sugar plum fairy came
and hit the streets…–Jennifer Sutherland
a milky nimbus
at dusk
beneath the cherry tree–Scott Mason
pulling in spring clouds
with a telephoto lens–Dru Philippou
plain truth
of a skylark’s
song–Stella Pierides
our yoga instructor
tells us to breathe–Priscilla Van Valkenburgh
smoldering dung cakes
burning in the blackened pit
flavors the curry–Betty Shropshire
the family’s grudge
celebrates a century–batsword
first snowfall
covering little by little
all the dirt–Vasile Moldovan
scraping the ice rink
of blood, sweat and tears–Carole MacRury
the sting
of a paper cut
on her tongue–Terri French
used books signed
for someone special–Ellen Grace Olinger
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife–Sandra Simpson
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the flute I hear
far among the trees
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
happy hour
at the cat and fiddle
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
officers and gentlemen
called to the inquest
– Lorin
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
I’m proud to be
an Okie from Muskogee
chasing a lime
across the market
drinking beer and dancing
in the neighbor’s yard
bouncing ping pong balls
on my bald head
a diamond stud
in the waiter’s nose
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
plucking plastic
daisy petals in the dark
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
plucking daisy petals
in the dark
…because each man merits
to have the second chance
a frog splashing
in the punch bowl
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
past and future
tight like that
– Lorin
sweeping the circle of the sun
into Emmett Kelly’s dustpan
-Patrick Sweeney
we climb into a bus
to continue the tour
autonag logged
on autopilot
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
– Sandra Simpson
water into wine
and the best for last
(John’s Gospel, Chapter 2)
the Oompa Loompa dance off
goes viral
tidally locked
to Jupiter’s marbles
an empty bottle
on the broken jukebox
the ventriloquist’s dummy
slumped on a bar stool
a drunken porter
enters the stage
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
From Russia With Love
a mail order bride
Ist line used with-out permission from the James Bond film featuring the best & sexiest ‘007” Sean Connery – the others are not in his ballpark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqAOf66o1Wg
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
not letting the skeleton
rattle my bones
slingshots the satellite
while comrades salute
caging the motherese
with a little bitty baby
a rubber ducky’s peek
from behind the curtain
falling asleep
to the terrier’s snores
a game of peek-a-boo
with the Siamese cat
the bartender’s tattoo
of Tweety Bird
Thank you very much for the opportunity to rewrite our verses, John.
a stir in the crowd
with the slur of a slur
zazen is best
not thought throughout
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
and baby
makes three
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
double, double
toil and trouble
[or without the comma]
shuffles the tarot
with an uncommitted air
wretches aghast
at the hanged man card
vampire retches
with the hanged man card
gypsy swirls about
a mysterious coffin
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
somewhere a spider
curls up and dies
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
false teeth grin
from the bedside table
burlaks barge through
with payment in tow
Off to a great start, everyone! I love the looney quality of some of these offers. The renku wants some of that.
A word to some who are writing great stuff but may not be aware of something I haven’t specifically mentioned. We have “his” in the previous verse and “her” a couple of verses before that. We won’t want to use those (or probably any) possessive pronouns for a while. If you can rewrite some of your offers to remove the pronouns, great. Otherwise, this is just for consideration with subsequent offers.
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
small-time dealers outbid
by that handsome Texan
the parrot speaks
in baby talk
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
relentless hiccups
chase away the party-goers
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
unable to imbibe without
my freshly picked lime
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
village rumour has it
it’s his fourth nuptial
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
left on the palace steps
to sober up
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
her shepherd’s pie
as good as his mother’s
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
by thirty she’s drinking
straight from the bottle
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
breast implants
for her 21st birthday
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
no sleep amongst
the loud cheers and woots
the ending may be
the same as the beginning
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
last to know about
the favorite teacher’s obit
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
birdie num-nums
a hit at the party
– Lorin
whoops…. ‘whale’, of course, is notoriously a Winter kigo in Japan (because it’s Winter in the Northern Hemisphere when they hunt them, even to this day) and this is a ‘no season’ verse position.
– Lorin
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
who could know
about the sinkhole?
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
in this life
the certainty of death
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
the cabin cruiser lists
to port then starboard
– Lorin
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
a whale sighted
on the cruise ship
– Lorin
““Voddy tonny” may be an idiom in more general use than I know of but I read it as having a sort of “baby talk” quality . . .” JS
I’ve never heard it (thank goodness! & any woman I know would be making the old finger-down-the-throat sign if they did hear it) but I’d guess that the drink referred to is a vodka & tonic. Nicely done, Sandra, in giving a picture of a ‘Huff Heffner plus Bunny’ or ‘Nichole what’s-her-name & some rich old goat’ kind of match, without stating it.
Or the hilariously horrible pair in the novel, ‘A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian’.
– Lorin
caging her motherese
with the little bitty baby
falling asleep
to her terrier’s snores
a game of peek-a-boo
with her Siamese cat
a coin rolling
across the pub floor
the bartender’s tattoo
as he rolls up his sleeve
a large voddy tonny
for the woman who may be
his next wife
–Sandra Simpson
another game of blind man’s buff
at the nudist colony
a stir in the crowd
as he slurs a slur
“ring a ring o’ roses
we all fall down”
an antique blow pipe
once at the mantelpiece