The Renku Sessions: Tan-Renga Week 2

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1. helicopter lifting
   homeless lady
   in heaven

2. Well done to all selected and archived poets (I now have an image of eight haiku poets squeezed together on a library shelf!)

   Thanks John for this feature. I don’t know very much about tan renga so this is most interesting and helpful.

   A few verses for your consideration…

   sleepless again
   no point in crying
   over lost sheep

   moon shadow
   everything becomes
   a strange figure

   restless sleep
   every snore you make
   louder

   dark thoughts
   dissipated
   birdsong

   rain at dawn
   the suddenness
   of this world

   1. ‘I now have an image of eight haiku poets squeezed together on a library shelf’ 🙂 🙂

      A delightful image, Marion.

      1. Thank you, Carol—I’m pleased it made you smile.

         Amazing what comes to you when you can’t sleep! (I’ve been awake since just before two and it’s now half six in the morning. 😖 However, I did complete a fair amount of research and make notes for my poetry in schools workshops, so at least it’s been productive)

         marion

         1. Yes, some wonderful words come to mind, the only thing I don’t do is write them down thinking I will remember my thoughts, wrong.
            I hope you caught up on your lost sleep, it can be very draining, however, a lovely way to spend a few quiet hours, and getting ahead with your poetry workshop.

3. she pauses
   and climbs
   the hill

   falling leaves
   a tribute
   to last summer

   the wild turkeys pass
   by our house
   one by one

   the afternoon fades
   not sure what to do
   on the list

   debris knocks
   along the river bank
   on a Friday night

4. barbed wire
   another tattoo
   in memory of
   *
   last rites
   inside the culvert
   a change of clothes
   *
   empty water bottle
   along the path
   a snake plays dead
   *
   screech owl
   the uncertainty
   of dawn
   *
   dirt road
   the dust devil
   keeps apace
   – Betty Shropshire

5. Congrats to all those chosen for your capping verses as well as those whose verses were under consideration . That’s impressive. Of course, this is my first experience with this tan-renga so like you, I am trying to learn what’s what. Thanks John for leading us in this.

   bedtime…
   boar’s hair brush gliding
   through her hair

   a warbler serenades
   his mate and us
   –how soon before hatching

   a peony tucked
   behind her ear
   –wedding breakfast

   which blossoms
   will attract the most bees
   –flirtation

   the blossoms
   that attract the most
   –flirty skirt

6. Thank you John and all for the stimulating, thoughtful poems. Great learning.

   swollen river
   together in a tin boat
   strangers and neighbours

   gone wandering –
   from inside walls
   paint peels

   he stumbles
   learning to walk
   rough road

   autumn dusk
   his garden rake
   stands idle

   trees leaning
   into each other
   friendship

7. Congratulations Lorin, Richard, Nani and Keith!

   Thank you John for all the guidance!

   My five ku for this week:

   dawn birdsong –
   cold tea on the desk
   says it all

   ***
   village fair –
   child’s new doll and her
   in blood pool

   ***

   beach wedding –
   sand lands inside eyes
   selfie spoils

   ***

   in the backyard
   by the fire
   eyes of steel

   ***

   midnight scene –
   a neighbour’s scream
   renting the air

8. 5.

   twilight has gone
   like the story of Romeo and Juliet
   no wedding ring

9. Thanks, John, for your guidance. And thanks, all, for your camaraderie. Faring forward…

   down-pouring rain
   my daughter’s airplane
   somewhere
   *
   wind and rain
   the windows frame
   a cold day
   *
   eyes open
   a dream morphs
   into day
   *
   dream of dead
   voices and faces
   the long grass
   *
   desert stars
   the wise men head home
   while children die

10. first raw weather of autumn
    hearing the cold
    in the busker’s throat

11. oak leaves
    the smell of autumn
    coming in clusters
    *

    hurricane blowing through–
    the gulley
    full of bubbles
    *

12. 4.

    shaking legs
    he has a new girlfriend
    spring of sadness

13. 5

    family get-together
    a cat chases willow fluff
    around the garden

14. 4

    mackrel clouds
    bedclothes billow
    along the wash line

15. 3.

    half a century ago
    Apollo XI
    take humans to the moon

16. roused from a dream
    the wind is just
    the wind
    .

    riverside camp . . .
    moonlit moths dance
    across the border

17. #2

    one hanging basket
    of fading petunias left
    off balanced

18. the oak
    with our initials
    is now a stump

19. the same strangers
    day after day
    on the subway
    ****
    remembering
    her fragrance
    but not her name
    *****
    alligator
    cruising down
    the flooded street

20. 2.

    in the garage
    grandpa’s old shoes
    become an anthill

21. 1.

    no goose
    but nature is so beautiful
    perfect blooming lotus

22. Congratulations to all dear friends 🌺
    Thank you very much, dear John..

23. 1.
    spring at last–
    the sun and the crunch
    of snow peas
    *
    2.
    a white narcissus
    bent over the puddle –
    mirror, mirror . . .
    *
    3.
    La Niña event –
    a crowd of bluebells leading
    up the garden path
    *
    4.
    ripe blackberries
    where the river bends
    a billy to each kid
    *
    5.
    Chanel exhibition –
    no-one mentions
    the Nazis
    *

    .

24. lost love . . .
    fallen leaves cover
    a forgotten rake

    1. I’m feeling an big ‘ouch’ there , Jonathan

25. smiling
    at my banjo case
    filled with dollar bills

26. Congratulations Lorin, Richard, Nani, and Keith! And thank you for always teaching us and helping us, John!

    sparrows sheltering
    in the overgrown yews
    set for removal

27. 3rd

    cherry buds unfurl
    a child stirs
    within his cradle

28. 1) holding the mike
    her shiver of melodies
    each sad episode

    2) parrot cry on tree
    on deaf ears for soothsayer
    with other parrot

    3) hot tea
    wave of cold spell
    her former friend’s face

    4) all carrots’ dry peel
    moments ‘decision of dish
    unopposed in floor

    5) summer winds’ cool blow
    quick spell on cloth liner’s row
    now ditch’s running show

29. blue hour…
    windows rolled down
    on a spiritual
    *
    drosophila…
    this living monument
    to a world of dew
    *

30. another tempest
    bringing chaos
    wherever she blinks

    midnight
    past caring
    what the morning brings

    the world on fire
    a blaze of headlines
    but still no change

31. Many thanks, John; enlightening as ever. Thank you for including my efforts.

    I particularly relished:
    scarecrow
    holding the cornstalk
    like a microphone

    Dan Campbell

    the same corny jokes
    as last year’s

    Richard Straw

    Irresistible along with the capping verse’s ‘third line’, and all.

    —

    And now my five offers:

    morning jog
    an answer blowing
    in the wind

    a long red light
    at the roadworks…
    liquidambar

    at the bottom
    of his toolbox
    a pink envelope

    security patrol
    the bomb-sniffing dog
    ignores a dead body

    pharmacy queue
    I remember what’s-his-name’s
    odd socks

    Keith Evetts

32. offer 2

    honey bee
    dust clouds billow
    around a speeding car

    1. edit:

       honey bee
       dust clouds billow
       behind a speeding car

33. mackerel sky
    hopes and prayers piled
    atop hopes and prayers

    first named storm
    nothing I would repeat
    in polite company

    storm surge
    awash in waves
    of regret

    storm season
    spaghetti models with
    the evening meal

    doppler radar
    losing a lot on the black
    and white analog

34. offer1

    silk scroll
    leaves falling beneath
    the artist’s brush

35. Congratulations, Lorin, Richard, Nani and Keith.

    Thank you John for this wonderful oppotunity to learn so much more.

    Lorin, I liked your chosen verse when I read it. Many thanks.

    1. Richard, Nani and Keith : congratulations!

       Carol, many thanks for your generous comment to me. Clearly, I liked your inspiring verse a lot.
       Nothing could’ve surprised me more than having a ‘capping verse’ selected on this first run of tan-renga verses (first time I’ve attempted a tan-renga verse !)

       Thank you John, for the very nice surprise! 🙂 And also for the insight you’ve given, above, for your process:

       “If my previous role of selecting renku verses felt something like selecting poems for a book or journal, this kind of selection feels more like judging a contest. That usually involves an initial production of a long list of potential selections and a winnowing of that group to a shorter list of finalist poems. From that point, the distinctions that lead to final selections become finer and much more subjective. In the end, my final selections are as much a reflection of my reader qualities as of the qualities of the poems themselves. ” – John Stevenson

       1. I, too, being new to tan renga was delighted at having a verse chosen, and then to see your verse capping mine to be archived, well, I’m still ‘over the moon’ 🙂

          Thanks to all the other poets’ verses on the short list.

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