Renku Sessions

The Renku Sessions: Timber Smoke – Week 22

renku_300

Greetings and welcome to The Haiku Foundation’s current Renku Session entitled, ‘Timber Smoke’. I am Marshall Hryciuk of Toronto, Canada and I will be leading this session through a 36-link kasen renku.

 

Our second New Year’s link is:

 

hard to forget the party
and my off-tune singing

Biswajit Mishra

 

Links by mimicry; the “off-tune singing” mirroring in sound the “smudge and all’ of the verse previous. A shift, mind you, in that we are turned from a present reception to recollection of an event that is in past. The conversational diction is the perfect tone for adding humour to our renku, that up til now has been steadfastly on the serious side. And a self-deprecating humour at that. A light-hearted relay of cheerful energy through a brief seasonality.

Thank-you, Biswajit Mishra

 

So let’s keep the energy light and lively and move into the realm of fantasy and imagination and even the metaphysical for 3 lines. No need to reference Surrealisme, be the Surrealiste —

Happy linking,
Marshall

 

 

Timber Smoke (so far)

 

nothing dimmed yet
timber smoke scent
sifts into the house

Marshall Hryciuk

 

one by one
I pick plums off of the ground

Alfred Booth

 

a file of cars
overtaking a tractor
on the mountain road

Keith Evetts

 

drawn out deer notes
echo in the coolness

Betty Shropshire

 

even paler
than the clearing fog
day moon

Mary White

 

handprints  and crumbs
I would miss them

Pamela Garry

 

giving pollen
a lift
on the bicycle bells

Laurie Greer

 

the tiffany blue
of 3 eggs in a nest

Eavonka Ettinger

 

scattered spores
following a random trail
through landmines

John Hawkhead

 

attempted murder
by the morality police

Rob Barkan

 

next door’s dog
barks
at our snowman

Carol Jones

 

the mailman’s breath
faintly white

Keith Evetts

 

Jacques Brel singing
“in the port of Amsterdam”
on the radio

Alfred Booth and Marshall Hryciuk

 

a whirligig of leaves
sweeps the deck clean

Wendy C. Bialek

 

evening begins
with a gift of opal
moonlight

Marion Clarke

 

beachcombers trade shells
as the tide comes in

Jonathan Alderfer

 

a morning glory
the hummingbird
unfolds

madeleine kavanaugh

 

stepping from the change room
in her prom gown

Laurie Greer

 

her scent
on the pillow
the morning after

Andrew Shimield

 

some vows
break easier than twigs

Dan Campbell

 

hand-calligraphed
happy new year postcard
smudge and all

Pamela Garry

 

hard to forget the party
and my off-tune singing

Biswajit Mishra

 

 

 

The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy: https://thehaikufoundation.org/about-thf/policies/#code-of-conduct

John Stevenson

Comments (130)

  3. the wormhole
    at the bottom
    of a bottle

    the high frequency
    screeching
    of a migou

    drunk
    insisting I’m from
    the future

  11. somewhere in nigeria
    the ark of the covenant
    open

    scything the cornfields
    death’s arm tire
    as the world nears its end

    deep under manhattan
    ancient secrets
    stir awake

    spirit set free
    from an african mask
    a wash of gratitude

  13. stove-top spill
    dries up
    the face of the former owner

    holding this old beaded bag
    i speak in a tongue
    unknown to me

  15. random books slide
    out of shelves in-sync
    with Ravi’s sitar

    the dull olive rug
    now alternates colour
    with pulsating blooms

  16. rusty key
    under the doormat
    unlocks my imagination

    imagination lives forever
    burying itself
    in the sandbox

    i’m talkin’ here
    move over
    AI

    soup du jour
    i empty the Taj Mahal’s
    reflection

    i wet the bed
    in the dream
    my water breaks

  19. the aware machine
    releases a single
    replicating cell

    their design
    of the inner self
    still human

    slowly
    we are replacing ourselves
    with AI

    the quantum supercomputer
    ran 4 billion years
    in less than a second

    radio warning
    that nuclear war
    has begun

    streaming
    the nuclear war
    will begin shortly

  20. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra

    just right to move us on, biswajit and marshall!
    thank you both

    1. lol- air guitar! And I relate to the dogs becoming puppies. Especially when the binoculars are blended bifocals. Good to have you back!

      1. thanks. rob….i wear it proudly, coming from you!

        and what is
        the sound
        of your belly laugh

  28. congrats! this made me laugh for the first time reading. thank you for your light and humble verse, Biswajit Mishra….and a fun pick, Marshall…for our renku!

    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    .
    Biswajit Mishra

  32. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    popping into
    a Peter Pan
    pop-up book

  35. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    the grand opening
    of his memory palace
    to tourists
    *
    a crowd of tourists
    agog
    at his memory palace
    *
    dancing
    through the years
    in his memory palace
    *

  38. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    ——-Biswajit Mishra
    .

    begin by painting
    the lovers
    in technicolor
    .

    doctor alzheimer
    waits on a deserted street
    of endless columns
    .

    last year at marienbad
    do you recall when we met
    in the shadows

  40. draining
    the water tanks
    to fill up the frog pond

    the ringing cedar
    calling
    from the woods

    hip hop dancers
    on the green
    at the twilight market

  41. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    .
    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    the piano
    has been drinking
    not me
    (Tom Waits)

  43. Congrats Biswajit – a perfect verse!
    .
    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    .
    Biswajit Mishra
    .
    .
    any ol’ barstool
    for the elephants
    in the red-light district
    .
    the elephant
    cracking peanuts
    and jokes
    .
    the elephant
    drunk enough
    to twerk
    .
    pouring one out
    for the ant
    dead-lifting the elephant
    .
    the elephant
    you can’t beat him
    in a water-gun battle
    .
    heel
    then toe
    the elephant takes off the closet
    .
    the elephant’s eye
    quietly
    filling the room
    .
    intelligent
    it almost rhymes
    with elephant
    .
    the elephant
    his reputation as a sniffer
    self-evident
    .
    eight miles high
    the elephant
    exhales
    .
    the elephant
    flaps its ears
    rain in spain

  46. A lovely, fun and relatable verse, Biswajit. Thanks, Marshall for the selections and guidance.

    My two offers:

    waking dad
    to welcome a lion
    at the porch

    ***

    a green orb
    on the sofa’s hollow
    in every photo

    ***

  51. my bones are full of
    earth’s humus the
    dead speak thru my eyes

    listen to the dark dead
    the murmur in the
    recesses of your mind

    the sun’s dark tongue
    laps the atoms
    of my being

  52. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    the readymade lesson
    that art is in the eye
    of the beholder
    *

  53. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    that ghost of a smile
    where he paints
    the mustache

  54. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    Mona Lisa stifles
    a sneeze while he paints
    the mustache
    *

  55. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    Schrodinger’s Humpty Dumpty
    is always together
    and always apart
    *
    or, maybe appropriately with a break:
    *
    always together
    and always apart–
    Schrodinger’s Humpty Dumpty
    *

  56. Excellent verse, Biswajit, made me smile when I read it. Many of us have been to a party such as this :)

  58. Very nice, Biswajit. Made me think of parties that are unforgettable, even if having a few extra glasses of champagne makes you forget parts of the evening.

    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    -Biswajit Mishra

    at the office
    day dreaming of quitting
    my day job

  66. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    standing back to watch
    the saints march
    in the stained-glass window

  68. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    imaginary friends
    chiming in
    on the family chat
    *

  69. new glasses can
    see spoken words
    and detect lies

    people in clown suits
    keep bullhorning
    bullshit to the masses

    a brave new world
    is now
    hijacked by false words

  70. the headless horseman
    unable
    to join in

    he asks
    if I were a muse
    for Picasso

    pink elephants
    pirouette
    on tippy-toes

  72. a torn kite
    fights hard losing battle
    in mid air

    2_nail cutter cute
    pierces nail and skin
    its own way

  73. an incubus
    by any other
    metaphor

    adjusting
    the tremolo to
    match the reverb

    a nightingale
    puts in its whole
    heart and soul

  74. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra

    finding the black keys
    in a box of folderol
    mufflers become cloud

  75. hard to forget the party
    and my off- tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra

    pilfered air
    a scallywag goes glottal
    with a gargle

  76. eyes watching from trees
    the bark reaches out
    and sucks him in

    I rolled over in bed
    and met the demon eyes
    of my beloved

    the musical notes rose
    in a glass sheet
    and shattered his heart

  78. Congratulations, Biswajit, on your verse. I resemble that as I sing in the key of Off. Well done.

    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    the unicorn accepts
    the invitation
    to the mad hatter’s tea

  79. some vows
    break easier than twigs

    hand-calligraphed
    happy new year postcard
    smudge and all
    22
    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    23/1
    the next morning
    he jumped out of the window
    fresh as a daisy
    /2
    quite flabbergasted
    when the folk-song czar
    offered me a contract
    /3
    Happy Days !
    as all the gutters sparkled
    and the moon shone blue

  80. A welcome addition, Biswajit, congratulations!

    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    ——-Biswajit Mishra
    .

    a tik tokking clock
    melts
    into the tarmac
    .

    karaoke candidates
    queue up
    around the block

  81. Congratulations, Biswajit Mishra. A fine link!

    +++

    a Cubist and
    Dadaist ambulate into
    an imaginary bar

    Alice kicks
    right wingers out of
    the rabbit hole

    Peter Pan plays
    make believe with the
    Angel of Death

    the Owl and
    the Pussy-Cat file
    for divorce

    one hand claps
    and a tree fallen in the
    woods stands up

  82. What a delightfully tonal shift, Baswajit and Marshall.

    origami cranes
    take flight and soar
    with the winds

  84. Biswajit and Marshall, a beautiful evolution!

    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing
    — Biswajit Mishra

    the croaking frog
    in the bubble bath
    as the water runs out

  85. hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    dreams of a circus life
    in his made-up
    eyes
    *
    running after his fright wig
    all the way
    to the circus
    *

  86. Congratulations, Biswajit! A fun verse, indeed. Thanks, Marshall, for the challenge to keep things light.
    *
    hard to forget the party
    and my off-tune singing

    Biswajit Mishra
    *
    making his mantra
    plays well
    with others
    *

    dizzily calling
    for yet
    one more round
    *
    quick on the uptake
    with an endless string
    of Tom Swifties
    *

  90. Congratulations, Biswajit. Thank-you for your delightful poem filled with humor, needed especially at this time of year. It made me chuckle! Thank-you Marshall for choosing another perfect one! Thank-you to everyone for making this a great place to create fabulous haiku each week, lighting up our lives!

Comments are closed.

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