Renku Sessions

The Renku Sessions: Timber Smoke – Week 29

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.

 

Sometimes the first impression is the best impression. Right away, this was offered as a response to the winter seasoning of our verse 28:

 

sipping on hot chocolate
after an afternoon
of ice skating  

Nancy Brady

 

Fresh and unadorned, no quibbles about using a summer kigo, ‘hot’ in a wintery verse. I applaud here the triumph of syntax and context over semantics and literalism. I like also how the repeated “after” and “afternoon” are echoed in the side by side ‘s’ sounds of “ice skating.”

Two very different activities that follow one another naturally and make winter conditions enjoyable rather than something to brace ourselves against.

“Sipping” is so close to ‘slipping’ and i think we can all enjoy the inside joke of Nancy Brady’s difficulties in posting this link right-side up on the website and also, her good naturedly leaving them up (with her own comments).

Thanks very much, Nancy Brady.

 

What we require now is 2 lines, no seasoning or no particular season. It would be great if the offerings had the added kick of a foreign or ‘foreign-derived’ word in it.

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

 

a blackbird tapping–
smiles and thanks me for
the seed

Melissa Dennison

 

sewing up an open wound
on the dragon’s flank

Tracy Davidson

 

blue dashers
skim the surface
of a still pond

Betty Shropshire

 

twitching of a cow’s tail
in the shade of an oak

Andrew Shimield

 

the endless
night of a Las
Vegas casino

Eavonka Ettinger

 

wyndes level snow-stacked tables
in the sea-front caff

Dick Pettit

 

sipping on hot chocolate
after an afternoon
of ice skating

Nancy Brady

 

 

 

 

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 (115)

  3. the next generation
    makes the vinarterta

    (Icelandic wedding cake)

    she signs I love you
    from the car window

  4. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating
    ——-Nancy Brady
    .

    a stranger alights on a branch
    of the family tree
    .

    drifts of sea foam
    whipped by the wind
    .

    tiny whitecaps
    dot the harbor waters
    .

    a bat finds its way home
    with clicks
    .

  9. or maybe this is what I’m after:

    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    the enhorabuena
    we pass back and forth

  10. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    a big enhorabuena
    as we all move ahead
    *
    giving the clocks
    a big enhorabuena

  11. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    blunting the ennui
    with practical jokes galore

  13. AI programmed clocks
    jump ahead tonight

    how well the world
    splits the difference in time

    between 2:00 and 3:00
    where will the hour sleep?

    circadian rhythms
    in the jungle tonight

        1. Thank you Madeleine and Biswajit! Sometimes it is so surprising and delightful what lands with others.

  18. A cosy ku, Nancy—well done.

    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    from a tightrope unicycle
    the clown cries “Sláinte!”

    2. Thanks, Debbie, Dan, and Marion respectively for your kind remarks on my verse. I do appreciate them (as I do all the poets here). This haiku community is outstanding and so collaborative.

  20. Congrats Nancy, I enjoy your verses!

    whispering Vaya Con Dios
    to migrating geese

    wife smiles when
    she calls me cabron

    sweet senoritas
    melted my cold gringo heart

  21. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    his mea culpa merely
    a slip of the tongue

  22. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady

    steaming Darjeeling with
    morning magpie on fence

  23. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    a steady flood of noirs
    in the little library

  24. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *

    the joie de vivre
    of dancing barefoot

  26. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    pebbles in the shoes
    quote the landscape verbatim

  27. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    the clip-clop of pebbles
    in the boot treads

  34. sipping hot chocolate
    after one afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady

    choked
    blood flow is not smooth

  35. sipping hot chocolate
    after one afternoon
    of ice skating
    Nancy Brady

    this incident
    worst experience

  36. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    a touch of natural light
    to finish the nature morte

  37. excusez-moi, he says
    post belch

    veni, vidi, vici
    I collapse on soft pillows

    the plaster cast adds
    to my annus horribilis

  38. sipping hot chocolate
    after one afternoon
    from ice skating

    Nancy Brady

    choked
    blood flow is not smooth

  39. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating
    — Nancy Brady

    yesterday’s daydream
    the feeling of déjà vu

  42. contributing just for fun now
    *
    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    Glasnost now seems
    so long ago

  44. Maybe not everyone knows this wine, so it might be better to write

    the dust on my bottle
    of Chateau Chasse Spleen

  51. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    . *. *. *

    wrapped up
    in our hygge

    1. forgive me renku god
      for i have sinned

      lifting myself off
      the slippery rink <uchikoshi

      the revised version:

      never late for lunch
      a BLT & mocha egg cream

      1. old ronin savors a sake
        pleased he’s spared the braggart

        like fine sake
        samurai mellow with age

  60. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady

    *
    skimming recipes
    for Oaxacan-style mole sauce

    *
    skimming recipes
    for mexican mole sauce

  61. nancy, am really enjoying your three-line verse….for all the reasons already mentioned by marshall, and a link that i see, (perhaps, hidden) to the (imagined/unmentioned whipped cream atop the hot chocolate) with the snow-stacks in the previous verse.
    i see a reversal of motion and states, too!
    instead of the “cold” winds fiercely blowing off ‘cold’ snow…you are slowly sucking the whipped creamed topped hot drink.
    thank you for this richly layered treat, nancy. much KUDOS to you!
    and thank you, marshall for bringing nancy’s verse into our fabulous renku.

    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady

    1. Thanks, Wendy, for your thoughtful comments on my verse. I’ll neither affirm nor deny whether I considered the whipped cream (with chocolate drizzle on top, of course). I guess that’s why you have such intriguing verses each week.

      1. lol…i find your humour is deliciously , intoxicating, nancy
        and wow!….thank you for your praising words

        1. Wendy, thank-you once again for providing a hidden link for us to ponder and enjoy. I agree with everything you said about Nancy’s marvelous haiku…and humor! :) And she is right about your intriguing verses!

  62. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    the watered down lingo
    of official reports
    *
    forgetting to water
    the plants of the nature morte
    *

  63. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating
    ***
    tip-toeing around
    a senior siesta

    1. This is lovely Eavonka. Although I don’t any experience with a senior living centre, I can relate to it from my childhood.

      1. sorry about the typo:
        I meant I don’t have any experience with a senior living centre.

      2. I agree Biswajit, this is a very lovely verse. Senior living centres can be wonderful and a lovely place to visit!

  64. Hooray! I’m so excited you selected Nan’s verse, Marshall. Like you, it was the first I read, and I thought it was perfect.

    Congratulations, Nan!! ?

  65. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    anchoring his art
    in flora and fauna
    *

  67. sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Renaissance herbs for a touch
    of the right cuisine

  68. Congratulations Nancy! So happy Marshall chose this wonderful and heart warming poem…our renku is that much more perfect!

      1. Thanks, Madeline! I find your links to be “lovely, dark and deep,” as well, especially the link selected earlier:

        a morning glory
        the hummingbird
        unfolds

  73. 28
    wyndes level snow-stacked tables
    in the sea-front caff
    29
    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Offers for 30

    just a wee dash of cognac….
    gesundheit !

    arm in arm together
    clair de lune

    ….and Danish pastries too
    tak for alt

  76. My apologies Marshall for the delay in offering my thanks in selecting my two-liner for the 22nd session. I have been away from the Rensku session for some time Once again thank you.

    Biswajit Mishra
    .

  77. Congratulations Nancy–the sipping on/slipping on is brilliant! Thanks, Marshall, for the comments and selection.
    *
    sipping on hot chocolate
    after an afternoon
    of ice skating

    Nancy Brady
    *
    the craquelure
    of a thrift shop masterpiece
    *

  78. Thanks, Marshall, for selecting my verse for the renku. I truly appreciate it especially considering my issues with typos. While I know this won’t be chosen, I offer this verse.

    her handmade scarf wrapped
    so je ne said quois

    1. Speaking of autocorrect and typos, it should read:

      her handmade scarf wrapped
      so je ne sais quois

      1. her handmade scarf wrapped
        just so je ne sais quoi

        (Eventually I’ll get it right!) :(

        1. Lol, Nancy, trying not to giggle! (I know you will… :) Beautiful haiku and alliteration, sounds wonderful when you say it aloud!

Comments are closed.

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