 Poetry: August 19, 2020 Issue [#10324] |
This week: Renku Poetry Edited by: eyestar~*  
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  Hi readers! I am back as a guest editor and ready to share more of my findings about Haiku forms! In this issue I will look at "Linked verse" form called renku.
"Renku is an art." John Carly
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As you know Haiku is an ancient short form of poetry from Japan. Renku is a type of "linked verse" and is related to it in that haikus are a part of the Renku. The famous haijin Basho actually practised haikai no renga. Linked verse has been around in Japan for a thousand years and Renku is a more popular form of renga, the aristocratic form.
Linking is based on intuitive sense of what connects and poems can be 100, 50, 36 stanzas, even 20 or 12 are popular now. There were a few rules and even so it is complex to compose:
-each completed renku must have all four seasons represented (half the stanzas may mention something with a seasonal connection. eg. snow for winter, "night game" referring to baseball etc.
-linking can be by Association, Contrast,(opposites) Comparison (like, as), Atmosphere{mood, emotion, meaning
eg. "Object linking involves a physical association between objects, space, or time in succeeding stanzas " eg back door and alley
the cook opens the back door
to look at the snow
cat tracks
crisscrossing
the alley
by Robert Reed and Chris Kondo
eg. Scent or Mood Linking
tips refreshed
a pine in evening shower
a Zen monk
is stark naked
cooling
by Kikaku and Ko-oku
-linking cannot be one long narrative or specific theme. The ideal is to include a range of experiences and not repeat ideas and themes.
-each stanza can stand alone
-it has a clear beginning, progression and a closure
-the stanzas flow to an unknown place and yet the last verse somehow is related to the first
-the renku master decides if the verse is acceptable 
in azure sky
the waning moon's
daybreak Kyorai
in the autumn lake
Mt. Mira's first frost Basho
Renku, as a form in our time was promoted by Fukuda Masahisa from 1935. He was an expert on Basho and began the Milky Way Renku Club.
Way back in 2000 there was a global renku symposium on the theme of renku in the 21st century and came to a vision of "writing renku with the people of the world, to promote mutual understanding and to make a contribution to the peace of the world and the happiness of all human beings' using the new technologies in the midst of the great changes. How cool is that?
William J. Higginson, another master of haiku knowledge and practice describes renku this way:
"They are not meant to tell a long tale, or to inform you, but to build up a composite image of the rich diversity of life, both human and otherwise. Notice the great variety of images and actions, characters and settings, constantly shifting. Feel the ever-changing moods, the ebb and flow of love and the seasons."
He likens it to a party where the first part of the poem is light as folks meeting in a time and place, then in the middle as folks know each other better, all manner of themes can show up, the heavier drama and then at the end, straight forward linking to an uplifting end. the length of the poem would determine where the subsections are...and perhaps why a leader would be needed to keep it on track.
http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/intro.html
John Carly speaks to its complex artistry:
"Renku is not a succession of individual verses. It is a sequence of dependencies."
"Renku is an art." Like any poetry form, you learn the rules and then create as a muse. 
I am always impressed by the depth and brevity of these short forms...so much thought and observation goes into them, making them look simple and yet it takes a lot to get to the depth and aha moments! 
Step One: Get good at writing haiku.... the first verse of a Renku is a haiku. (5/7/5 or less syllables)
Step two: Another poet creates response verse with two lines (7/7 or less syllables}
Step three: You or another poet creates a response to that verse with another Haiku (5/7/5 or less syllables)
Step four: alternate with another two line response. And so on!
The challenge: creating a whole atmosphere of linked verses that will take us on a journey and end with satisfaction and gratitude.
I am not sure I would be up to the challenge...yet! How about you and your haiku friends?
eyestar
Interesting sources I am studying.
http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/renku.htm
http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/Link_Shift.html
http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/Link_Shift.html
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I could find no renku but here is some haiku I enjoyed,
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 I would be interested to know if anyone has participated in a renku group.
 Thanks for reading and responding to "Poetry Newsletter (May 27, 2020)" .
Tinker 
I always enjoy your newsletters, this one is not and exception. It was really interesting while being entertaining.
Monty 
Thank you for the effort you made to give some good reading.
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