By Alan Peat:If you missed it earlier this year, here’s the text of an article I wrote about tan-renga. It was originally published in ‘Blithe Spirit’ - the journal of the British Haiku Society.
Tan-Renga : A Personal Exploration. Alan Peat
An English language tan-renga (short renga) is a collaborative two verse linked form. One poet opens with a three line haiku and the other poet concludes with a two line capping verse. A blank line exists between the verses, thereby distinguishing it visually, from a solo tanka.
The earliest tan-renga can be found in the 8th century (Nara period) twenty volume Japanese poetry anthology, the Man’yoshu. *1 Poems included in the collection were written over a period of roughly a century up to AD 759.
There has been a growing interest in English language tan-renga since the 1990s when twelve tan-renga, written by Michael Dylan Welch with various collaborators, were published in Frogpond in 1998.*2 In 2012 a collection of tanka responses and tan- renga, written by Beverly George and friends, was released by Pearl Beach Press and in 2015 Red Moon Press published the first (to my knowledge) dedicated English language tan-renga collection, ‘A Path to Desire’ written by Peter Newton & Kathe L. Palka.
English language tan-renga can be divided into two distinct (though not mutually exclusive) groups:
Tan-renga with a capping verse which connects (emotionally, thematically etc) with the opening verse BUT, importantly, also shifts/leaps.
Tan-renga with a capping verse which closely links to the opening verse, resulting in a more unified narrative / thematic whole.
A line pattern of short/long/short//long/long is often employed, though this is not a fixed requirement. Additionally, many published tan-renga are built around a sensory / multi-sensory ‘captured moment’.
When Red Moon Press released ‘A Path of Desire’, Newton & Palka described the collection, in their introduction, as,
…an experiment…with a few questions…If one person starts a poem how does another person finish it?
The ensuing poems provide us with an answer; some demonstrate a pronounced shift in the capping verse whilst in others the link is dominant. Both are valid ways of approaching this short collaborative form and, interestingly, both were encouraged by John Stevenson in his recent series of Renku sessions, published on The Haiku Foundation website in late 2022.
The opening tan-renga of Newton & Palka’s collection is a fine example of a close-linked tan-renga -
windless day
we walk together
in our worlds
the pleasure
of our shared silence
But, there are also poems where the shift is stronger -
dawn on the river
the leafless beauty
of sycamores
in splotches of sunlight
spring returns
Both use alliteration effectively as a key lyrical device, giving the whole a distinct rhythmic musicality.
Some tan-renga have a restrained emotional undercurrent that suits the form well. A personal favourite, published in 2011,*3 was written by Pamela A. Babusci (USA) & Paul Smith (U.K.)
maple leaf —
the sound it doesn’t make
while falling
days getting shorter
i too shed my layers
More recent tan-renga collaborations between English poets and poets of various nationalities are clearly proving fruitful. The poet Richard Thomas (UK) has recently collaborated with the Indian poet Hifsa Ashraf (Pakistan). The following example*4 of their work demonstrates that wry humour also has its place -
filled with coins
squinting
at the money jar
a closer look
the cost of new glasses
My own collaborations with the Malaysian poet Christina Chin have afforded outcomes that could only have occurred in poems written by two authors with differing geographical and cultural backgrounds - monsoons and snowfall regularly intermingle!
We also employ dual viewpoints. In the following tan-renga…*5
in my apartment window
in my mind’s eye
a red dragonfly
in the flower meadow’s
breeze
…one ‘narrator’ is directly viewing the red dragonfly, whilst the other is sat at an apartment window imagining it. There is also an implied geographical shift from an urban to a rural setting.
Interestingly, Michael Dylan Welch postulated*6 that it might be possible to write solo tan-renga if one retains the blank line between the two verses and also employs a ‘different voice’ for the second verse. A methodology for achieving this is worthy of exploration. One possibility would be the adoption of a heteronym for either the opening or capping verse. The technique was used by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935). A Pessoan heteronym is, essentially, an invented literary character. These characters (heteronyms) have their own philosophies, viewpoints and biographies - they are assumed personas and should not be confused with a pen name. The technique allowed Pessoa to assume varied frames of reference. Although the device was not employed in the context of tan-renga it may be an engaging way of actioning Michael’s idea.
Perhaps the growing interest in co-authored poetry can be attributed to the access and communication the internet affords. It has certainly helped to promote more regular cross-cultural interchange between poets and tan-renga seems ideally suited to such collaborations.
David G. Lanoue, writing during his coronavirus self-isolation, noted that,
‘…linked verse by means of Internet connection tools and social media remains an experience of human connection, togetherness and loving compassion.’ *7
Certainly this has been my own experience; the form is a companionable one. Its concision presents the two poets with a challenge; but it is the succinctness itself that that stimulates the imagination. Constraints and creativity are often bedfellows. For those who haven’t yet explored the form, I hope that this short article might, in some small way, encourage such experiments.
NOTES
*1 Further information regarding the early history of Tan-Renga can be found in David G. Lanoue’s article ‘What Love Has To Do With It - The Relationship Requirement in Renku’, Modern Haiku 52.1
*2 Frogpond 21.2, October 1998
*3 Frogpond 34.1, winter 2011
*4 Scarlet Dragonfly September 2022
*5 Fireflies’ Light #26 September 2022. This tan-renga is experimental. We inverted the capping verse and the hokku so that we open with two lines and cap with three. We are aware that some may not accept the term tan-renga for this poem.
Note that we also don’t employ italics - we view our collaborations as the sum of two parts and frequently alter each others’ lines. The use of italics would not, therefore, accurately reflect our writing method.
*6 graceguts.com ‘An Introduction To Tan-Renga’, Michael Dylan Welch
*7 Modern Haiku 52.1 ‘What Love Has To Do With It - The Relationship Requirement in Renku’, David G. Lanoue
