Sunday, 19 November 2023
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published in the Lothlorien Poetry Journal, founder editor publisher, Strider Marcus Jones
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal by founder editor publisher, Strider Marcus Jones.
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal by founder editor publisher Strider Marcus Jones.
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published in the Lothlorien Poetry Journal, founder editor publisher Strider Marcus Jones
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Holiday Joy, special issue.
Published by Maurice J. Reynolds, Owner-Editor, Creative Inspirations
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published in Creative Inspirations, Holiday Joy, special edition.
Maurice J. Reynolds, Owner-Editor
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Published by Creative Inspirations for Holiday Joy, special edition.
Maurice J. Reynolds, Owner-Editor
Thursday, 19 October 2023
A tan-renga with Mystic Poet
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet published in the Fireflies' Light, editor John Han and Mason Arledge written with Mystic Poet.
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet published in DarkWinter Lit, editor Suzanne Craig.
Tan-Renga with Kimberly Olmtak
A tan-renga collaboration with Kimberly Olmtak published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, editor Strider Marcus Jones.
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet published in DarkWinter Lit by Suzanne Craig.
Tan-Renga with Kimberly Olmtak
A tan-renga featured in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, editor Strider Marcus Jones co-written with Kimberly Olmtak.
A tan-renga with Mystic Poet
A tan-renga collaboration published in DarkWinter Lit, editor Suzanne Craig written with Mystic Poet.
Tan-Renga with Kimberly Olmtak
A tan-renga collaboration with Kimberly Olmtak published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, editor Strider Marcus Jones.
Tan-Renga with Kimberly Olmtak
A tan-renga featured in Lothlorien Poetry Journal by Strider Marcus Jones, co-written with Kimberly Olmtak.
Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet published in Lothlorien Poetry Journal, editor Strider Marcus Jones.
Tan-Renga with Mystic Poet
Tan-Renga published by Creative Inspirations, editor J Reynolds. Written with Mystic Poet.
Haiku published in Heterodox
Haiku published by Heterodox, editor Jerome Berglund. The theme, gluttony.
Friday, 29 September 2023
Split sequence with Jerome Berglund
Split Sequence with Jerome Berglund featured in the Coalition Works
Tuesday, 26 September 2023
Monday, 25 September 2023
Sunday, 24 September 2023
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet featured by Spillwords Press.
A tan-renga with Jerome Berglund
An IceBreakers Lit Journal tan-renga collaboration with Jerome Berglund
Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Tan-Renga collaboration featured in IceBreakers Lit
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet.
Many thanks to IceBreakers Lit and team, Terri, Aubri, Danny, and Lauren for showcasing three tanrenga collaborations in the latest issue.
Tuesday, 19 September 2023
IceBreakers Lit Collaboration theme
A tan-renga collaboration with Mystic Poet.
Many thanks to IceBreakers Lit and team, Terri, Aubri, Danny, and Lauren for showcasing three tanrenga collaborations in the latest issue.
IceBreakers collaborative issue
Many thanks to IceBreakers Lit and team of Terri, Aubri, Danny, Lauren, for showcasing three tanrenga collaborations with Jerome in the latest issue. Artwork by Jerome Berglund.
https://www.icebreakerslit.com/cowbells-rabbits-dandelions
Haiku with headnotes
I'm sharing a haiku from the 4th Issue of Heterodox Haiku Journal.
Featured artwork by the editor, Jerome Berglund on ð.
This edition is broken into 6 sections, he'll showcase 1/day .
Theme ~ Haiku, senryu with headnotes.
Friday, 8 September 2023
Wednesday, 6 September 2023
Monday, 28 August 2023
Figs
。
rich purple figs
...a circle of ants
in the fruit bowl
~ Christina Chin
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Saturday, 26 August 2023
Mashed Bananas
。
Summer Cooking Haiku.
Featured by Allyson Whipple
https://haikugirlsummer.substack.com/p/summer-cooking?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Friday, 25 August 2023
Summer Cooking Haiku
。
Summer Cooking Haiku.
Featured by Allyson Whipple
https://haikugirlsummer.substack.com/p/summer-cooking?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Wednesday, 23 August 2023
MIRROR ЯOЯЯIM
https://youtube.com/shorts/jnUioKJXJOE?si=vZbw5-XBR8WyIrtf
My gogyoshiren for neurodiversity theme is
MIRROR ЯOЯЯIM.
You can read this and all the amazing takes on Take 5ive.
https://take5ive.weebly.com/neurodiversity.html
Tuesday, 22 August 2023
The Declaration
https://youtube.com/shorts/g1Th1s-mc0g?feature=share7
A collaborative haiku sequence written with Mystic Poet during the dark days, published by DarkWinter lit magazine.
Monday, 21 August 2023
Collaborative tan-renga
https://www.roifaineantpress.com/post/5-tan-renga-by-christina-chin-uchechukwu-onyedikam
Thursday, 17 August 2023
The MusArt Award
It is a great honour to have a mention in the tribute to amazing award winning women musicians. Congratulations, Randall Vemer, and thanks for dedicating this to all women in the MusArt and to yours truly, the humble solo poet.
Wednesday, 16 August 2023
Gendai tanka. Impspired Magazine
In Nigeria, gapped teeth signify beauty and luck. In West Africa, a set of gapped teeth is a symbol of wealth.
Tuesday, 15 August 2023
Monday, 14 August 2023
Haiku for Peace
Kyoto Haiku Project, Haiku for Peace also includes a Gogyoshi for Peace published in the Peace Anthology 2023 by Taro Aizu.
The Sape music is composed and played by author, poet, and musician, Medan Abdullah aka Maya Green. It is music from the rainforests. The name of the instrument is “the Sape’, the jungle lute of Borneo.”
Sunday, 13 August 2023
A tango renga
I love music and dance renga!
I'm thrilled Wishbone Words featured this.
Mystic Poet and I have a jazzy sequence with a jazz publication coming up soon and we are excited!
Meguro August Haiku
Another haiku from the August Meguro International Haiku Circle.
Thanks to Yasuomi Koganei san, Michiko Murai and Masumi Orihara. Moderator Crystal Brunelli.
Pounding
A haiku from the August Meguro International Haiku Circle.
Thanks to Yasuomi Koganei san, Michiko Murai and Masumi Orihara. Moderator Crystal Brunelli.
Saturday, 12 August 2023
Haiku for Peace Video
Kyoto Haiku Project
"Haiku for Peace" theme.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=8ehipVrRq_0&feature=share7
"Haiku for Peace" Video
。
Kyoto Haiku Project
"Haiku for Peace" theme.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=pQ02e2hcapo&feature=share7
Friday, 11 August 2023
Childhood guilt Video
AFRICA HAIKU NETWORK
Publishers of The Mamba Journal
Founder editor, Adjei Agyei-Baah.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=rjzNovdUnto&feature=share7
Haiku for Peace Video
Kyoto Haiku Project
"Haiku for Peace" theme.
The full YouTube version:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-lwStBfCBl8&feature=share7
Saturday, 22 July 2023
the place where they come across the moon Bk 7
Repost from Matthew Defibaugh, Instagram.
I'm proud to announce the release of book 7, the first to feature other collaborative writers from around the world, now available for download in my Ko-fi shop! Thanks to your outstanding contributions, this has become my favorite book of the series. It was my honor to curate your work. Keep your submissions coming for the next edition due out in October!
ko-fi.com/s/7da567acb2
Featuring: Alan Peat (UK), Amoolya Kamalnath (India), Christina Chin (Malaysia), Christine L. Villa (USA), Hifsa Ashraf (Pakistan), Jerome Berglund (USA), John Hawkhead (UK), Karen O'Leary (USA), Kathleen Trocmet (USA), Kimberly Kuchar (USA), Lakshmi Iyer (India), Linda Ludwig (USA), Michael Hough (USA), Milan Rajkumar (India), Pamela Coughlan (Singapore), Paul Callus (Malta), petro c. k. (USA), R. C. Thomas (UK), Robert Kingston (UK), Shoko Kanenari (Japan), Uchechukwu Onyedikam (Nigeria), and Vandana Parashar (India).
Submissions: Send up to five collaborative 5-line tan-renga or tanka to mrdefibaugh@gmail.com. Include poems in the body of the email, as attachments will not be read. Please include poet names and locations. Three lines should be attributed to one poet and two to the other. Each poem should have no more than 31 syllables, though exceptions to this rule are welcome if the poem is exceptional. Submissions are rolling, but only send more poems once you have received an acceptance or rejection. Books will be released in January, April, July, and October on the 15th of each month.
Link to M.R.Defibaugh, Instagram
://www.instagram.com/p/CuvHmeApbuR/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==
Tan-renga article by Alan Peat: https://haikuzyg.blogspot.com/2023/07/alan-peat-wrote-about-tan-renga-it-was.html
Wednesday, 19 July 2023
Tan-Renga with Uchechukwu Onyedikam @MysticPoet_
https://www.musepiepress.com/shotglass/chin_onyedikam1.html
Thursday, 13 July 2023
Alan Peat wrote about tan-renga. It was originally published in ‘Blithe Spirit’ - the journal of the British Haiku Society.
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