For a while now, I’ve been pondering how to celebrate my birthday, writing-wise. And here’s what I’ve come up with. From now until my birthday (July 23), please join me in creating an online renku. I’ve done this twice in the past, and it was so much fun! You can read the previous posts here and here.
For this renku, the rules are simple. I will start it off, and then in the comments section, add a couplet, if the last verse was haiku, or a haiku if the last verse was a couplet. What to write about? Anything in July, in your part of the world. Flora, fauna, senryu, stars, sunshine, cold (if you’re in the Southern hemisphere), dishes, soapsuds, food, trucks, trains, boats, and planes, clouds, puddles, pruners, cell phones, kids, birthdays, books, music, stones, swimming pools, the beach, tidepools… It’s all good!
Please leave your name, as you’d like it to appear, and also your blog/website link if you have one. On my birthday, I will put together a post with everything I’ve received to date, and that will be my present to myself! So have at it. And have fun. 🙂
Prose Posies 
Here’s the opening verse, repeated:
sultry afternoon
the plaintive cries
of fledgling hawks
crazed evening traffic
dragonfly bravura
Yousei Hime
Shiteki Na Usagi (tasmith1122.wordpress.com)
pigeons huddle
in the park bandstand
a midnight rain
John Daleiden
Ooh, thank you Yousei and John. A wonderful start! 🙂
Ah…I missed it (the day, that is). So belated happy birthday. I look forward to seeing the whole as one. 🙂
I snag and release
a frog from the house
That happened to us too, Margaret, but the little frog got into our car’s A/C system. Luckily for all of us, we got him out safely! Thanks for the couplet. 🙂
daytime buzz –
the mosquito i slapped
on my arm
gillena cox
http://myblog-lunchbreak.blogspot.com/
monsoon wind
what would complement
this traffic jam
Angelo B. Ancheta
Looks good, Angelo. This renku is coming along nicely.
Fog slips over the hilltops
tickling a lone mockingbird.
ina Roy-Faderman
Wonderful, Ina. That brings back a memory of my parents’ house, and how like clockwork, the fog would roll in over the foothills in the late afternoon. 🙂 And I like your mockingbird!
I’m not sure how this works, but I’ll give it a try. If mine doesn’t fit, then just skip over it, Cara.
wet with dew
wildflowers fold into themselves
a whispered lullaby
It fits beautifully, Linda. What a lovely haiku!
tuning out
yesterday and tomorrow
Yes I am! Thanks, Julie. 🙂
They flew from their nest
over summer’s fresh blooms
a lofty call
— Lisa Hills
(Lisa– I had to copy your haiku over into this comment, as it would have been out of order otherwise.) Thanks for the haiku.
NEXT UP: A COUPLET.
on my moonlit kitchen
drips of watermelon juice
Nice one, Chrissi. I just had my first watermelon of the year. 🙂
almost midnight
should I stay or should I leave
lullaby of a cricket
Cara, if this does not fit in, please delete!
This fits in nicely. What name do you want me to credit the verse to when I put together the full post?
Thank you, Cara. You can put it under “Asni Amin”
NEXT UP: A COUPLET AGAIN…
alone again
in the feathered nest
(Christina Nguyen)
How particularly apt, Christina. I have just been writing “empty nest” rengay with two friends. Yours sounds cozy.
Ooops, forgot to add my blog, A wish for the sky…(http://tina.mnnguyen.com/). Thanks!
early birdsong
facing the same direction
all four horses
Kirsten Cliff
Swimming in Lines of Haiku (http://kirstencliffwrites.blogspot.co.nz/)
Thanks, Cara, this is great! 🙂 And am LOVING your haiku set on DailyHaiku. You go girl!
Thanks, Kirsten. It’s such a treat to write for Daily Haiku, as you well know! And great haiku– it reminds me of the horses I see around here when I take my walks.
hello all! couplet… hmm, let me try, smile!
in the meadow
with one last laugh
Ernesto P. Santiago
hello Cara, please delete my cooment if it does not fit. thank you! Ernesto
Looks good, Ernesto. Thanks for taking part in my renku!
UP NEXT: A HAIKU
it’s the new born child
who gets the last laugh
severe drought
a dragonfly nestles
in the clown’s wig
Thanks, Johnny. Hope you’re enjoying your new grandson!
light reflected
off the pond
the sounds clouds make
Angela Terry
the right word grasped
in willow fragments
Lovely, as always, Angie. 🙂
Okay, here’s an unexpected glitch. Due to comment screening the first time someone leaves a comment on my blog, we now have two haiku back-to-back. So… I need a couplet to fit between Johnny and Angie’s haiku, AND I need a couplet after Angie’s haiku. Here’s the chance for all you couplet writers to sneak in here. 🙂
Sorry! Forgot to give my info: Kathy Uyen Nguyen – Origami Lotus Poetry http://alotus-poetry.livejournal.com/ (ambiguity DOT lotus AT gmail DOT com)
And happy birthday, Cara! 🙂 Hope my couplets are to your liking.
Wow, Kathy. Both your couplets fit in seamlessly. Thanks so much! (And how clever of you to squeeze them both in the right place.) Now we’re back in business.
UP NEXT: a haiku again to follow Kathy Nguyen’s couplet, repeated here:
the right word grasped
in willow fragments
pillow talk
the early morning chatter
between nests
Nice one, Kat. 🙂
on which I scribe each night
the non-visual geometry
Ernesto P. Santiago
Thanks again, Ernesto. Your comments are still being screened… not sure why…
thank you too. also have no idea, Cara.
Hi Cara, what a great idea! I’ve never done a renku before,but everybody seems to be having so much fun here, that I’d just close my eyes and dive in. Please don’t hesitate to delete if it doesn’t fit in.
late for work again
the faded-jeans sky
I like it, Sanjuktaa! Renku is so much form– a sort of team-building exercise. 😉 I especially like how it brings so many varied voices together.
silence, I speak…
the unspoken language
of the unkai
I’ll swap your haiku and Sanjuktaa’s couplet, to put us back in order again. What is the unkai, btw?
it’s a Japanese term for cloud sea / or sea of clouds,(^_-)!
I’m swapping the last two verses, to bring us back in order again. So our current last verse is Sanjuktaa’s couplet, repeated here:
late for work again
the faded-jeans sky
NEXT UP: a haiku
may birthday candles
light the path to happiness…
live a full life
Thanks again, John, for the verse, and the sentiment!
firelight flickers
on the mountainside
I like reading your mountain ku and couplets, Kirsten!
hehe 🙂 thanks! I’m in love with that mountain – Kaimai Range – it’s one of my most favourite things about home. Can’t see it today – covered in cloud…
bee-wearing (con)tests
the many diverse views
among (our) haijin
Ernesto P. Santiago
Okay, fix up time again. I just rescued a verse from my spam filter, so now we need a couplet near the beginning, to fit neatly between Gillena’s and Angelo’s, as well as a couplet after Ernesto’s final haiku. So here’s an opportunity for all you couplet writers.
hello Cara, here’s a couplet to squeeze… and hope it fits. happy weekend to y’all!
letter from Rome—
am I liable?
Ernesto P. Santiago
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