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LINK, SHIFT  & SMILE
Paul MacNeil, Editor
Florida, US

 

 

 

A picture or representation of human figures ought to be done in such a way that the spectator may easily recognize, by means of their attitude, the intent in their minds.

     - Leonardo da Vinci

 

 . . .  the interior verses of a renga may be another matter where it's possible to draw the images from the store of experience, the sources of which may be life, literature or film etc., yet always connected with reality. The free-standing haiku has its integrity in genuine experience; one of its original functions was to act as an anchor in a renga.

      - Brian Tasker   

 

Leonardo, discussing his Art, gives us guidance for appreciating the communication between creator and receiver. I find great application to haiku and renku.  Not just pigment and its application to canvas or plaster, but he paints to show emotion to the audience through his greater craft of expression. So too are the words in haiku and renku stanzas: clear, brief communication easily done -- readily available to the reader. By tradition and design, renku lack a narrative. A parallel may exist between Renaissance paintings such as da Vinci's and renku. I hope not to stretch this too far but, the elements of such a painting, some stylized, flow from one to another. The viewer's gaze is directed first to one thing (deliberately crafted by the painter), swept to another, another, and back again.  Repeat. A series of small details are absorbed along the way: perhaps the face of a child, servant, or workman in the background crowd, or a bird or dog off in a corner. A reader of renku is led along as well by a group of artists acting in concert.

 

The representation of the world's variety through words is an aim of haikai no renga (renku). From the anchoring hokku outward, renku allows for writers to comment, in a stanza, on topics as wide-ranging as the group can imagine.  In a renku essay in the Guest Speaker's Corner feature in this Issue, Christopher Herold terms this "balanced expansion." Many writers in the English language follow the Japanese poetic tradition dating back to tanka (waka) from the 8th Century. The notion of completing a partial poem by another followed and became popularized.  It took several centuries for a third stanza and then even hundreds more to become the fashion. All these styles, and ours today, use linking of one verse to the preceding but to no other before that one. This way, the topics are forced into a state of variety. A renku of 36 verses, a standard popularized by Basho in the 17th Century, has repetitions of love, moon, and blossom topics. But even here, variety is enforced. Each moon will show a different aspect; love is depicted in various stages; blossoms will not be just the same either. The variety comes, as Tasker put it, from "... the images from the store of experience."  The interaction of various life experiences of renku members is why each group poem is unique. And fun.

 

 

Using the ancient tan-renga game, capping a verse with another, I have devised one with a bit more context. A third verse, the one to shift away from, to not link to, is above the target stanza. I also will give an assignment, short do's and don't's, as would be the case in a real renku.  I hope you will enjoy playing.  On the next "page" in this section are the reader responses to the last Issue's two Games. Next are the new games for you to play along with. In one, I challenge you to walk in the sandal prints of Old Master Basho. The last pages of this section are devoted to complete renku.  Note, for your interest, that one is set as a New Year's kasen (36 verses). The four seasons and New Year's are traditional Japanese forms for renku.

 

I hope you enjoy the games and the published renku.

 

 

 Next, Follow This! Games 5 & 6 Completed - a Summary

and Follow This! New Games: 7 & 8 - Come play!

 

 

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