Dracula's
Coffin
Rengay
unearthed by Betty Kaplan and Max Verhart
In the blackest sky
only a brilliant half-moon
not a single star
the only light in the room
the alarm clock's red figures
this night
meteors streak across
the camera flashes
brightly shining
on the top of the church tower
a red neon cross
the signal, a slamming sound
Count Dracula's coffin lid
beyond the horizon
the pink fingered dawn
colors the one cloud
'Dracula's Coffin'
is one of nine rengay Betty Kaplan and Max Verhart included in
their small, if not tiny, but delightful book Smoke
signals (2002). The collection gives an insight into
their collaboration in rengay with examples of what they call
regular rengay, mystery rengay, biforked and three forked rengay.
It has an introduction by Garry Gay, who invented rengay. A few
copies are still available through the authors.
