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Renhai
Developing A
New Form
Vaughn Seward,
CA
What is Renhai?
A Renhai consists of
three themed haiku verses typically written by two writers. The
final result is similar to the first three verses of a rengay
(three-line haiku, two-line haiku, three-line haiku). What is
unique about Renhai is that the middle two-line verse is jointly
written. That is, line one is written by the first writer and
line two is written by the second writer.
Background
When Gary Gay came
up with idea of Rengay, he wanted a simpler, shorter renku. Six
verses seemed long enough to be interesting and for developing a
theme but not too long that readers would grow tired of reading
it. He also wanted simpler rules that provided the writers a
little more freedom. Now, what if a Rengay-like poem was even
shorter? One verse is a Haiku and two verses is a Tanka. What
about three verses? This idea nicely corresponds with the 3
lines in a haiku. Could it be possible to have such a short
rengay-like poem? Thus the idea of RenHai was born. Since August
2007 Zhanna P. Rader, Hortensia Anderson, and Vaughn Seward have
been experimenting with Renhai and are pleased to present the
following four examples of this new form of short verse. The January 2008 issue of Sketchbook plans to
publish additional examples of Renhai.
A Night Out
A Renhai
Vaughn Seward (vs),
and Zhanna P. Rader (zr)
Still autumn night—
each patch of the forest,
full of darkness.
/vs
Blanket of velvet-gray fog—
/zr
a crow pierces the silence.
/vs
Coffee aroma
permeates the morning air—
sudden rain...
/zr
Click this link to
read the
Notes.
Aug 10-25, 2007
Fairy Ring
A Renhai
Vaughn Seward (vs),
and Zhanna P. Rader (zr)
Totem pole—
a lone eagle circles
high above.
/vs
A fairy ring on the lawn—
/zr
the gnome, to his chin in leaves.
/vs
Easter Island—
tourists walk around moai,
necks craned, mouths open.
/zr
Click this link to
read the
Notes.
November 16-23, 2007
Miles Around
A Renhai
Vaughn Seward (vs),
and Hortensia Anderson (ha)
Dawn's cloud cover—
the pale grey sky deepens
with the dusk. /ha
Untouched snow for miles around— /ha
faint tree line in the distance.
/vs
Empty nest—
a weathered bit of string
hangs from a twig.
/vs
Click this link to
read the
Notes.
November 29 -
December 6, 2007
Chattering Jay
A Renhai
Zhanna P. Rader
(zr), and Vaughn Seward (vs)
Time to pay for
the dinner—he discovers
his wallet is gone. /vs
The snowman loses his nose— /zr
a jay chatters from above.
/vs
New gossip
quickly spreads around—
the wife learns last.
/zr
Click this link to
read the
Notes:
December 23 - January 1, 2008
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