A Solo Renhai
Oh! What
Shall We Do?
by John
Daleiden, US
in the parlor
three empty porridge bowls—
not a soul in sight
one glass slipper left behind—
the tails of three blind mice
on the house lot
a jumbled pile of sticks—
call out the police
John Daleiden
12-02-09
Notes: No.
189
Renhai Notes
The renhai, "Oh! What Shall We
Do?" was composed
according to the classical scheme described by the inventor,
Vaughn Seward—Verse 2, line 1 then Verse 2, line 2. In the
Cinderella fairy tale "one glass slipper" was left behind
after the beautiful, mysterious woman overstayed her evening
at the ball and hurriedly left-she lost her glass slipper in
her haste. Through some mighty fine detective work, the prince
finally found his mystery "gal" and wed her.
Likewise, in the nursery rhyme / song the farmer's wife cut
off the tails of "three blind" mice with the carving knife.
Although the song does not say so, those chopped off tails
probably made a pretty gruesome sight lying about the
farmstead.
Verse 1 reveals the "three empty porridge bowls" which a
distraught family will soon discover; and even more
frightening, is that fact that in a few minutes they will
catch the culprit sleeping in their beds! Is there no safety
in this crazy world?
In Verse 3 the devastation is complete—the rickety house of
sticks lies in ruins on its foundation, and no one is in
sight. It is time to call out the gendarmes! In each of the
verses some object of value is used and left behind at the
scene of evil doing. In each of the fairy tales a certain
amount of "detective work" leads the reader to the certain
knowledge that "evil" lurks in the middle of society, but
through some careful "snooping" of the crime scenes, we come
to a comprehension of what took place. Not everyone gets to
live happily ever after! Not in real life and certainly not in
the fairy tales.
While the renhai form was intended to be composed of three
stand alone haiku like verses, this renhai is composed of
three stand alone verses that display the characteristics of
senryu. The tongue in cheek title adds to the good-natured
humor.
Oh, just in case you missed it the theme of this renhai is
things left behind.
