All About Solo Rengay

Post date: Feb 18, 2013 6:37:12 AM

In a continuing quest to document the popularization of the rengay form, I’ve just added Cherie Hunter Day’s essay, “Rengay: Going Solo,” to the Rengay page. This essay, published in Northwest Literary Forum in 1995, was the first to explore the idea of writing rengay by oneself instead of with a partner. It also included and referred to two other rengay, “Night Rain” and “Rope Tricks,” which I’ve also added. Both of these are solo rengay by Cherie Hunter Day, and I believe “Night Rain” was the first solo rengay ever written. Garry Gay came up with the initial two-person form of rengay (in 1992), and wrote the first one with me. I immediately suggested a three-person form, and Cherie first proposed the solo rengay. But the identity of the person who first thought of doing a six-person rengay (one verse each) seems to be lost to the sands of time.