Embedded Files
The following 18-verse half-kasen renku by thirteen poets was written on 11 September 1993 by participants of that year’s Yuki Teikei Haiku Society retreat at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, California. We were asked to write verses in 5-7-5 and 7-7 syllables. First published in Geppo XVI:11, September–October 1994, pages 9–10. Participants were Alex Benedict, Alice Benedict, Donna Gallagher, Pat Gallagher, Christopher Herold, Elizabeth Knox, Patricia Machmiller, Bun Schofield, Ebba Story, Kiyoko Tokutomi (renku master), Emile Waldteufel, Eugenie Waldteufel, and Michael Dylan Welch.
Chilly windswept beach
long strands of kelp intertwined
in the afterglow
Ebba
Rising through eucalyptus
a pale yellow gibbous moon
Michael
A doe and her young
pick their way through the dry grass
light on tiny horns
Eugenie
The incense smoke wafts upward
from the square lacquered box
Elizabeth
Oriental rug
against the patterned hardwood—
roses in the vase
Pat
The sunburned spots in the shape
of the rips in his T-shirt
Alice
Big breakfast over
line forms at one-hole outhouse—
sheep wait in pens
Emile
His old silver pocket watch
her curl sealed in the cover
Alice
Blowing me kisses
through the speeding car window—
her exit is next
Michael
Two stores in this country town
bullet holes through the stop sign
Christopher
The barber’s story
keeps his customer awake
Burma Shave! he ends
Pat
Trimming the overgrown hedge
he severs the power cord
Donna
A fireman climbs
all the way up the ladder
to the winter moon
Christopher
Around the old church steeple
the whine of a bitter wind
Bun
The rocky river
a kingfisher chattering
down to the next bend
Alex
Forgotten under the bed
dusty Arabian Nights
Ebba
Three in business suits
their briefcases at their feet—
the cherry blossoms
Pat
Noontime on Mt. Hamilton
“hilltoppers” high, then higher!
Kiyoko
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