The Poetry School Renga workshop

With a nod and thanks to Alec Finlay for his inspiration and superb renga book: shared writing: renga days


Slug and Lettuce renga
(to be printed after publication)


Renga Sabaki: Alan Summers

participants:

• June Hall
• Libby Houston
• Donald Gibson
• Linda Saunders
• Be Mattingly
• Lynette Rees
• Karen Hoy

Nijuin Renga
A renga is a series of very short verses, linked into one long poem, composed collaboratively by a group. 'Nijuin' means a 20-verse renga created by 20th Century renga master Meiga Higashi. He considered the Nijuin renga to be the shortest form that could be both contemporary yet capture some of the classic feel of renga.

There are three movements in Nijuin Renga: a four verse section; a twelve verse; and another four verse section. We started in Spring going through the seasons, as well as writing love, and moon verses, to end back in Spring.

The intrepid rengaistas get their first few verses down:



Reflective rengaistas*
(*Alec Finlay's term for renga poets)



More thinking and working out a verse
that has to both link and shift!



Renga fun moments!
Although we look serious and reflective at times, there was a lot of fun too, especially with the 'love verses'.



Action renga!



Last verse!
Then some of us went on to Yen Sushi, it's a hard life for rengaistas!

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Herefordshire Haiku: poems on the move

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Library van image by Alan Summers; Emma & myself image by Simon Holroyd.

I met Emma Stevens, Library Learning Officer at Hereford Station, and met up with the mobile library van at Fownhope to start my one day library van haiku poet-in-residence. Here are the five places we visited:



Herefordshire's lovely countryside replete with crows & rooks:


carrion crow call
refracted river-ripples
on the horsechestnut


mist haze -
a crow cleans its beak
on a rooftop aerial

2 haiku by Alan Summers


on a leafless branch
a crow comes to nest -
autumn nightfall

Basho (1644 - 1694) trans. Haruo Shirane



harusame no
dobei hi tomaru
karasu

mud wall perch
in the spring rain
a crow

Shiki Masaoka (1890-1902) English version trans Alan Summers.


The people:


picture by Simon Holroyd
Mrs Hulbert, who paid us a visit, (and helps out at Age Concern), is an artist who was interested in the tradition of combining pictures with haiku known as haiga in Japan.


(Please click onto the pictures for a larger image)
Mrs Hulbert deservedly is awarded a haiku detective badge!


picture by Alan Summers
Mrs Slade was the second of my home visits to people unable to get out and visit the library van. Mrs Slade will be 100 in June this year. We also visited Mrs Oxley, in her nineties, who was also great fun, despite her fragility.


Simon Holroyd, the library van driver. It was a shame it was a very wet day, but the visitors we did have made it all worthwhile.

I left some of our haiku detective badges to encourage many more haiku being written at local libraries and with Simon Holroyd on his library van so I hope even more haiku get written.

Promenade: haiku beside the sea

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A number of my haiku will be appearing in 3LIGHTS GALLERY in April: 3LIGHTS GALLERY

Herefordshire Haiku: poems on the move

I'm going out on Herefordshire's new mobile library this Saturday, 15th March 2008, meeting people in each location. The van visits a variety of countryside and village locations, and we're going to try and capture some of those surroundings in haiku with the people we meet. The haiku can then be shared and displayed around the county. If you are local, please come and find us, and write a haiku or two!



"Sat, 15 Mar 2008: come along and join Haiku poet Alan Summers on the Mobile Library. Using the fabulous scenery of Herefordshire as inspiration, Alan will be on hand to encourage your imagination and enable you to write your own haiku. Feel free to bring along your own Japanese Haiku poetry, or have a go whilst choosing your books as the mobile visits Fownhope, Goodrich, Lea, Whitchurch and Llangrove."

images from sign-rite

weblink: Council brings Japan to Herefordshire this Easter

myherefordshire.com weblink: Herefordshire Haiku: Poems on the Move

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Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku

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The website link: Wing Beats

I am proud to be able to say that a number of my haiku are published in this book.

‘This volume of haiku about birds and what it means to encounter birds in the landscape achieves the near impossible. It captures the deepest feelings and the most minute observations in the fewest words possible—a triumph of seeing, expression and poetic control.’
Mark Cocker, author and naturalist

Mark Cocker is one of Britain’s foremost writers on nature and contributes regularly to the Guardian, the Times Literary Supplement, as well as BBC Radio Four.


‘The poems in this volume are worthy heirs to three great traditions: the British love of nature, especially birds; the poetic approach of John Clare, rooted in observation and reality but taking the reader to a higher plane; and finally, of course, the long and venerable tradition of haiku.
By combining these, the writers have produced something truly unique: beautifully written yet easily accessible poetry that helps us reconnect with the natural world in a deeper, more intense way.’
Stephen Moss, from the Foreword
Stephen Moss is a producer at the BBC Natural History Unit.


‘In Wing Beats, the brief, Japanese-style haiku becomes an absolutely first-rate medium for capturing those fleeting moments all bird-lovers prize.

The birds in these poems glide, poke, and zip across the many different landscapes of Britain, punctuating the wind and the sounds of human activity.

Substantial appendices discuss how experience and tradition combine to freshen our understanding of the seasons in haiku.

I find Wing Beats full of acute observations, artistically moving, and intellectually stimulating—a very important book.’
William J. Higginson, author
The Haiku Handbook, Haiku World, etc.


You can order online:
Wing Beats website

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Kingsfield School goes haiku!

The first half of Friday February 15th became a poetry day for pupils at Kingsfield Grammar School in Bristol. Kingsfield is a Specialist Mathematics and Computing College. I was part of a visit from Bath Spa University and took 3 one hour sessions in the dept.computer room AG7 with Yr 7 ATk, Yr 10 JTn, Yr 8 CSw classes.

One pupil from year 8 proudly handed me her handout of well placed images with haiku poems:

Dark blanket of sky
Silent screech owls flies with grace
Braking midnight's depth

Wow!


Tim Anderson, teacher/governor at Kingsfield said:
"Many, many thanks for coming to Kingsfield. All the teachers involved in the workshops have said how much they enjoyed them and how valuable they were for the pupils."

"Alan's Haiku went down well with the Yr 7s, and we were impressed at how the sometimes turbulent Yr 10s tackled them."

"The acid test, of course, is: "Was it worthwhile? Should we do it again?"
Again all the teachers involved gave a resounding affirmative to both questions."

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Haiku & Senryu

Well, we had our first Asian Forms workshop last Saturday, on haiku & senryu, and a lot of fun it was, and quite a few really good haiku & senryu came out. I hope to see some of the poems appear later this year in haiku publications.

Click here for the remaining Asian Poetry Forms of tanka, sedoka, sijo, jueju, & renga workshops: workshops

Click here for the venue: Workshop venue page


For bookings, and information:
Julia Bird, Programme Co-ordinator

The Poetry School
81-83 Lambeth Walk
London
SE11 6DX

Tel: 0845 223 5274
Website: CLICK HERE

Julia is in the office on Wednesdays, Thursdays & Fridays

Also we are fortunate enough to have Dorothea Smartt as the School's new administrator - she can be reached at:administration@poetryschool.com.

New venue for The Poetry School haiku, tanka, renga, and other poetry workshops!

Webpage link: The Slug and Lettuce in Bath
Click for details: The Poetry School Workshops

The Poetry School Webpage link: The Poetry School