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Call of the Page (Alan & Karen)

Monday, April 06, 2009

Bath Spa Train Station Renga Party

Images©Alan Summers from the very successful Bath Spa Train Station renga party on Platform 2 in Dashi Sushi Bar on Easter Monday April 5th 2010.

Scribing Lines
The Bath Spa Railway Station Renku
Hosted by With Words (Alan Summers & Karen Hoy), with Marshall Hryciuk & Karen Sohne, Canada, and friends.



scribing lines
across the fields
Easter journey



Sue Shand
hopping on one foot
grandchild counts ducklings


Karen Sohne
the empty home
a kettle whistles
as a train rumbles past



Zoe Blackmore
while bonfire smoke drifts
through a bare tree


Andrew Shimield
clouds
I have even lost
the moon



Mimi Thebo
as I admire
Monet's Haystacks


Alan Summers
lemonade glasses
framed
by the half-done jigsaw



Karen Hoy
where the leaves meet
blue leaves of sky


Liz Brownlee
ice cream
how long
out of the freezer



Karen Hoy
longing for love's lick
dirty dishes pile high


Tracey Kelly
the damp spot
on my expensive shirt
a night's tears



Alan Summers
the world is suddenly interested
in Portuguese Water Spaniels


Mimi Thebo
off Somalia
the Captain's alive
and three pirates dead



Yu Yan Chen
crows pierce the crystaline horizon

Tracey Kelly
inside the cat curls
snug on the warmest chair


Zoe Blackmore
half moon
my wife's unvarnished
toenails



Alan Summers
the tree rattles bones
the wind shakes


Liz Brownlee
today I smelled the earth

Mimi Thebo
abundant
the elderflowers
bow low



Sue Shand
light on the froth below the weir
clouds float


Liz Brownlee
as I drink
through the harp
in my Guinness



Sue Shand
piggyback he sees his dad's view

Alan Summers
two lines summer
Alan and Karen



Tracey Kelly
sunbathing on the roof
the radio DJ tells us
to roll over



Karen Sohne
rockets explode
in showers of golden rain


Sue Shand
Orion's Belt
I sneak another notch
in mine



Alan Summers
this diamond day we set the date

Sue Shand
my new babes gaze
joins my heat to her's


Liz Brownlee
the length of the valley
the bullstag's
trumpeting



Andrew Shimield
Jupiter's moons
through someone else
s telescope


Karen Hoy
roasted chestnuts
start to appear
on London street corners



Alan Summers
snakes in the beard
of the sun god


Karen Sohne
light on the river
shimmering
on the green tour boat



Marshall Hryciuk
tiny butterfly
over the new lawn


Karen Sohne
in a swirl of blossom
the dustmen
fill their cart



Andrew Shimield
letting go of the balloon
with a gentle wave


Yu Yan Chen










 Alan Summers was roving renga poet-in-residence during Japan-UK 150.




Marshall Hryciuk ((President of the Haiku Society of Canada 1990 – 1997)) was sabaki for this event.



Karen Sohne (Toronto, Canada) acted as the scribe.

The event stayed at Dashi Sushi Bar for a number of hours, before moving onto a nearby park in Bath.  Early evening we moved to the famous Raven pub in Bath for refreshments and to perform the completed renga.

Karen Hoy assisted me as co-host at the event, so we could look after the needs of all the participants while guest sabaki and scribe Marshall Hryciuk and Karen Sohne from Toronto, Canada, could concentrate totally on the renga aka renku.


With Words (myself and Karen) insist that participants in a renga enjoy themselves in a relaxed atmosphere.  As a kasen renga can take six hours, there was plenty of opportunity for people to visit museums and galleries, do a little shopping, and generally come back in their own time.

all photographs©Alan Summers
Please contact me at admin@callofthepage.org for permission to use any of these photographs. 

Scribing Lines Renku

journal publishing credit: 
Notes from the Gean vol 2 issue 3 (December 2010)
  


Petals in the Dark
15 renku led and edited by Marshall Hryciuk 
(catkin press, 2015)  
https://claudiaradmore.com/2015/07/15/publishers-hat-renku/


*Also please still feel free to drop a few short poems about trains into the comments box.


Alan & Karen offer online courses in haiku and its related genres.  If you would like to know more drop us a line at: 
admin@callofthepage.org


More about Karen & Alan:
https://www.callofthepage.org/about-1/

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7 comments:

Dru Marland said...

Here's my only train based poem

I can't hear it, though
I can see the crow crowing
Through the train window

Hope the station renga was fun!

Area 17 said...

It's this Easter Monday, 1pm Bath Spa Station, in Dashi Sushi Bar if you and Katie are up for it. You can just pop in for twenty minutes, for a verse or two! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Here's one:

Skirting cold lakes
A train dissipates
In moonlight

Mike Chasty

Alison said...

You made me realise how often I write about trains! The latest couple -

evening train -
the young commuter reads
a president's biography

westbound train
sliding out from under
back-lit cloud

Alison said...

and some older ones -

westbound train
glides along beside
still water

writing on eggshells
recording words on skin
with a finger tip
across the misted
window of a train

Liz Brownlee said...

Hello Alan, I thought this while watching yesterday, but can't think it hasn't been said before:

as the train gathers speed
we wave goodbye
more quickly

Area 17 said...

I rather like this! It doesn't just suggest the funny side of it, but goodbyes in general, and our own transience, but how we sometimes waste time in even saying hello and getting to know a friend or family member.