A Shisan | A Hundred Gourds Journal
A Cat’s Footprints
| spring mud— a cat’s footprints on the hood |
Taro |
| shadow of a crocus on the doorstep |
Donna |
| butter melts in the cast iron pan, hotcakes sizzle |
Kris |
| *** |
| she also brings coffee with cream and sugar |
William |
| with a whisper tan lines disappear in the grass |
Donna |
| a contrail fades to blue over a nameless ocean |
William |
| *** |
| the full moon in the sake overflow on the table |
Dennis |
| coyote cries echo from Metacomet’s mountain |
Donna |
| children giggle through the ghost story’s twists and turns |
Dennis |
| *** |
| counting the winnings forgetting his age |
William |
| the Jizo’s smiles seem to grow under their snowy straw hats |
Kris |
| a salt sea breeze at the kitchen window |
Dennis |
A Shisan renku composed on Skype, March 19, 2014
Donna Fleischer, USA
Dennis Chibi Holmes, USA
Taro Kunugi, Japan
Kris Moon, sabaki, Japan
William Sorlien, USA
Tomegaki:
Earlier this year Taro Kunugi, the leader of the Renku Cafe “Under the Cherry Blossoms” group on Facebook, asked me to lead a shisan with William, Chibi and Donna.
Since I prefer to do renku in person, in real time, we asked Chibi to help us with a Skype session. We all submitted a hokku, but, as sabaki, I wanted to honor Taro, so offered a haiku he had written recently. We all agreed that it would be fun to follow. Our energy was high as everyone was trying to submit a verse for each line. We were in sync as a group and it was delightful to write together. We hope to be creating renku together often.
Metacomet: (ca. 1639 – August 12, 1676), also known as King Philip or Metacom, or occasionally Pometacom, was a war chief or sachem of the Wampanoag Indians in the New England region of the USA.
A Hundred Gourds Journal: haiku, tanka, haibun, haiga, renku.
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