Welcome to the Renku Column of Simply Haiku. It is in
the nature of an international online journal that submissions
reflect the wide diversity of our readership, and we have been
delighted to feature in past issues renku from Africa and the
Americas, as well as from Europe and Asia. Yet occasionally the
dice falls in such a way that all of the work featured in an issue
shares a single provenance. The summer 2008 issue is just such
a case, with all of our renku coming out of Europe:
The junicho, Winter Moon, is the result of a
collaboration between four British poets (three English and one
Scottish), most of whom have featured in previous issues of Simply
Haiku, though all but their sabaki are new to the Renku Column.
The quality of their poem is such that we earnestly hope to feature
their work again in the future.
Misty Dawn is an autumn nijuin by English renkujin
Doreen King and Frank Williams, both regular contributors to this
column over the years, while the outcome of a collaboration from
another pair of poets who have been writing together for a number
of years can be seen in the autumn kasen A Glimpse of
Gain, from the pens of Francis Attard and Dick Pettit
(of Malta and Denmark respectively).
This last poem is accompanied by an insightful kanso
(renju's commentary) and a detailed verse-by-verse analysis of
linkage and season. Reading another poet's analysis of linkage
is something I find fascinating - it reminds us of how our perceptions
differ, and of the extent to which linkage resides in the eye
of the individual beholder. And it may be worth reflecting on
how this inevitably affects one's take on kannonbiraki,
or the degree of relationship between any verse and its uchikoshi
(previous-but-one verse).
Next issue we revert to our usual intercontinental style, with
renku pipelined from Japan, Europe and North America. And there's
still time to submit - we're waiting to hear from you!
Norman Darlington,
Bunclody, May 2008
