Glance by Glance

      As they move through the water, koi create patterns of varying beauty.       jhhymas


River of Heaven

fishing out
the river of heaven
glance by glance

beneath the highway bridge
all empty swallows' nests

no longer sure
who is the smarter species
after the nature special

my inky thumbprint
on the application form

            Nathan White
            Linda Papanicolaou

Mariposa 23; Haiku Poets of Northern California, 2010.

Continuing with the Star Festival Theme, here is a cooperative
poem modeled on the renku form: three line segments which alternate with two-line verses. It is a wonderful practice to work on one of these with someone else! Just two stanzas can be called a "tan-renga" and is the form Patricia Machmiller and I use for our annual New Year's greeting we end to some of our friends in Japan. Garry Gay invented a six-stanza version called a "Rengay" which many people use. I think you should be able to vary the length depending upon the material and the amount of time you have for writing. Some people compose these via email or postal mail, sending the unfinished poem back and forth like a ping-pong ball. I started one of these by mail and it is still in the air ten years later. Maybe I'll look for it tonight . . .  jhh