Exercises: Interjection
to add a bridging verse
2010 revision

Comments

It is an unfortunate feature of much contemporary English language renku that the nature of any given added verse (tsukeku) is conditioned by negatives: the perception is that a good verse is one which is not like that which has gone before. Such an approach is unlikely to yield the highest quality work, for issues of variety and change in renku must involve active rather than reactive choices. Yet it is even less well understood that the best verses often play on the reader's expectations of what is about to occur next.

Certainly in the case of longer renku, the continual metamorphosis of mood allied to the interlocking periodicities of fixed topic distribution and seasonal cycle mean that at any given point in a poem the reader may anticipate a verse of a particular type, or at least its proximity. As renga masters have known for centuries, it takes as much skill to write the ‘plain’ (ji) verse which lays the foundation for a spectacular moon verse as it takes to write the moon verse itself. But in haikai-no-renga we also find another phenomenon: poets who engage in deliberate spoiling tactics in order to make the task of their fellow more difficult. If in doubt, try writing a dignified moon verse after a maeku featuring a bowl of pea and ham soup. Preferably cold.

This exercise therefore obliges the poet to look as surely forward as back. The skills learnt should prove readily applicable to conventional composition for the best renku should not flee from that which has gone before, but advance towards that which is to come.

Whilst the recommendation is that pairs of verses are drawn from divergent sources, how unrelated may they be? Does it matter if they are drawn from radically different linguistic and cultural ambits? And what if they are from different epochs?

It is a given that where the adopted pair are long verses the interjection will be a short verse, and vice versa. But do other aspects of structure and prosody matter? What is the effect if one of the adopted verses is much more contracted than the other? Or much more verbose? Do questions of metre arise, either within or between verses? And what about phonic qualities such as assonance or onomatopoeia?

What is the significance of a ‘cut’ verse in this context, if any? May we simply choose two haiku and seek to interject a short verse? Must either or both be internal long verses (chouku) or short verses (tanku) from an extended sequence? And what of our bridging verse – should it also be ‘cut’? More broadly, do we intend each of the resultant trio of verses to be perceived as one in a series of free-standing poems – or should all three function more like the stanzas of a unified piece?

For the purposes of this exercise how might we treat some of the renku conventions in respect of fixed topics and seasonal distribution? Will we allow adjacent moon verses? Might verses #1 and #3 be blossom verses? If #1 and #3 are autumn may #2 be non-season? How do we handle ‘love’?

As with the other exercises here on Renku Reckoner, there are no absolutely correct or incorrect answers to these questions. They are intended to help poets reflect on their choices.

Caution

Please be aware of copyright issues in your particular jurisdiction when using the work of others. Where an exercise is conducted in a private space for purely personal reasons there is little possibility of conflict. If the workspace is shared and/or remote (i.e. virtual) issues of public access might need to be considered in order to avoid legalistic definitions of 'publication'. Group exercises, particularly in structured contexts which involve monetary gain, can be problematic. Whilst limited exceptions apply in academic contexts, the rules is that the work of others should not be offered for publication in any medium without the copyright holder's express permission. Please be aware that, in the case of translations, whilst the source text may be out of copyright, rights to the text of any given translation remain with the individual translator. Rights to the sample translations above are therefore held jointly by Yachimoto & Carley, or by Carley. Windsor and Darlington offer a limited copyright waiver for the purposes of this exercise only.