Rengay is not the plural of renga.
They’re both linked forms made using haiku and a 2 line connect to next haiku that run in a chain in a group or in pairs. Renga wants to hook and pivot without doubling back. Each shifts can be as in a ghazal. The connection might be tenuous as something tall or long in the one stepping stone poem, and a different type of thing sharing that property. It might be two things of the same color, or same mood. It is a turn at each addition.
As I understand it, Rengay is like linked cooperative storytelling. It goes somewhere, like haibun or narrative poetry, but in the form of S1 (3 lines), S2 (2 lines), S3 (3 lines), S4 (2 lines) S5 (2 lines) S6 (3 lines) or the turn taking goes alternating thru 3-line and 2-line stanzas.
The shifts are still comparable to renga but the leaps aren’t as sharp. Whereas renga roves seasons and moods and any sort of tangental direction words and group may lead to, rengay is more controlled. They are like vignettes building to something along a pre-selected theme, which may be as broad as moving day, or sipping margaritas.
I was graciously brought into the group process of doing rengay in Ottawa. The resulting chapbook of various pairings of people added up to a set of 21 rengay series to be at Haiku Canada in Montreal this weekend.
KaDo also did a group broadsheet in 2 editions…limited set fancy and photocopiable mass edition. The fancy one is so architectural that I’m not sure how to photograph it. It is a collection of senryu and haiku.
Join the Conversation
Leave a comment
Rengay is a six-verse linked collaborative poetry form. It has a specific pattern for either two or three writers. Its main characteristic is that each rengay requires a theme. Without a central theme for all six verses, it is not a rengay. The theme might be narrative (thus like storytelling, as suggested here), but often not.
For two writers, the pattern is A3, B2, A3, B3, A2, B3 (where A and B and the writers, and 3 and 2 are the number of lines in each verse). For three writers, the pattern is A3, B2, C3, A2, B3, C2. Thus the statement here that rengay are in “the form of S1 (3 lines), S2 (2 lines), S3 (3 lines), S4 (2 lines) S5 (2 lines) S6 (3 lines)” in incorrect for both two and three writers. For more information on rengay, including numerous examples (including variations one one writer and six writers) plus numerous essays on the form, please visit http://sites.google.com/site/graceguts/rengay.
The “Duets” chapbook looks like a wonderful collection. Congrats on its publication.
Michael
thanks for sharing your knowledge Michael!