The Big Renga Project

Adventure 339 ~ The Big Renga Project [Day 5]

/ intrepidjane

Betsy really raised the renga temperature yesterday with a smokin’ hot second verse on the theme of love. The options for today’s renju, Kate Gold, remained alluringly wide for today’s verse 😛 . Kate could have written a third ,and final, 5-7-5 verse on the theme of love. She could have invoked the Moon Rule and started of the theme of autumn. She could have written a verse about summer, winter, shores, mountains, dwellings of travel.

Kate plumped for the Moon Rule and this is what she came up with :

Strength of waxing moon
pulls the tide ever higher
as distant peaks glow

To invoke autumn, you must use the kigo word “moon”. Kate shows a link with Betsy’s by mirroring the swell of hearts with the swell and pull of tides. She shows contrast within the verse by inviting us to compare an image of the sea with an image of mountains. She shows a shift in direction by pulling us back into nature.

So, what does this mean for tomorrow? Well, it means one thing : autumn. Once autumn has been started, at least another two verses on the them must follow.

Oh – and I almost forgot. Something brilliant happened yesterday : one of our poets (Caroline) was interview on BBC Radio 3 about the Big Renga Project. How brilliant is that!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 338 ~ The Big Renga Project [Day 4]

/ intrepidjane

After Flemming’s invocation of the Love Rule yesterday, today’s renju, Betsy Anderson, has very limited options! Betsy must continue the theme of love (the Love Rule has an attached continuity rule : when love is mentioned at least one more consecutive verse on the theme must be created) but she cannot mention the word love. She must also show a shift in direction.

Here’s how she got on with her 7-7 verse :

A longed-for kiss, light and chaste :
heart swells, and colour rises.

Pretty impressive , right? We’re in no doubt that we’re still on the subject of love – and she turned up the temperature too. We’ve gone from crystal coldness to the heat of passion (“colour rises”), and that’s a clever change of direction too 🙂 .

Hmmm. So what does this mean for tomorrow’s verse? Well it means that there could be a third and final verse on love. Or, the Moon Rule (autumn) could get invoked. Or it might mean a return to winter or a visit to summer, dwellings, mountains or shores!

You can hear the latest news from today’s episode of The Big Renga Round-Up.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 337 ~ The Big Renga Project [Day 3]

/ intrepidjane

Leslie left the renga playing field wide open yesterday, giving the third renju , Flemming Funch, LOTS of options. Today, Flemming could have created a final winter verse (no more than 3 consecutive winter verses are allowed), or he could have used the Moon Rule to start off autumn, or he could have used the Love Rule to start off the theme of love. He could have also created a verse about summer, dwellings, mountains or shores.

Flemming invoked the Love Rule and created this 5-7 -5 verse :

Crystal light above,
travelled paths divide and merge :
strangers finding love.

So, he shows continuity with Leslie’s verse by using crystal as a winter kigo. There is contrasts and connection in his poem too. The first image is of separating and merging paths : the second image is of strangers finding love. The second image brings to mind the similarities of chance meetings as our human paths divide and merge. Flemming has created new direction by shifting the theme to love.

Now this is getting exciting because the next poet has absolutely no choice ~ she’s cornered! She’s got to write a 7-7 about love. No two ways about it 🙂 . This is because of the Love Continuity Rule which states that once love is mentioned, another verse on love must follow!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 336 ~ The Big Renga Project [Day 2]

/ intrepidjane

I posted the hokku (the first verse) of our renga yesterday, and, from now on, it’s my job to be a diligent sōshō . The  sōshō makes sure that the renga is completed and that the renju (renga poets) adhere to the complex rules.

Verse 2 should be in 7-7 format, and Leslie (the second poet) had lots of options. She could have continued with winter, or moved on to autumn, or onto love, or onto some of the minor (but allowable) themes such a summer, travel, mountains and shores. The only topic off-limits today was spring (you can’t mention spring until after the 8th verse!).

She needed to use a kigo word (to identify the season) and not repeat any previous images. She needed to demonstrate some kind of link with verse one, but also a shift in direction.

Leslie stuck with winter and this is what she came up with :

Lone wolf sings a lullaby :
bear dreams the new icy day.

So, there is continuity because we are still in winter, and there is a shift : the temperature just dropped! Leslie also introduces animals into the image and a she alludes to hibernation too.

You can get the full low-down on today’s episode of The Big Renga Round-Up.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 335 ~ The Big Renga Project [Day 1]

/ intrepidjane

Today sees the launch of the Big Renga Project.  Over the next 25 days, 13 poets will be working together to create 25 linked verses. The first stanza (the hokku) is in and the game is on!

The first stanza was my responsibility, and this is what I wrote :

Prickly ghost blankets
spread out of winter shadows :
butter melts on toast.

I’m running a daily TV show throughout the project to give you the full low-down on all the renga news. Every day, I’ll be explaining the rules and you’ll get to see how the poem is growing (and why it’s growing the way it is!) You can watch today’s show here :

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 320 ~ Tie Up All The Loose Ends For The Collaborative Poetry Project

/ intrepidjane

big renga round-upFor today’s adventure, I’ve spent a few hours tying up all the loose ends for The Big Renga project, so that we’re all good to go on the 1st December.

Today I updated the About The Poets page : there are 14 of us now. On this page. you’ll find an image and a description for each of the poets.

I also added a new page for The Big Renga Round-Up.  From the 1st – 25th December, people will be able to watch a live show which shares the daily news from the project. On this page, you’ll see that I created a new introduction trailer too : it’s much shorter than my first attempt!

The poets themselves have been invited to join me “on the sofa” for The Big Renga Round-Up and they’ve been given details about the video clips they need to submit with their verses too (at the end of the project, I’ll have 25 clips that I can edit into one short film!)

So, that’s us. We’re all set. During the last week of November, we’ll be doing a bit of practice behind the scenes, and on the 1st December, we go LIVE!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 307 ~ Develop A TV Show Format To Support The Big Renga Project

/ intrepidjane

The Big Renga Round-Up TV SeriesLots of preparation is going on behind the scenes to support the launch of The Big Renga Project on the 1st December. Renga is a cross between jazz , chess and a murder mystery (where you’re constantly changing your mind about “who-dunnit”) . At the moment the poets are getting their heads around all the rules so that when it comes to the time to “play”, everyone can relax and have fun.

You could say that The Big Renga Project is quite an esoteric undertaking, something that you might only enjoy, or understand, if you were involved in the project and had immersed yourself in the spirit of this collaborative form of poetry.

Realising that the art of renga has a huge amount to teach us both in terms of an outlook on life and in terms of the way we collaborate and express ourselves, it occurred to me that inviting people to share our experiences might be something really worthwhile.

And that’s when I hit upon the idea of running a daily TV show throughout the project 🙂 . Think about those football programmes with post-match reviews; or about the television programmes covering the Olympics where, after each event, a panel of experts analyses the performances of the day – and some of the competitors actually come on the show too. That’s the approach I’m aiming to deliver on the TV show.

The programme will be fun (and probably more than a little tongue-in-cheek)! It’s going to teach the viewers about the form and get them in involved in the process too. It’s also going to help the community of poets get tactical as they develop a deeper understanding of the form.

To support the TV programme, I had a go at creating a title sequence for it : it’s the first time I’ve managed to make something with a dynamic video loop. You can watch the title sequence here :

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 300 ~ Learn The Rules Of Renga

/ intrepidjane

365 Days Of AdventureFor today’s adventure, I set about learning the rules of renga, a Japanese form of collaborative linked-verse poetry. There are now 13 poets involved in The Big Renga Project , and I wanted to put some easy-to-follow guidelines together so that people could get to grips with the rules before the big “renga off” on the 1st December 😛 .

There are many versions of “the rules”. I plumped for a distillation of the traditional rules : I’ve based the rules for The Big Renga Project on Sonja Arntzen’s article (you’ll need to scroll down to the bottom of the article for the rules applying to renga).

I’ve spent 3 hours immersing myself in various forms of the rules today – and now it makes complete sense! I’ve adapted Sonja’s version of the rules slightly so that they work for our 25-stanza poem, and I’ve posted these rules into our group forum.

I can imagine if you haven’t seen rules like this before, you might not think that they’re that simple. That’s why I’ve written the rules well in advance of the start of  December –  the group has more than a month to get its head around these rules! As well as being one of the participating poets, I’ll also be the GRU (General Rule-Upholder 😛 ), making sure that everyone keeps on track and also understands the implications of each verse within the context of the rules. This means that people can relax and have fun, knowing that they’ll get a friendly nudge if need be or some advice if they want it.

I explain some of the rules we’ll be using in our collaborative poetry project in today’s video 🙂 .

Oh – and maybe I should mention that it’s my 300th adventure today! Only 65 days of adventuring left 😦 . I think this calls for a celebratory meal tonight, don’t you?

I’m just going outside and may be some time.
JT

Adventure 296 ~ Complete The Big Renga Project Website

/ intrepidjane

For today’s adventure, I finished creating the website for The Big Renga collaborative poetry project. I even learned how to create a contact form for the “Contact Us” page 🙂 I’m just waiting for bio details from the poets and then we’re good to go.

The brilliant news is that there are now 9 of us. I’ve worked out that if we can grow the crew to 12, then the project will work out pretty well. Of course, more than 12 would be fabulous, but 12 is enough.

In mid-November, I’ll be closing The Big Renga Project doors so that the renju (collaborative poets) can spend some time agreeing how the logistics are going to work and also learn a little more about the renga form.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT