wild cyclamen
by the base of a tree trunk
autumn shadows
the cat dreams
of chasing spiders

Paul Conneally & Venus Aphrodite

This haiga, or more properly, this photohaiga, to distinguish it from a drawing with a poem and as a photo with one, is by myself and Venus Aphrodite. The photo is of cyclamen growing by a tree along the path up to the church at Calke Abbey in the UK. The poem is a tanrenga. Tanrenga are traditionally the shortest renga the Japanese collaborative poetry proces / form.

In tanrenga one poet writes three lines that resemble or might even be a haiku and this is followed by two lines written by another poet to form one poem. The final poem looks and sounds very much like a tanka poem.

In Japanese the poem would be a 5/7/5 sound (syllable) verse followed by a 7/7 syllable stanza. In western haikai poetry the syllable counting is not rigid.

The two parts of the poem are connected via the process of link and shift. The two line part links to the three line part but shifts away from it at the same time.

I will go into more detail about haiku, haiga, renga and the like in another post but until we meet again why not try writing some yourself? Maybe a tanrenga with a friend?