This isn't a perfect renku or a great renku or one written by the famous masters of Japan, but it will give you an idea of what one looks like. Speaking as a participant, it was a lot of fun, and it got my mind off troubling uncertainties and anxiety, at least for a while. As you'll see, it's a spring season renku (btw, "east wind"—referenced in the second verse—I discovered in a Japanese renku book to be a spring season word). It's a great idea to search the Internet for lists of so-called kigo (季語), season words, when composing renku.
It's the first renku that Juliet Seer Pazera, Nicholas M. Sola, and I (David G. Lanoue) wrote in this season of pandemic seclusion. We composed it on March, 22, 2020, in three different locations in New Orleans, using the texting feature of our phones. It's a good idea to keep track of the Who and When of renku. Later, when you look back at it, you'll remember it, like reliving a party that's more than a party because, together with your friends, you all created a little work of art. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
spring fever
spring fever -
I open another bottle
of hand sanitizer /N
a hard east wind
blows along a hat /D
stocking up
on chocolate eggs
to eat alone /J
the remains of popped zits
on the mirror /N
through a telescope
deep craters
of the summer moon /D
an endless heatwave
the lovers pool hop /J
a commitment
to each other
and to sobriety /N
the marine in training
never laughs in Lit 101 /D
she dreams of
her past life
at Auschwitz /J
I refuse to join
Father's selfie /N
the morning ice
on the windshield
too thick to scrape /D
one more cup of coffee
before the ski trip /J
a urinary tract infection
from me
to you /N
on Halloween night
Satan and an angel smooch /D
a ring around
the beaver moon
is a bad omen /J
the last breath
of autumn air /N
he learns to play
his great-grandfather's
silver trumpet /D
broken records
in the potholes /J
from a distance
I pilot the drone
to view cherry blossoms /N
the shape in the mist
becomes a friend /D
*
3/22/20
New Orleans
via texting