Learning to Link

Learning to Link

As readers of this blog already know, I look at renga as a craft, like pottery. To practice pottery one has to learn various skills; throwing and shaping clay, glazes, carving, firing, etc. To practice renga one has to learn various skills; linking, shifting, lineation, topic placement, etc. One of the basic skills for a renga poet is linking and it is that particular skill, or technique, that is the focus here.

Renga poets are called upon to add a verse to the one they have received. In addition, if the verse they are adding is in a particular placement in the renga, renga poets will have to add a verse that also embraces the topic of that placement. The topics include: the moon, love, blossoming trees, and the seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer.

This is not a method that is taught in standard books on poetic technique. So I would like to suggest here a way of learning how to link.

Take a three-line verse such as the following:

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind.

It is important that the selected verse not be an example of a topical verse. That is to say, the three-line verse should not itself be a moon, love, blossoming tree, or seasonal verse.

Now, take this three-line verse and add two-line verses to it such that it transforms the whole into one of the topics that will be needed when writing an actual renga. I will illustrate by example:

1. Fall Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

As brown and gold leaves scatter
Among the boulders and grass

The links indicates the Fall season; “brown leaves” = fall. The two verses together form a coherent image of Fall.

2. Winter Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

Snow falling from the branches
In the mid-afternoon light

The link indicates the Winter season; “snow” = winter. The two verses together form a coherent image of Winter.

3. Spring Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

White plum blossoms are scattered
Among the boulders and grass

The link indicates the Spring season; “plum blossoms” = spring. The two verses together form a coherent image of Spring. Notice how closely this verse resembles the verse in the Fall Link. Basically the only change is from “brown and gold leaves” to “white plum blossoms” but that is enough to change the whole seasonal reference and feeling of the image.

This link also functions as a “blossoming tree” link. That is usually the case; blossoming trees such as plum, cherry, apple, etc., bloom in the Spring. There are some blossoming trees, such as magnolia and some hawthorns, which can bloom also in the summer. A few types might bloom into the fall and one can experiment with these kinds of references.

A Spring Link that does not contain the blossoming tree might look something like this:

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

The last few fragments of ice
Disappear along the shore

The phrase “last fragments of ice” indicates an early Spring timing, and therefore this would be a Spring verse, transforming the two verses into a coherent image of Spring.

4. Summer Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

The shore has doubled its size
Under the months-long heat wave

The link indicates the Summer season; “heat wave” = summer. The two verses together form a coherent image of Summer.

5. Moon Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

The full moon briefly hidden
By a swiftly drifting cloud

The link adds the moon to the overall image, making the two verses a coherent lunar image. A suggestion here is to experiment with different lunar phases, including the new moon (or the absence of a moon) and see how it shapes your link.

6. Love Link

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

Their third date, a picnic lunch;
She has high expectations

In renga, and Japanese poetry in general, the love verse refers to one of three aspects of love. The first meeting and the thrill that entails. The sense that the thrill is receding. And, finally, parting. This is a broader, more encompassing, vision of love than we normally associate with the word. This is helpful to poets because it opens up a lot of possibilities for the “love verse” that might not have been considered.

7. Blossoming Tree Verse

See “3” above, the “Spring Verse”.

8. Non-topical Link

Just to round things out, add a link that is free of any specific topic, usually called a “miscellaneous verse”.

Trees beside the pond –
Moving across the surface,
The sound of the wind

At the edge of the forest
A hungry fox is watching

This link is not specifically seasonal, nor does it refer to any of the required topics in a renga.

So that is the basic procedure in learning how to link. Take a three-line verse, and then link to that verse in such a way as to transform the verse into one of the topics that are necessary for any renga. In this way the aspiring renga poet will be ready if, when their turn comes in a collaborative renga, for linking in keeping with the renga form. If the renga poet needs to add a specific topic, practice in doing so will prove useful in that situation. If the renga poet needs to add a non-specific link, or a link that is not one of the required topics, the poet will have had practice doing that as well. And if the renga poet is writing a solo renga, all of this practice will help smooth the entire process of composing a renga.

Where does one get the initial image to link to? I would suggest two sources. First, an image from the middle of a published renga. In other words, borrow someone else’s renga link. Don’t use the opening verse of a renga; that’s the hokku and it is a strongly seasonal verse. Rather, choose a verse from the middle of the renga that by itself does not inherently possess a topical indication so that you can practice linking to all the required topics.

The second source I would suggest is from modern haiku collections. In particular, non-seasonal modern haiku. And if I were to pick a single volume to reference I would recommend Richard Wright’s “Haiku: This Other World”. My reason for recommending Wright is that his haiku are idiomatic (meaning they are in natural English, they are not translated), the images are compelling and modern, and therefore easy to understand, and finally, Wright’s haiku are metrically traditional; most of them are in 5-7-5 syllables. This sets up for the poet what I call the “renga pulse”. Don’t worry too much in this exercise about maintaining lineation. On the other hand, it is good to start with a strong sense of the traditional syllabic structure and if you can manage to follow the initial verse with a 7-7 syllable response, that is all to the good.

Most of Wright’s haiku have a strong seasonal reference, as is traditional for haiku. But there are also many that are non-seasonal and they will serve well for this exercise. Here are a few examples:

The ocean’s soft sound
Lifts the toll of a far bell
To the half-seen stars (321)

My shadow was sad
When I took it from the sand
Of the gleaming beach (530)

When the train had stopped,
A coffin was unloaded
Amid steam and smoke (181)

Naked to the sky,
A village without a name
In the setting sun (73)

Of course, if you wish, you can come up with your own verse to practice linking. But I think it’s good to get a feel for responding to someone else.

One comment I’d like to make, when you are engaged in this exercise, don’t be concerned about being original. Don’t strive to be brilliant or unusual. It’s even OK to use a cliché. The purpose of the exercise is to gain facility at linking. More broadly, in an actual renga it is not necessary that every link be striking. In fact, it is considered normal for many verses in a renga to be ‘background’ verses, meaning verses that do not stand out. I think of background verses as ‘good enough verses’. In a 12-verse renga, such as a Shisan or Junicho, maybe one or two verses will be really striking. In a 36-verse renga, a Kasen, maybe three or four verses will really stand out.

If you think of a renga as a journey, this makes sense. When we take a walk, or canoe down a river, not every appearance on such a journey calls to us or draws our attention. In such a journey there will be a few singular moments and that is enough to make the journey worthwhile. Similarly, the background verses serve to help highlight the striking verses.

Internalizing this attitude is important for the renga poet because, I have found, it makes writing a renga much more pleasurable. If the renga poet feels that every link needs to be striking and significant, this can lead to a kind of tension which turns the writing of renga into a chore. If, on the other hand, one accepts that a verse is ‘good enough’, one can then move on and continue with the renga journey.

Above all, have fun with these linking exercises.