A Cup of Snow
laughing with delight |
John |
half gone, the last jar |
Carole |
roadside shop |
Michael |
a faint glow in the sky |
Alan |
first chill night |
Hortensia |
tic by toc |
John |
*** |
|
dab, dab, dabbing |
Carole |
a mosquito bite |
Michael |
their second date |
Alan |
we roll with the waves |
Hortensia |
and bathe eche veyne |
John |
the scent of wild rose |
Carole |
*** |
|
deepening depression |
Michael |
a late-night diner |
Alan |
constant as the |
John |
three generations |
Carole |
leftover candy |
Michael |
candle wax obscuring |
Hortensia |
*** |
|
tamarisk honey |
Alan |
with each breath |
Carole |
searching for an airplane |
John |
affair the after |
Michael |
each snowflake different |
Hortensia |
the lack of a sharp knife |
Alan |
*** |
|
abattoir— |
Carole |
from rock to rock |
Michael |
the sniper scope |
Alan |
fighting through the shed |
John |
we fill our pails |
Hortensia |
the spring dawn |
Carole |
Notes
el-tarfah ~The manna of the Sinaitic peninsula is an exudation from the “manna-tamarisk” tree (Tamarix mannifera), the el-tarfah of the Arabs. At night it is fluid and resembles dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The Arabs use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread.
and bathe eche veyne/in swich licour/of which engenderéd . . .
~This verse is in Middle English. It is taken from the second couplet of the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, generally dated between 1340 and 1370. As with all texts of this antiquity there are many variants. A recent, re-versified translation by A.S. Kline gives the full couplet as:
And bathed each vein with liquor of such power
That engendered from it is the flower
Afterword
“A Cup of Snow,” written by e-mail in the first months of 2008, is one of the earliest examples of the rokku form in English. The rokku is a mold-breaking type of renku sequence originated in the early years of this century by the Japanese poet and critic Haku Asanuma. The form is modular rather than having a set length, permitting as many verse movements as the participants wish to complete, up to six. Season and seasonality are important, but not in a structural manner; the same is true for moon and blossom verses. A high rate of change is guaranteed as nothing may endure for more than two verses. Also, the penultimate movement of any rokku is inclined towards experimentation. I served as sabaki, but the renku effectively wrote itself, the very different personal styles of the participants being vital to the effort to break new ground. Sadly, one of us is no longer present, though her writing, as ever, stands out from the page. So we dedicate this renku to Hortensia Anderson, who passed away in May of 2012. For further information on rokku in English, please see <http://www.renkureckoner.co.uk>.