Carpe Diem's Renga With Basho #7 I'm a wanderer

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

It is time for a new episode of Carpe Diem's Renga With Basho the special feature in which I challenge you to create a renga together with the master, with Basho. I will give you six (6) haiku written by Basho. You can choose your own line-up of the haiku. Your task is to create the two-lined stanza between the haiku. Try to create a closed chain through bringing the "hokku" (starting verse) and the "ageku" (closing verse) connected.

Your renga must have a minimum of six (6) verses and may have a maximum of twelve (12) verses. This renga form (12 verses) is called Juunichoo.

Here are the six haiku by Basho, translated by Robert Hass:

all the day long-

yet not long enough for the skylark,

singing, singing.

by the old temple,

peach blossoms;

a man treading rice

the shallows –

a crane’s thighs splashed

in cool waves   

I'm a wanderer

so let that be my name –

the first winter rain                         

dragonfly

the dragonfly

can't quite land
on that blade of grass.

autumn moonlight--
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.

© Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)

A nice selection of Basho's haiku. Enjoy the fun, making a renga together with the master is really awesome.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until September 11th at noon (CEST). Have fun!