Carpe Diem #1597 Tan Renga Challenge Month 2019 (1) morning tea

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new month here at our wonderful Haiku Kai. Yesterday I told you that I hadn't decided yet, but now ... as you can see ... I have made my choice. This month I challenge you to create Tan Renga.

For those who don't know what a Tan Renga is I will give a short explanation about Tan Renga:

Maybe you know the Tanka that poem with 5 lines following the syllables count 5-7-5-7-7, A beautiful Japanese poetry form to create. The Tanka is a poem written by one poet and that's the difference with the Tan Renga.

The Tan Renga has also 5 lines following the same syllables count as the Tanka, but the Tan Renga is written by two poets. One poet writes the first stanza of three (3) lines in the following example that will be Jane Reichhold:

Here is the first stanza of this example Tan Renga:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)

The goal for the second poet is create the second stanza of two (2) lines through association on the first stanza (as we do in a renga). For this example I have written the second stanza:

her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

Morning Sun

This is what you call a Tan Renga. It's possible to leave a blanc line between the two stanzas, but you can also make it unite with each other as I do mostly. Than this is the result:

morning sun
the twinkle of stars
still in the dew                      (Jane Reichhold)
her bright shining eyes
she unpacks her new doll     (your host)

It's a wonderful way to create a short linked verse. This month I will give you a haiku every day to work with and create a Tan Renga with.

For this first episode of our new Tan Renga Challenge Month I have chosen a nice haiku written by (my master) Matsuo Basho:

for his morning tea
a monk sits down in utter silence-
confronted by chrysanthemums

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. unknown)

A beautiful, not so well known, haiku by Basho. I think this haiku can become a wonderful Tan Renga through your creative minds.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until February 7th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new weekend meditation later on. For now ... have fun!

PS. I would love to create an exclusive CDHK E-book about this Tan Renga Challenge Month and I hope you all will agree with that.