An Introduction to the “Ten-link”
This essay originally appeared in Vines. I have since published many of these "ten-links" and am currently working on an entire collection of Hansha Teki and my collaborations in this form. I have found it more versatile, liberating and more suited to an artful expression than the limitations posed by the brevity of the yotsumono, the thematic requirements of rengay, or the strict rules of composition found in long form traditional renku. I hope this encourages people to try out linked verse and find ways to experiment and make this form their own. The essay was as follows:
I have been experimenting with a new form in the renku/linked verse tradition, which falls somewhere between John Carley's yotsumono and Garry Gay's rengay in terms of aesthetics and that, at 10 verses long, offers a slightly more expansive form than either—allowing poets to stretch their wings in English language linked verse without having to worry too much about either the topical strictures of longer renku forms or the thematic continuity of the rengay. It is my concern that many talented haiku poets that I would like to see engaging in the collaborative forms are being chased off by well-meaning but stifling anglophone “renku masters,” who impose a strict vision of a Japanese tradition they don't entirely understand and the imitation of which has not yielded a particularly engaging canon over the years. Where is the English language equivalent of “Three Poets at Minase,” for instance? While English language haiku has developed a canon, there are no “classic” pieces of English language renga or renku that are widely regarded as models or extensively discussed by critics, and part of this has to do with both a lack of engagement and an over-reliance on strict models.
It is my hope that this new form will encourage creativity, innovation and digression from the norm, perhaps giving those who have been resistant to the top-down structure of Shōfū renku encouragement to work collaboratively with other poets. In this essay, I will explain the form, suggest some possible variations on the treatment, and then include two recent examples. In this brief introduction to the form I will assume the reader is somewhat familiar with the basic concept of linked verse, or at the very least knows how to write haiku in English. A longer, more in depth introduction of haikai principles and aesthetics should appear in a later feature of Vines for those who want a deeper discussion of these matters and the mechanics of linkage.
Both the yotsumono and rengay are forms that are native to the English language, but whose names are orientalist—John Carley's “four-thing” was not a Japanese invention and the word would not necessarily be recognized by a Japanese renku enthusiast, and Garry Gay simply made a portmanteau out of the word renga and his name. I'd like to push for using less unnecessary (especially invented) Japanese loan words in our critical and theoretical assessments of haiku and linked verse; I prefer to simply call the form by the number of verses involved rather than invent a nickname that is all too clever. Decalogue? Too pretentious. Ten-spot? Too willfully hip. No, I believe ten-link should suffice. The Japanese nijuin for instance, translates roughly to 20-something. In established forms following codified progressions and prescribed templates, the existing names should suffice, but moving forward I see little reason for an elaborate name attached to every novel pattern of linked verse.
The ten-link originated from my writing non-thematic rengay in an experimental vein using the single line (monostich) format. Marlene Mountain and Kala Ramesh's collection One-line Twos was, in my estimation, a call to arms—encouraging the experimental, gendai haiku inspired crowd to start taking collaborative linked verse more seriously and bringing a more adventurous aesthetic to the world of linked verse. Mountain has been writing experimental one lined sequences since the 70's, but this collection is the first of her linked work where I've seen her infuse our renku with expert use of the multiple cuts and advanced disjunctive techniques that have changed English language haiku poetics so dramatically in the last two decades. It is not a perfect work as a unified whole, but the sparks of genius it exhibits and the potential for further development it demonstrates both combine to make it a watershed moment in our linked verse. Ramesh also establishes herself as a strong voice in the genre.
I found that when working in the monostich format, a 6 link rengay often looked paltry and felt underdeveloped, especially when we eschewed an obvious theme and embraced a more renku oriented link-and-shift aesthetic. The sequence always ended just about the time it felt like it was really getting going. Mountain and Ramesh got around this limitation by writing two separate rengay in pairs, alternating who writes the first and thus gets the “long” lines. The line lengths went (long-short-long-short-long-short) for both, switching the order of the poets between the two sequences of a pair rather than switching line length in the middle of one as is often done in 2 person rengay (L-S-L-L-S-L).
I found this separation and numbering of the sequence into two six link pairs to be a bit awkward, so I streamlined the process by making somewhat of a “double rengay,” with the verses following a pattern of L-S-L-S-L—L-S-L-S-L. This is intended for two people, and gives both parties ample time to play lead with the long (or 3 line) verses, and to play support with the short (or 2 line) verses. It also gives a strong feeling of a bipartite structure, with two symmetrical halves, rather than the 3 part jo-ha-kyu structure of traditional renku—creating a different potential for dynamics and development. Switching at any odd number, 5, 7, 9, 11 etc. can extend this bipartite structure beyond ten links to 14, 18, 22 verses etc. but 10 is a good standard from which to start. It is long enough to have a feeling of a journey, but not so long that it needs strict renga principles to organized the flow and progression of the sequence.
This essay originally appeared in Vines. I have since published many of these "ten-links" and am currently working on an entire collection of Hansha Teki and my collaborations in this form. I have found it more versatile, liberating and more suited to an artful expression than the limitations posed by the brevity of the yotsumono, the thematic requirements of rengay, or the strict rules of composition found in long form traditional renku. I hope this encourages people to try out linked verse and find ways to experiment and make this form their own. The essay was as follows:
I have been experimenting with a new form in the renku/linked verse tradition, which falls somewhere between John Carley's yotsumono and Garry Gay's rengay in terms of aesthetics and that, at 10 verses long, offers a slightly more expansive form than either—allowing poets to stretch their wings in English language linked verse without having to worry too much about either the topical strictures of longer renku forms or the thematic continuity of the rengay. It is my concern that many talented haiku poets that I would like to see engaging in the collaborative forms are being chased off by well-meaning but stifling anglophone “renku masters,” who impose a strict vision of a Japanese tradition they don't entirely understand and the imitation of which has not yielded a particularly engaging canon over the years. Where is the English language equivalent of “Three Poets at Minase,” for instance? While English language haiku has developed a canon, there are no “classic” pieces of English language renga or renku that are widely regarded as models or extensively discussed by critics, and part of this has to do with both a lack of engagement and an over-reliance on strict models.
It is my hope that this new form will encourage creativity, innovation and digression from the norm, perhaps giving those who have been resistant to the top-down structure of Shōfū renku encouragement to work collaboratively with other poets. In this essay, I will explain the form, suggest some possible variations on the treatment, and then include two recent examples. In this brief introduction to the form I will assume the reader is somewhat familiar with the basic concept of linked verse, or at the very least knows how to write haiku in English. A longer, more in depth introduction of haikai principles and aesthetics should appear in a later feature of Vines for those who want a deeper discussion of these matters and the mechanics of linkage.
Both the yotsumono and rengay are forms that are native to the English language, but whose names are orientalist—John Carley's “four-thing” was not a Japanese invention and the word would not necessarily be recognized by a Japanese renku enthusiast, and Garry Gay simply made a portmanteau out of the word renga and his name. I'd like to push for using less unnecessary (especially invented) Japanese loan words in our critical and theoretical assessments of haiku and linked verse; I prefer to simply call the form by the number of verses involved rather than invent a nickname that is all too clever. Decalogue? Too pretentious. Ten-spot? Too willfully hip. No, I believe ten-link should suffice. The Japanese nijuin for instance, translates roughly to 20-something. In established forms following codified progressions and prescribed templates, the existing names should suffice, but moving forward I see little reason for an elaborate name attached to every novel pattern of linked verse.
The ten-link originated from my writing non-thematic rengay in an experimental vein using the single line (monostich) format. Marlene Mountain and Kala Ramesh's collection One-line Twos was, in my estimation, a call to arms—encouraging the experimental, gendai haiku inspired crowd to start taking collaborative linked verse more seriously and bringing a more adventurous aesthetic to the world of linked verse. Mountain has been writing experimental one lined sequences since the 70's, but this collection is the first of her linked work where I've seen her infuse our renku with expert use of the multiple cuts and advanced disjunctive techniques that have changed English language haiku poetics so dramatically in the last two decades. It is not a perfect work as a unified whole, but the sparks of genius it exhibits and the potential for further development it demonstrates both combine to make it a watershed moment in our linked verse. Ramesh also establishes herself as a strong voice in the genre.
I found that when working in the monostich format, a 6 link rengay often looked paltry and felt underdeveloped, especially when we eschewed an obvious theme and embraced a more renku oriented link-and-shift aesthetic. The sequence always ended just about the time it felt like it was really getting going. Mountain and Ramesh got around this limitation by writing two separate rengay in pairs, alternating who writes the first and thus gets the “long” lines. The line lengths went (long-short-long-short-long-short) for both, switching the order of the poets between the two sequences of a pair rather than switching line length in the middle of one as is often done in 2 person rengay (L-S-L-L-S-L).
I found this separation and numbering of the sequence into two six link pairs to be a bit awkward, so I streamlined the process by making somewhat of a “double rengay,” with the verses following a pattern of L-S-L-S-L—L-S-L-S-L. This is intended for two people, and gives both parties ample time to play lead with the long (or 3 line) verses, and to play support with the short (or 2 line) verses. It also gives a strong feeling of a bipartite structure, with two symmetrical halves, rather than the 3 part jo-ha-kyu structure of traditional renku—creating a different potential for dynamics and development. Switching at any odd number, 5, 7, 9, 11 etc. can extend this bipartite structure beyond ten links to 14, 18, 22 verses etc. but 10 is a good standard from which to start. It is long enough to have a feeling of a journey, but not so long that it needs strict renga principles to organized the flow and progression of the sequence.
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