Renhai Studio Archives

A Collection of Renhai by members of The Renhai Studio

Where There's Smoke

A Renhai by Vaughn Seward (vs) & Janice Thomson (jt)

I switch chairs
but more than the smoke
finds me again. /vs

The campfire's snap and crackle — /vs
Dad carves us hot-dog sticks. /jt

Ghost stories —
we hunt for dead branches
to add to the fire. /jt

Archive Id: 114
Vaughn Seward: Canada
Janice Thomson: Canada
Written:: January 12-16, 2009

Theme: Camping/Picnic; Campfire
Season: Summer
Kigo: Campfire; Hot-dogs
Verse Form: 2-3-2, 3-3, 2-3-2 (Rhythm)
Process: Forward

Links 1/2: Switching / Carving; Also "finding" as you usually go looking for the sticks before carving them.

Links 2/3: Hot-dog stick / Dead branches.

Links 3/1: Hunt / Being found.

Notes: This Renhai is unique in that it is somewhat more narrative than usual. In writing this one we deliberately chose to place the poem in one physical setting and have each verse portray some aspect of that location. To accomplish this we each proposed several settings and chose "Camping/Picnic". The middle verse began with a campfire and the theme narrowed even further.