Renhai Studio Archives

A Collection of Renhai by members of The Renhai Studio

Relaxed Embrace

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

Hemlock branch —
a chunk of frost flowers
still attached. /vs;jt

Cattails at the pond's edge — /vs
a moat surrounds each stem. /jt

A warm breeze
slowly melts the ice —
a leaf springs free. /vs;jt

Archive Id: 117
Janice Thomson: Canada
Vaughn Seward: Canada
Written:: January 13-18, 2009

Theme: Spring break-up; Plants in ice; Near a pond
Season: Spring
Kigo: Frost Flowers; Melting ice
Verse Form: 2-3-2, 3-3, 2-3-2 (Rhythm)
Process: Forward

Links 1/2: Blossoms (Frost flowers / Cattails).
Links 2/3: Melting pond; Coming free.
Links 3/1: Leaf / Branch.

Notes: The term 'Frost flower' is the common name for thin layers of ice that extrude from long-stemmed plants. They occur in autumn or early winter when the ground and plants are warm and the surrounding air is freezing. In some areas they can occur in late winter or early spring. The thin layers of ice typically form into intricate patterns that curl into "petals" resembling flowers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_flowers

Janice lives on Vancouver Island where these frost flowers seem to appear around lakes, ponds, and swamps on coniferous trees and their fallen branches, usually broken from a winter storm and hence still full of sap.

Technical Note: This is the first Renhai so far in which each verse was written as a joint effort (i.e. in verses 1 and 3 one half of the verse was written by Vaughn and the other half by Janice). Usually it is only the middle verse for which this happens. We didn't plan on this from the beginning but it developed as we were discussing the first and third verses after having written the middle verse.