Renhai Studio Archives

A Collection of Renhai by members of The Renhai Studio

Glitter

A Renhai by Vaughn Seward (vs) & John W. Sexton (jws)

Mrs. Noman —
her eyes of coal glitter
in the moonlight. /jws

Our city of snow tunnels — /vs
Dad comes through the roof. /jws

We charge across
the schoolyard battlefield —
snowball artillery. /vs

Archive Id: 150
Vaughn Seward: Canada
John W. Sexton: Ireland
Written:: January 26-30, 2009

Theme: Imaginary settings; Winter snow recreations
Season: Winter
Kigo: Snowman; Snow tunnels; Snowballs
Verse Form: 2-3-2, 3-3, 2-3-2 (Rhythm)
Process: Forward

Links 1/2: Coal / Tunnels.
Links 2/3: Comes through / Charge across.
Links 3/1: Round snow objects (Snow "cannon" balls; Snowman body).

Notes: There is a colour contrast throughout the piece. The words "black" or "white" don't appear anywhere, but coal and snow suggest these to the subconscious as well as the cold darkness in the word "artillery".

When Vaughn was a kid they would build a series of tunnels in the snow bank that had been piled up by the grader. When many kids were involved in this it felt like it was a "city" of tunnels.

The "Mrs. Noman" in the first verse is a play on words, "Mrs. Snowman".

This Renhai was originally published in the June, 2009 issue of the Lynx Journal for Linking Poets.