gross in my brain: a study in renga

in honor of my first, ever, experience of being in an improvised scene set in feudal japan, i have decided that we are all going to write a renga together.  this is a pretty exciting, pretty epic, pretty awesome thing to do.  let’s have fun, but this should be sweet.  i’ll outline here the rough ideas that i think we should follow.

structure:

• a renga has two alternating verses styles, a 5-7-5 (three lines where these are the number of syllables per line), followed by a 7-7.  
• the first 5-7-5 is called the hokku.  i get to write it because i’m the only “guest” of the group, now.
• the first 7-7 is called the waki.  i also get to write that because i’m organizing this.
• the second 5-7-5 is the daisan.  it’s got to end in a verb in a progressive tense 
• the last stanza is the ageku
• all other stanzas are called hiraku.  i recommend that authors complete a hiraku pair of one 5-7-5, followed by the 7-7 that accompanies it.

i think those will be the only shikimoku, or ‘rules that we follow’, but please study up on the renga terminology to understand it’s structure better if you’re going to participate.  i am exciting to be a part of this online kogyo.

to be clear, this can be an ‘epic’ poem, but it is inherently an ‘epic poem’.  let’s get started!

boogers in my nose: a study in dodoitsu

when i pick with my fingers
i will often wipe them off
inadvertently, you see,
on my pants pocket

while trying to find a way to express myself about one of my favorite past-times, nose picking, i felt like the 17 syllables of the haiku just weren’t enough to capture what i had to say.  so, i turn now to the dodoitsu , another japanese poetry form that has a similarly simple set of rules:

• 4 lines
• 7 syllables on the first three lines, and 5 on the last

no need to rhyme, no need for meter.  just simple, haiku-etic expression with the luxury of 9 extra syllables.  what else can you fit in with 9 extra syllables?  “Often concerning love or work, and usually comical,” i guess a better example, and more cathartic, might be <5 minute internet perusal pause> what i would have written before reading the wikipedia article on ‘lobotomy’.  you’re going to have to search for that one yourself.

aaaaaanyway, poop is funnier than boogers.  oh!:

confucius say: go to bed
with itchy butt wake up with
smelly finger.  i say: nose
picker, choose wisely

poop in my butt: a study in haiku

it is always there
some of it will come out soon
i am a machine

do these words resonate with you?  sometimes i get caught in an endless stream, if you will, of thoughts about poop, and where i can find it.  despite being a ruse, i found that the article in love letters inspired a lot of deep thinking for me.  things like “if someone can imagine another person letting the poop out of there butt in an inappropriate place and i can believe it, then that must mean that it happens” and “what i let the poop out of my butt in an inappropriate place?”  then i started thinking “when there is poop in my but i–”  catching myself, i came to understand a new fear i have, a new fear that comes with understanding.  understanding that there is poop in my butt, and always.  sometime soon some of it might come out, but i constantly make it, and this small relief will not stop the deluge of responsibility, the responsibility of putting my poop in an appropriate place.

please:  i invite you to respond, and feel free to do so anonymously if that helps you open up.  but for this post in particular, i’d like to try to have us all write something in haiku as the focus of the piece.  any explanation of other comments are fine, but let’s get creative on our own asses.