Celebration of Life
A renga written by Karina Klesko, Johnye Strickland, Michael Baribeau, Sally Evans and Terrie Relf, October 2002 to January 2003 with three guest verses by Sprite, John Carley and Gary Blankenship. Gary moderated construction of the renga.
The set is a modified form of a zip, a haiku form invented by John, called a jazz zip. For more on construction, go to For a Jazz Renku.
OktoberFest men in lederhosen
tip cream city suds
strains of a polka waft across the greensward
harvest moon the wolf pack runs
haze curtain leafy wings
zephyrs fidget it's my turn on stage
first snow flakes tomatoes still hang on the vine
Dali Christmas cards en vogue
reflections in a Janus eye
the icy beast lumbers on
by felled pines grizzly towers trespassing rogue
crystals glimmer in the burn
from the penthouse so many lights
each kiss a portent of love
his and her mugs steep in their eighteen wheeler
ebb tide shrimp boat in the bay
windy road tires raise dust and weeds
night sky luminescent
circle dances for the solstice at Stonehenge
blindfold unattached and sure
Etna smolders over schoolyards
devils spiral in the fumes
out of ashes blooms a single white lily
spring ritual turtles mate
hugging petals the butterfly
drinks in a field of colors
a bee flits from one poem to another
vast blue sea your hand in mine
in the attic chest filled
with photos and half-finished sonnets
a corner holds one broken ski worn crutches
at last inauguration
not some blot of mustard
but a goose as large as Tiny Tim
after a deep sleep dreamless reality
nursery games patty-cake
through the maze a gerbil
disappearing virtual freedom
day moon the labyrinthine path to Mecca
swallows return my garage
haycocks two cut swathes
close to the poplars long creeping shadows
storm front weathering the news puddle jumper
Lao-Tzu selling dishwashers
from port to port leaving
shell windchimes at the Delphi ruins
Apollo launch delayed faulty fuel lines
the garden tilled robins sing
kind policeman late to our lane
please don't trample the snowdrops
Water Goat Year fortune blossoms dreams brought forth
LINKS TO THE POETS:
