Hello Everyone. I was invited to do a Rengay with David from Skeptics Kaddish. The rules governing this form of poetry is as stated below. It takes two to compose. A sort of call and response, I guess. This was really fun! I really enjoyed this collaboration and it was my first time writing one of these.

Rengay with David:-

Awkward Glance

1 — pr

saw an old flame today
aging has been toying with us all —
I’m googling time travel

2 — db

verse uploaded for/ever
my fragments reassembled

3 — pr

starting anew —
the little voices in my head
is being taught to play nice

4 — db

you call this progress?
I liked us better before
we learned to behave

5 — pr

my mind now begs for quiet times
from first light, to the dark of night

6 — db

old photos flicker —
I meet who we used to be —
nostalgia scrolls on —

10/13/2025

Here are the instructions as received from David:-

The basic guidelines for a two-person rengay:

• Six verses with a 3–2–3–3–2–3 line structure.
• We alternate verses: one poet writes the odd-numbered, the other the even-numbered.
• Each verse responds thematically and/or imagistically to the verse immediately before it.
• There’s no set theme — the rengay develops organically as we go. We don’t need to decide anything in advance; if a theme emerges, it does so naturally.
• Avoid repeating keywords to keep imagery fresh.
• Three-line verses feel like senryu; two-line verses resemble the final two lines of a tanka (about 7 syllables each).
• Syllable counts are flexible — just a guideline.
• All lines begin with lowercase.

I’m flexible about pace and happy to let the poem unfold in its own rhythm.

Since this is your first rengay, I recommend that you write the opening three-line verse. Going first is a little easier, because the sixth verse is the trickiest — it has to connect to both verse 5 and verse 1. So starting us off gives you more freedom. Your opening verse can be about absolutely anything at all — natural, mundane, fantastical, everyday, or otherwise. There are no limits!

Much love,
David

To take a peek at David’s blog, go here.

Pat

10/18/25