one voice gone, another speaks now called to provide answers (db)
but secrets are held
as eyes hide blooming twinkles –
old mirror sees all (pr)
Pat & David
Rengay?
Rengayis a form of linked verse created as an alternative to Japanese renga or renku. The form was devised by Garry Gay in California in 1992. A rengay consists of six thematic haiku verses and is normally composed by two or three poets, although solo and six-person rengay are not uncommon.
This form actually requires a bit of explanation, so I recommend that you read about it HERE.
It’s in a 10 foot gorge in back of my house, this creek. It doesn’t look like a creek or act like a creek. Its gift is that sound of rushing water that engulfs the surrounding area. It makes for peaceful contemplation and plain relaxation.
When we got the house, the state came to ask my permission to place heavy boulders to my side as they widen this creek. I happily agreed with the condition that they place them like them like stadium seating.
They did.
It is my running away spot. Very mental health friendly.
I saw this in a garden in Singapore. We were in a greenhouse, of sorts, within the Museum by The Bay.. I think. That leaf was about 7 to 9 feet tall. The texture on this leaf is amazing, it’s like nothing I’ve seen before!
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!
I was recently on a cruise of Japan. On this huge ship with people everywhere, I found a space where words were not needed. Where ocean gazing was the call of the moment.
In the near distance, the afternoon sun danced upon the water. It was mesmerizing, peaceful to watch.
Then without warning a trio of fine sprays broke through the surface of the water. Company was coming!
thoughts and entanglements 
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