Renga - Cold Blast
Cold blast at Coldingham
A renga written at Coldingham Bay, Berwickshire, 14 June 2007
by Anna Dickie, Jo Gibson, Hilary Graham, Colin Will (I've added the picture of the ragged crow, which is based on one of my photographs.) Colin's kindly put some notes on his blog about renga see here.
cold blast
coast path -
a photo would deceive
cow parsley dances, ragged crow
balanced on the breeze
dogs fetch kelp stalks
bark at the surf
the wind wags its tail
ghosts of bathers look up
at a shrouded sun
a bench sags at its centre
where long-gone lovers
leaned together
summer crouches low to the ground
one bee on a tuft of thyme
stony-faced lichens
watch the waves
dash pebble hopes
silver spoon
eaten by the ocean's hunger
year wanes
bashed neeps -
lunatic tide
salt-seasoned
sand-blasted driftwood
gannets cut cold words
into a sky thinned
to membrane
bramble flowers -
jam tomorrow
[verse attributions: AD 1, 7, 9, 10; JG 4, 8, HG second line of 2, 5, 6, 11, CW 3, Combined 12]
posted by apprentice at
5:59 pm
6 Comments:
I've put notes on renga on my own blog (http://colinwill.blogspot.com)
The Coldingham one wasn't quite the coldest one I've done. That would be the one at Dawyck Botanic Garden at the end of October some years back. We* sat outdoors on the platform, with only a bamboo screen for shelter (it didn't) for six hours.
* As I recall, Alec Finlay, Martin Lucas, Jayne Wilding, Vicky Feaver, myself and others.
Wow! Thanks for full explanations. I feel all renga-ed up now! Beautiful verses, and although I've seen the photo before, it's striking enough to warrant many re-visits.
Wow this poem is way cool. And Renga sounds way cool too. Maybe we could do one over at the Lions Writing Circle? Have you suggested that?
I thought this was really well caught - love the sparse images!
Will visit Colin's too!
The verses are very evocative - and I love the picture.
Thanks all, it was fun to do.
V feel free to suggest it -I'm not even sure where to look to post it, I'm a nitwit that way.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home