A few months ago, my cousin Sagan and I started working together on a Renga poem. Although poetry isn’t her favorite, we enjoyed collaborating! I’m sure you’ll agree she did amazing! Sagan is in college in northern Missouri and usually writes non-fiction. If we had more time, our poem would be longer. Sagan’s dad, Jeff (my first cousin), and I shared many great summers on the Finley River with our family! My love for nature is only third behind my Savior and family! I hope you enjoy our *Renga, the River of Life!
There’s something about rivers. The Taneycomo, Buffalo, Yellowstone, & Snake,…Roaring River, Current, the Duwamish, and Rio Grande. Missouri, Mississippi, the Chena, and Payette. North Fork and South Fork to Jack Forks and back home to Finley. Even the muddy James has my heart.
I’m grateful for the river of life flowing through me!
Do you know how loved you are? I pray that the rivers of your life flow free with love & good health. Perhaps even poetically & collaboratively, just like a Renga!
Have hope. Keep the faith, my friends. 💚
***The genre was elevated to a literary art by Nijō Yoshimoto (二条良基, 1320–1388), who compiled the first imperial renga anthology Tsukubashū (菟玖波集) in 1356. The most famous renga master was Sōgi (宗祇, 1421–1502), and Matsuo Bashō (松尾芭蕉, 1644–1694) after him became the most famous haikai master. Renga sequences were typically composed live during gatherings of poets, transcribed oral sessions known as rengakai (連歌会), but could also be composed by single poets as mainly textual works. (Renga, 2026)***
Source:
Renga. (2026, Janurary 15). Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renga
Want to read more Flannel with Faith?
