Microcosmos, my latest book,
is finally published! Microcosmos is subtitled, The Art of the Solo Renga. It is, as far as I know, the first collection
of solo renga in English.
Microcosmos has three
sections. The first section brings
together my own solo renga written over a period of about 30 years. My solo renga are presented first and
foremost as poems; to be read as poems.
My target audience is the reader who is engaged with contemporary
poetry, but does not necessarily have a specialist’s knowledge of Japanese
poetry or renga procedures. In this way
my collection of renga resembles a collection of sonnets; when publishing a
collection of sonnets the reader does not have to know all the rules and
constraints of sonnet composition in order to enjoy the sonnet as a poem. In a similar way I present my solo renga as
poems to be enjoyed by the interested, but non-specialist, reader.
The
second section is a collection of 100-verse solo renga, known as ‘hyakuin’ in
Japanese. The 100-verse form was the form
that emerged in medieval Japan and it is the form that all other forms of renga
are derived from. It is the 100-verse
form that Sogi used to write his solo renga.
The second section includes my own 100-verse renga, ‘100 Verses at
Sebastopol’.
The
second section also includes a 100-verse renga by Edith Shiffert, ‘A Return to
Kona’. I believe that Shiffert is the
first to write renga in English, the first to use the 100-verse form, and the
first to compose a solo renga. Shiffert
published this renga in 1964 in her collection of poems that used that title
for the renga as the title for the collection.
Shiffert, remarkably, takes a syllabic approach to her verse
construction. This solo renga deserves
to be much more widely known.
Writing
in another style, section 2 includes a 100-verse renga by Jane Reichhold, ‘Masks
of Madness’. Reichhold’s approach uses a
short-line, free verse, approach to lineation, which is a widely used approach
among practitioners of Japanese forms in English. Reichhold’s renga also uses a lot of
word-play and has a snappy, scintillating quality to it.
Finally,
section 2 contains two translations of 100-verse renga by Sogi. These translations (by Earl Miner and Steven
D. Carter) are published with the permission of their respective copyright
holders. The Sogi renga give the reader
an opportunity to experience how Sogi used the renga form in a solo
context. In particular, the 100-verse
renga that Sogi wrote towards the end of his life, called ‘Sogi Alone’, is a
work of great beauty; it is this renga which inspired me to compose solo renga.
Section
3 of Microcosmos contains essays and
asides. Some of the essays are on
technical matters, such as the way season and time interact in renga. And some are expressions of appreciation.
Microcosmos is available
through Amazon and is also distributed through Ingram; so it should be
available through local bookstores as well.
Microcosmos
ISBN:
9781492933229
$26.95
