A Journey That's Home

From 100 Verses for 3 Estates

A journey that's home Paul Conneally

The opening verse of a renga is traditionally written by the master: it sets the scene, honours the host and welcomes the collected group, the host's guests. I spent many hours preparing for the renga, reading and re-reading the schema composed by Alec to link closely and be in the line of traditional Japanese renga schema, but to also depart from tradition, to create a more locally focussed piece that would offer opportunities for the community to reflect the reality and aspirations of the 3 Estates. Our word-map of what is and can be. Renga can be a very technical process with a myriad of conventions. I decided that my task was to provide a connection with the tradition of renga while not letting convention act as a barrier to people taking part. The vast majority of participants had not written much poetry at all, never mind engaging in what might appear at first to be esoteric art. Given this the final poem is remarkable, the engagement in process even more so. Our schema proposed not the traditional seasonal opening but simply: Today (place, weather)'. I wanted to bring to our start a sense of welcome, honouring the host - something that I tried to bring to each renga session, particularly in terms of place, even when the schema didn't require it. As master there are certain formalities and rituals that help set the scene, transforming whatever space we are working in into something approaching a sacred space; a sacred space that can be anywhere, anywhere people meet to share in the process of composing. There are no places that can't be transformed by this. It doesn't require a 'temple1 of culture: the street, a pub, shopping precinct, jail, country park, even your own front room, will be transformed - and will in turn transform those who meet in these spaces. Environment affects person. Person affects environment. For a short time in the process of renga we become one. bright sunshine a shepherd gathers his flock into the fold In my mind shepherds are caring. It proved the right choice. Gavin looked after us across the whole renga - a good host, a good shepherd. The verse also gives us a real shepherd, real sheep and the fold. As well as being The Fold, the shopping precinct we were writing in, it is also a real sheep fold. Throughout our renga you will find verses that invite

many interpretations, pathways, stories: such is the nature of renga, a process that at its heart steers us away from any ongoing narrative and yet offers so many possibilities: desire lines are drawn wherever we go The engine for this non-linear construction is the link and shift of renga: the linking to the previous verse and shifting away from the one before. Although all our participants were used to the narrative building styles that predominate western literature they were soon linking and shifting in a style that a master haiku poet like Basho would have applauded. From beginners came all kinds of link: direct linkage by word or content, and that most prized of link: the 'scent link', an indirect empathetic linkage, links that explore the 'qualities' of things, the other worlds that appear within the space between verses. This space is at least as important as the verses themselves. There is no rhythm without silence. Our renga is written using the process of 'degachi': each participant offering a verse at each position with the master making the selection from all those offered, sometimes combining elements from two or more offered verses or pulling something from the air into a verse. Later, Alec, our distant master, would offer his take on verses and sometimes they would change again - this giving oneself up to the process, not being too precious about an offered verse is central to the act of making renga, perhaps to the act of making all collaborative art. The 'degachi' process leads to periods of intense conversation led by the master when verses are being proffered and chosen and then silence as everyone writes their next verse - silence - sound - silence - sound – silence - sound and always running through the day; laughter, joy. Yes, it should be a joyous experience. In The Fold at about the time the off licence opens a group of local youths and their dogs gather. Cans of strong lager and spliffs. Some of the renga gathering feel uneasy what will these youths make of us? Soon it becomes obvious that they are listening to us. At the mention of Murdoch they burst into the refrain from the 'A -Team' and here in this concrete precinct we have a link directly from Kings Norton to blocks of flats on the other side of Birmingham, an American TV series from the 1970s and to the 1770s revolutionary Birmingham group of scientists and industrialists The Lunar Society: Boulton, Murdoch, Priestly and Watt

the other side of town Such linkages and more abound throughout our renga, for whatever we bring to the renga each reader brings just as much and finds their own new worlds, their own pathways forward and backwards in time, across cultures and through space. The inter-renga passages written by Gavin and Alec bring another facet to the whole, as does the shift in venue and season between each renga session culminating with possibly the most uplifting renga session I've ever had the pleasure of mastering in Keith Hoo's front room: there's really no need to skimp with Utility Warehouse I resist the temptation to go through each renga day finding special verses, wonderful moments and instead invite you to join us in The Fold, Hawkesley Square, Cadbury College grounds, Millennium Green, The Masshouse Members Club and Keith Hoo's house. The great Japanese haiku and renga master Matsuo Basho said: "Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home". Take a walk with us, explore the possibilities that 100 Verses for 3 Estates offers, that the people and places of the 3 Estates offer...