1. Renga
Linked Poem

2. Renga Begun over 700 years ago in Japan
Purpose to encourage collaborative composition of poems
Poets worked in pairs or small groups taking turns composing alternating three-line and two-line stanzas
Themes include nature, seasons, and love

3. Format First stanza written in hokku (5-7-5)
Second stanza written by another person, has two lines of 7 syllables each
Stanzas only link to the one before it
The poem always starts and ends with a hokku
No punctuation or capitalization

4. Spring preparing black earth tenderly tucking seedlings
in springtime bedding
bird songs greet the morning sun
slumbering beasts awake now
birds build tiny nests
in blossoming trees of pink
chicks will hatch and peep