In this podcast guest host Brent Hagen introduces Haley Nguyen from Vietnam. Haley talks about discovering her poetic voice through learning English and shares some of her poems. She and Brent also share a renga they wrote together and invite you to try this collaborative form of writing from Japan.
Brent and Haley also look ahead to April’s NaPoWriMo podcast. They will be among nearly 30 poets offering daily poems and writing prompts to keep you writing throughout the month. There is still room for more contributions. If you have a poem (your own) and an accompanying prompt you’d like to record for the podcast please get in touch. Full details can be found here.
Renga
In simple terms a renga is a sequence of haiku written by two or more poets. Each participant composes a haiku in response to the previous one. It is fun and can spark the imagination in unexpected ways. You could start your renga by writing in response to a picture, a word, or even an existing haiku.
As always please share your haiku sequence here. We would love to hear and share them on the blog or podcast.
Here is Brent and Hayley’s renga:
Walking spoons
walking spoons
used to be
normal spoons
no more spoons
in the drawer tonight
only forks and knives
at mealtimes
they clink, they chatter
they read postcards
strong coffee
in Halong Bay
red sunday gravy
outside Rome
ripples slowing in matcha
in Kyoto
until one day just before afternoon tea
the sound of metal on cobblestone
very nearly home
Haley Nguyen and Brent Hagen
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Books by many of the poets featured on the podcast are available from the Poetry Non-Stop bookshop here. All books purchased via this link help to raise money to keep this podcast going.
You can also purchase the Poetry Non-Stop book that inspired some of Haley’s poems here.
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