Adventures of a Closet Poet1 min read

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With partner in crime Stephanie gone this week, I decided to channel my inner poet and come out of the closet by contributing to HENKŌ, which is a renga-structured collaborative poem.

Scrolling through the already written verses at the minimalistic webpage, I choose to respond to a verse written by Stephanie Bolster:

Nightly sleep fells bodies here
Now celebration clatters 

As this was a 7/7 syllable stanza, I was prompted to write a stanza with a 5/7/5 syllable structure.  A few minutes later, this is what I came up with:

Steps danced and drinks poured
Laughter fills the air with sounds
Then a hush descends

Very simple, and perhaps not as clever as what other people had come up with.

While I am obviously in no way a professional poet, there appears to be at least a few established poets in the mix.  However, when looking at the poem as a whole, the background of the writer becomes lost and all that is left is a poem to enjoy.  I enjoyed exploring the poem as a sort of ‘choose your own adventure.’

We would love to see your contribution to the poem.  Feel free to post contribution to it in the comments or to respond to the poem as a whole, a part, or in any other way.

– Beckie, Ricepaper Intern

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