SYMBIOTIC POETRY Lynx 18:1, Februaryr, 2003

in the cafe, photos of Tibet taken by the owner
ancient oak & rhododendron forests in black & white
traders travelling the high pass on horseback
thousands of goats driven from Tibet to Katmandu
snow clad peaks - flags keep mountain demons at bay
clouds collect around Annapurna

cold draught from the street finds our backs
surprise companion, her Napalese baby now 7 years old
dental nurse - shine of teeth against olive complexion

a farmer comes in, orders sausages, eggs & hash browns
best chef - the engraving on a knife block
"special" . . . Asian chicken broth with noodles
waitress's giggle as our fingers touch over extra cutlery
criss-crossed with spider's webs, a tiny lattice window

Several of the audience dressed as "poets" - flowers and ribbons in the women’s' hair, a man with a goatee and beret.

Fred, the compere, not able to place Sarah (one of the guest poets), calls her by the wrong name again.

For the first bracket of the evening the microphone remains obstinate: voices whisper around the room.

                        collapsing on the floor
                              the blackboard
                               listing readers

From the back of the group a little old lady comes forward to fill her five-minute slot and reads with panache, one haiku. A bowl of hot chocolate splashes across a folder. In the corner some of the children are writing haiku at a table.

Shaking like a leaf, but not wanting to explain her Parkinson's again, Sheila comes to the mike, nearly tripping over the leads on the floor

                                        a baby's
                                       highchair
                                     for a lectern

Many of the audience have come to have their first experience of haiku. A chuckle is heard when a poet reads

                                      bus terminal
                                     a skateboarder
                                   bounces off seats

Halfway through the evening they sort out the microphone and Moira says "Our group nearly bought the temperamental thing!" Fred declares he's having a bad hair day. "When things start to go wrong at the beginning, it's hard to get them back on track!" Pausing for effect, but merely loosing the place in her notebook, Judy shows off her Library of Congress T-shirt. Exotic Tamsin (a nutritionist) reads her poem "The Sugar Demon", whilst nearly swallowing the microphone.

Near the end Fred salvages his credibility by quoting one of the guest poet's haiku without missing a beat.

                                        dahlia
                           tucked into the microphone
                                  falls to the floor

vast greenhouse
all the cyclamen
waiting for adoption

guests - so full
of things I do not know

* déjè vu wordplay by Robert Major, based on a Porad haiku from a Mexican sequence
**after Prince (Artist formally known as)
***Alzheimer's
****tv ad for hard-on pills

Five years ago, in the book titled, Invitation - the story of the invitation by the Imperial Family of Japan to the New Year's Poetry Party at the Palace on January 14th, 1998, the Reichholds wrote and published a haibun, interwoven with haiku and tanka sequences, solo-renga, free verse and prose poems, adding a chapter to the fields of Symbiotic Poetry. New at that time was the integration of photographic material, not at all used as illustrations but in itself handled as photo sequences containing superimpositions, situation-associated shifts and time-analogous leaps organized in correlation to prose and poetry, and therefore creating electric fields from which the readers /spectators can switch forth and back as they please.

Today, with the February issue of Lynx 2003, we publish the "A Box of Renga", a collaborative work as a multi-media composition in which Jane and Werner Reichhold both worked equally and alternately on the photo sequences as well as on the haiku.

We realized how influential the work with a digital camera has been to our artistic concept, and to the act of transforming it through the second tool, the personal computer. On a computer screen, picture-and-text locations appear simultaneously. They seem to change the reception of our esthetics. In a strange and not fully recognized way, the spirits on one hand and the energies produced by a computer transmitting them on the other hand, are not two things anymore. In respect to the arts as a whole, they appear as a self-organized factor we have to deal with. As an online production, our work becomes part of a rapidly recognized medium, spreading and promoting the message of intertwined, socially effective creations.


TABLE OF CONTENTS XVIII: 1 February, 2003		LYNX A Journal for Linking Poets



	SYMBIOTIC POETRY: ICSK Jim Leftwich John M. Bennett *ONE WILD* CHOOK CAFE** Patricia Prime Catherine Mair THE CLAPPED-OUT MICROPHONE Patricia Prime Catherine Mair A SUMMER FUNERAL John E. Carley Deborah P. Kolodji FRIENDSHIP RENGA Giselle Maya Jane Reichhold PROBABLY #14 'a deer' Marlene Mountain Francine Porad PROBABLY #15 'open house' Francine Porad Marlene Mountain PROBABLY #16 'discrimination' Marlene Mountain Francine Porad PROBABLY #17 'advances' Francine Porad Marlene Mountain Commentary on the Collaborative Work by Jane and Werner Reichhold A BOX OF RENGA Jane Reichhold Werner Reichhold	ICSK Jim Leftwich John M. Bennett ice-pick, fontanel sang, shoulder clot ausculation cult, slung tamper, boom, flood an ear, push, kiosk on one ski ONE WILD CHOOK CAFE Patricia Prime Catherine Mair in the cafe, photos of Tibet taken by the owner ancient oak & rhododendron forests in black & white traders travelling the high pass on horseback thousands of goats driven from Tibet to Katmandu snow clad peaks - flags keep mountain demons at bay clouds collect around Annapurna cold draught from the street finds our backs surprise companion, her Napalese baby now 7 years old dental nurse - shine of teeth against olive complexion a farmer comes in, orders sausages, eggs & hash browns best chef - the engraving on a knife block "special" . . . Asian chicken broth with noodles waitress's giggle as our fingers touch over extra cutlery criss-crossed with spider's webs, a tiny lattice window THE CLAPPED-OUT MICROPHONE Patricia Prime Catherine Mair Several of the audience dressed as "poets" - flowers and ribbons in the women’s' hair, a man with a goatee and beret. Fred, the compere, not able to place Sarah (one of the guest poets), calls her by the wrong name again. For the first bracket of the evening the microphone remains obstinate: voices whisper around the room. collapsing on the floor the blackboard listing readers From the back of the group a little old lady comes forward to fill her five-minute slot and reads with panache, one haiku. A bowl of hot chocolate splashes across a folder. In the corner some of the children are writing haiku at a table. Shaking like a leaf, but not wanting to explain her Parkinson's again, Sheila comes to the mike, nearly tripping over the leads on the floor a baby's highchair for a lectern Many of the audience have come to have their first experience of haiku. A chuckle is heard when a poet reads bus terminal a skateboarder bounces off seats Halfway through the evening they sort out the microphone and Moira says "Our group nearly bought the temperamental thing!" Fred declares he's having a bad hair day. "When things start to go wrong at the beginning, it's hard to get them back on track!" Pausing for effect, but merely loosing the place in her notebook, Judy shows off her Library of Congress T-shirt. Exotic Tamsin (a nutritionist) reads her poem "The Sugar Demon", whilst nearly swallowing the microphone. Near the end Fred salvages his credibility by quoting one of the guest poet's haiku without missing a beat. dahlia tucked into the microphone falls to the floor A SUMMER FUNERAL John E. Carley Deborah P. Kolodji a summer funeral they slowly dismantle the hanging basket the soloist's final note lingers in the breeze aqua minerale oh the sulphur burst upon my tongue soothing babble of an unknown language - the infant sleeps a darkness more profound than the absence of light alone on the hill waiting for the sunrise - a rooster crows FRIENDSHIP RENGA Giselle Maya Jane Reichhold after a long walk a flicker of friendship over tea and cake the sweetness of a fire listening to our stories so many lives to recall unwinding spools of memories and joys sewing dollies again each one looks like me vast greenhouse all the cyclamen waiting for adoption guests - so full of things I do not know unshared secrets I take from the hands extended in greeting a chance meeting hearts spontaneously open similar symptoms we compare treatments and herb remedies lower back soothed sage and rosemary oil summer-hot hills folding together dry creek beds unskillful words unintended discord meeting again the weaver friend tied in knots untangled threads woven again and again between clouds the moon shuttles opal light looking for wild mushrooms remember not to lecture the topic turns to the subject of ticks everyone scratches winter's advantage no need to check the cat how fragile & tentative the innermost core of friendship sharing our picnic lunch we both brought apples December moon healing our soul healing the earth feminist solstice party wholeness - holy-ness is there a friend in the world who senses the mystery of things tree limbs teaching birds to build nests a germ of friendship plants and humans and animals linked in peace her Christmas card comes from Africa giving and receiving a sheep for the year to come brush and ink shikishi with a misty moon arrives a new vision of the world friendship delicate as a snowflake spun by the wind children making angels in cold blue shadow shapes footprints following us home violets underground intimacy our cheeks touch briefly parting with so much to share in our books in the three-mat tea room sentient beings become close a trembling in the spray of flowers the taken branch a ginkgo tree planted kokoro courageous and gentle December 4, 2002 – January 3, 2003 PROBABLY #14 ('real' renga sorta) One-line Linked Haiku Marlene Mountain Francine Porad 'a deer' a deer drinks in the surroundings then drinks in the pond painting delivered worry mirrored in the glass the plug pulled on ricci's brain is elizabeth hidden deep within a nation of skeptics the ongoing search for bin Laden trotted out of comfy digs for a weekend of tough talk the veep time to attack Iraq? in all ways the astounding cost 'You're one in a million!' updated to '...one in a hundred million!' dozens of swifts follow dusk into a chimney of their own sculpture of basalt the centerpiece of Costco corporate offices 'labor day' do i have enough energy for nature pickling spice and dill added to each jar of little green tomatoes cookout with neighbors a serving of neolithic info the foreigner ends his note by telling me he's 'greatfully mine' a teaser the windows rolled up for nothing Katie and 'fans' due at four this afternoon the cleaning lady too* ready to call it a night tho the stars are in six Elvis impersonators shooting dice at one crap table who has the nerve not to define haiku breeze in the hollow the kind a string of words might not catch muttering his red hair spikes shampooed by schoolmarm three wasp stings at once spit and tobacco almost too handy doctor's tank fish swim around and around and around rescued from the blacktop a turtle's feet on bottomland for now another birthday 26,663 days on earth a gift the yellowest of the butterflies on the pinkest of a thistle easy to believe in rebirth and it's not even spring 'person of interest' a compliment except from the improved fbi mystery of a 'volunteer' plant in the rockery a 130 mph ace on the hard court wins the tiebreak but good entire story: JC, spouse, kids through great-grandkids 'As I was traveling to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives...' alone in the stir that god-fearing mormon weeds sending up shoots a three-pronged fork plunges further in the kitchen and the heat martha stewart weatherman forecasts gray clouds and rain wrong again the mailbox waits my out-of-date walk fans = parents, aunts & uncles Started: September 1, 2002 Ended: September 5, 2002 PROBABLY #15 ('real' renga sorta) One-line Linked Haiku Francine Porad Marlene Mountain 'open house' open house on the porch out of the rain a pile of shoes the flashlight with its yellow in plain sight* near-record salmon runs Indian tribes gather in Puget Sound new reasons to go to war old ones not to go will the public be convinced the memorial candle for peace say what 'every 30 seconds someone disappears'* 'tis the season for yet another purple asters native and tamed at services mesmerized by the girl with blue hair did little boys truly kill their dad or did one's middle-aged lover he refuses dialysis summer’s end a clump of hot pokers divided each with a fresh outlook on life magazine cover barely recognizable Carol Burnett latest book of linked haiku confident enough to call it probably no doubt about it collaborative writing is fun relative relief from pain first good week just shy of 20 years visible jolt at the sound of her high C a chill in the air then cicadas then the 'elevated alert' elevated repeated 9/11 scenes of trauma at the Twin Towers cell phone exchange between father and son from hope to horror 'insider information' the biggest cuke saved for seeds mid-September songbirds at the feeder plumper than usual one more bugged pine plenty of beaks to debug a stack of wood rounds nature prepares to be dormant fallen far too long the drought-looking sky Tate Gallery spectator: Babe, ever hear of a guy named Turner? pastoral setting cows in the creek eliminate it in the moist fields abundant skunk cabbages rhizome collecting tough talk shunned apparently no smoking nuclear gun a cigarette the perfect icon for film-noir movies of the '50's bad actor to bad prez one of my better 'bad' deliveries as the saying goes they live only a step above a chicken coop Hooverville a geranium on a window sill inward-seeking black-eyed susans broken across the land 'eighty dugres today, Grandma' my Tucson 'weather guru'** too close for comfort a nest of used blankets on a katydid night low-key Friday the 13th I water the garden 'good' promo for a CBS program * Instant Message about Seattle weather Started: September 8, 2002 Ended: September 13, 2002 PROBABLY #16 ('real' renga sorta) One-line Linked Haiku Marlene Mountain Francine Porad 'discrimination' discrimination in america in everywhere even on mars Arab men questioned logical profiling at risk a red [or is it pink] turtlehead leans into the rocky road 'outcropping' removed by dump truck dust rises we wait on 'hanna' to satisfy our thirst the little pond and i wind picks up a white butterfly from flower to flower so many wallpaper books Mama helps me choose a rosebud bouquet boxed in by wormy chestnut & oak a rundown fortune no sleep lost over Bill Gates losing eleven billion in the last year more than double trouble all those saddam doubles 'after five margaritas Bernard and Francine peer from a drain pipe'* someday it might be said a piece 'formally known as' haiku** my writing stages include syrupy to intellectual to moderately OK a fine day if a sprinkle turns into a drizzle summer’s end at the bus stop passengers carrying umbrellas something dug up and replanted it doesn't matter what Day of Atonement sermon...the meaning of the word 'contrite' I pace off 80 x 20 feet literally and figuratively 'home on the range' the kitchen would be insignificant if possible kid's choice all odd-jobs-list items checked off to make big bucks a big host interrupts & disapproves of a big guest repeated crawl across the TV set <<TERROR ALERT HIGH hey don dick john condy colin and george 'where's the beef?' Iraq concedes: unconditional return of U.N. inspectors in transition pampas grass where praying mantises once hung so quiet I can hear the crickets and my heart a mind that won't turn off even in the face of forgetfulness at the pan game first sign of 'old-timers'*** headline news like yesterday's the way i want my little news to be I wake from a nap thinking it's tomorrow primary absentee ballot mailed in with no concern for chads in the case of freedom united we don't stand he objects if I say he's sick he objects if I say he's well 'natural male enhancement' bob's friend has it now**** money works for me great notion to strike it rich with a Lotto win on a moment's notice the wren begins dawn * déjè vu wordplay by Robert Major, based on a Porad haiku from a Mexican sequence after Prince (Artist formally known as) Alzheimer's **tv ad for hard-on pills Started: September 13, 2002 Ended: September 19, 2002 PROBABLY #17 ('real' renga sorta) One-line Linked Haiku Francine Porad Marlene Mountain* 'advances' awesome technical advances can we get past bombings and hatred life will be better once all the black gold's ill-gotten a full tank of gas little traffic and a coupon for fish and chips rain delay as glad bulbs loaded with peach harden off thoughts turn to spring planting parrot tulips in portable pots free as a bird unless habitatly-challenged 'home of the brave' have you turned in your suspicious nature tip of the cat's tail last seen under the fence a long day until it began to darken beneath the fluffy clouds adding a dab of purple in the shadows no workable pen in the truck a poem stays just inside an oak with a journal and a computer handy I'm happy seasonal change the cucumber beetles outnumber the cukes 'buddy system' 25% of rapes by more than one man how to kill females under the guise of how females were killed drive-by shooting not found in an instruction manual tattoos stretch into neolithic times where earth meant something red ocher on cave walls an I-was-here handprint another slightly-varied monotype seaweed pieces in the press gone to his head with plenty of room dubya's egomania photographing up women's skirts OK'd by WA Supreme Court j edgar's name still 'tackied' on the peoples' wall hundreds of thousands without power in Yucatan Peninsula* tho tired lavender and pink now bedded together I pluck the spent blossoms then start my exercise routine autumn sky after the mist settles down overhead in ever-widening circles the route of the hawk pretty much ignored albert gore's view of iraq and me if Saddam treats others the way he treats his own countrymen... clear and present how fall has exaggerated the pines will young martha too-good's mom do prison or do parenting again verdict on Mad (Madelyne shortened) still out prediction of a colder than last year's winter which was warmish for the first time seed clusters on our ivy ready for almost anything a passed-along elvis shirt unfolded the kitten disappears before the neutering Hurricane Isidore Started: September 19, 2002 Ended: September 25, 2002 Commentary on the Collaborative Work by Jane and Werner Reichhold* Five years ago, in the book titled, Invitation - the story of the invitation by the Imperial Family of Japan to the New Year's Poetry Party at the Palace on January 14th, 1998, the Reichholds wrote and published a haibun, interwoven with haiku and tanka sequences, solo-renga, free verse and prose poems, adding a chapter to the fields of Symbiotic Poetry. New at that time was the integration of photographic material, not at all used as illustrations but in itself handled as photo sequences containing superimpositions, situation-associated shifts and time-analogous leaps organized in correlation to prose and poetry, and therefore creating electric fields from which the readers /spectators can switch forth and back as they please. Today, with the February issue of Lynx 2003, we publish the "A Box of Renga", a collaborative work as a multi-media composition in which Jane and Werner Reichhold both worked equally and alternately on the photo sequences as well as on the haiku. We realized how influential the work with a digital camera has been to our artistic concept, and to the act of transforming it through the second tool, the personal computer. On a computer screen, picture-and-text locations appear simultaneously. They seem to change the reception of our esthetics. In a strange and not fully recognized way, the spirits on one hand and the energies produced by a computer transmitting them on the other hand, are not two things anymore. In respect to the arts as a whole, they appear as a self-organized factor we have to deal with. As an online production, our work becomes part of a rapidly recognized medium, spreading and promoting the message of intertwined, socially effective creations. A BOX OF RENGA Jane Reichhold Werner Reichhold the box put on the morning table open Dali’s painting the masturbator folding eyes wide the mask allows a shyness listening to the circle the wire winds around time to rise the moon-faced lad appears our sonny boy asleep awakened by the news released dream from the broken dolly another curve ah-ha our affair begins as a deck of cards a joker holds the cutter in a distance divination proves everything is possible four hands six coins the service the stickiness of another relationship more suspicious the moon takes away its sweetness celebrating the light bright colors on paper chicken – please turn around I love you! to make an omelet quick take a photo the way we travel boxed California holidays the rose parade at home red and white candles saved for black-outs wax tray joined time swimming around a wick? outdoors the fire goes out the catch she knows is close to catching box meet box in box so quiet when the past shines through the present with better ears could one hear the apple's cry? in the year of the snake Eve isn’t sure of what to eat magic markers ink in the book leads into enlightenment we open the treasure chest light jumps out feathered turning around the ideal resolution a diet too late for festivities the moon comes with a guest the morning after in a nut left in the shell the pregnancy test strip in a purple glow starbox all of its shine in one hand forty years of work finally a greeting card still snow the first that touches flowers sipping more blessings to begin another spring Done on the very last day of 2002 Happy New Year!



	Submission Procedures Who We Are Deadline for the next issue is May 1, 2003	Poems and comments Copyright © Designated Authors 2003. Page Copyright© Jane Reichhold 2003. Table of Contents I would like to know more about Renga.

LYNX A Journal for Linking Poets

LYNX
A Journal for Linking Poets