Everyone else had other commitments, so Sarah and I did a renga by ourselves.
I think that good renga poets could have just whipped through it and come up with a fantastic renga. I am not that good, however. Just the same, we came up with 14 stanzas.
I found that with only two writers, the one had to remain silent while waiting for the other one to finish writing, who then had to do the same. Much more of a classroom feel to it. While waiting, the writing continued in my mind, whereas usually my mind would be distracted with talk among the other poets. This makes for less spontaneous writing when my turn came around.
2013 Halloween Renga
When: Sunday, October 27th (the Sunday before Halloween).
Time: 2:00 pm.
Where: Valentinos, 3457 Holdrege St., Lincoln, NE.
See map below.
This is the original Valentinos, which will close its doors forever sometime in the coming year. I thought it would be nice to meet here, while we still can, because it is connected with UNL's celebration of autumn and football especially, but also has graced the character of Lincoln in general for so many decades.
FYI: Thoughts For Pondering Season Words
This cross quarter day occurs midway between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice (that is between September 22nd and December 21st this year, in Nebraska). It was traditionally the beginning of the Celtic winter. Astronomically, this cross quarter day is November 7th (at 7 minutes after midnight CST), but we are using traditional dates--i.e. Celtic-- for these days.
This was traditionally when the harvests ended (or were winding down) and when people would start slaughtering some of their livestock so they could store meat for the winter.
Holidays include:
* Halloween. The Celtic version of Halloween was called Samhain (from the Old Irish for "summer's end.") It was a time when the veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest and harmful and mischievous spirits and fairies could cross over into our world. Hence various methods were used to ward them off, including Jack o'Lanterns, which were originally meant to trick the harmful spirits into believing it was the devil, thus scaring them off.
* All Saints Day. Christianity holds its solemnity of All Saints Day on November 1st, followed by All Souls Day on November 2nd.
* Dia De Los Muertos. The Latino's sacred day, Dia De Los Muertos, was when graves were visited and meals eaten and shared over them. It is also observed on November 1st and 2nd. It was a time of visiting the dead and remembering them.
In Nebraska the light seemingly begins its dive to darkness in earnest, the wind tends picks up, trees begin to turn and drop their leaves, it becomes cooler, sometimes we have a so called "Indian Summer" when warmer temperatures return for a week or two, then sometimes the first snowfall occurs, the college football season is about half over (half yet to come), and insects go nuts as they sense the end is near.
Map