Full Bloom Renga - Public Write Verses For Orchard Blossoms Poem

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National Trust Full Bloom Renga Cotehele House Blossom Festival

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National Trust Full Bloom Festival Kicks Off With Renga Poem

On Saturday NowPublic reported the start of the National Trust Full Bloom Renga as part of its Full Bloom Festival of English orchards and blossom. The first live event has taken place in the beautiful Old Orchard of National Trust property Cotehele House in Cornwall and now the renga, a Japanese collaborative linked poem, is thrown open to aspiring poets from around the world to take part via the internet Full Bloom Renga.

NowPublic joined poets for Sunday's live renga session at Cotehele under pear and cherry blossoms in Cotehele's orchards and today publishes exclusive pictures from the event which starts the Full Bloom Festival off as it follows the wave of blossoms through England from South to North over the next two weeks. It's a celebration of English orchards and is co-organised by the environmental organisation The Orchard Network.

The Full Bloom Renga was devised by artist Anne-Marie Culhane and is at the core of the Full Bloom Festival. The live renga at Cotehele and the final live session on the 9th of May at Acorn Bank Garden and Watermill in Cumbria take place on a beautiful hand crafted wooden renga platform created specially for the Full Bloom Renga by artist Jo Salter. Placed beneath pear and cherry trees in full blossom the platform acts not only as a workplace for the renga poets but also as a piece of visual art, an installation.

Throughout the day poets sat on and around the renga platform composing the first section of the Full Bloom Renga. In renga poets each write a verse linking to the one before but also shifting away from it and all that have been already written with the Master Poet choosing the verse that will finally take its place in the poem from all those submitted at each round or position.

Host poet for the day was John Hall who composed the all important 'hokku' - the starting verse. Hokku are what haiku developed from in Japanese poetry. Here's the starting verse from the Cotehele Renga:

beneath the tress roots stir

for fruit that is not yet there

sweet rain

World Public Invited To Submit Poems To Write Full Bloom Renga

This poem becomes the root of the renga poem that is now growing out from Cotehele into the world and across England to finish in two weeks time at Acorn Bank Garden and Watermill in Cumbria where once again the renga platform will be set up under blossoming trees for the last 12 verses to be written live with celebrated host poet Linda France.

In the time between why not watch the poem unfold day by day and contribute some verses yourself at the Full Bloom Renga interactive web pages.

Enjoy the photographs of the Cotehele Full Bloom Renga here at NowPublic too.