Rengay
Rengay is collaborative poetry written by two or three poets alternating three-line and two-line haiku or haiku-like verses in a six-verse thematic form. Garry Gay invented rengay, naming the form by combining his last name with “renga,” the centuries-old Japanese tradition of linked verse. He and Michael Dylan Welch wrote the first two-person rengay together in 1992, and Michael proposed the three-person variation. This website celebrates rengay by presenting historical rengay, Michael’s rengay with various authors, including solo and six-person rengay variations, his city rengay, all the pieces from his solo rengay book, True Colour, his essays on rengay, and a comprehensive collection of essays by others that promote and celebrate rengay poetry. See a list of recent site additions below.
This site also features contributions chosen for the 30th anniversary online rengay anthology, with collaborations from around the world. Selections from this collection will also become a printed book, with publication anticipated in 2023. Please also share your rengay on Facebook.
Rengay and Essays by Michael Dylan Welch
Recent Additions (with dates added)
Going for Gold with Alan S. Bridges (9 May 2023)
Out of Sync with Sidney Bending and Margaret Rutley (4 May 2023)
The Tour Boat’s Wake with Billie Dee (4 May 2023)
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! with Sidney Bending and Margaret Rutley (11 April 2023)
Last Sunset with Gillena Cox, John Thompson, Milan Rajkuma, Hassane Zemmouri, and Garry Gay (5 April 2023)
Seeing Red solo rengay (3 April 2023)
Waiting for the Light with Margaret Beverland, Angela Terry, Samantha Warnier, Jennifer Sutherland, and Barbara Hay (17 January 2023)
Office Supplies with Tanya McDonald and Billie Dee (11 January 2023)
Repeated Hum with Ron C. Moss (3 January 2023)
Forecast with David Lanoue and Jay Friedenberg (3 January 2023)
Kicking Back with William Hart (14 December 2022)
Sensation with Angela Terry and Cara Holman (14 December 2022)
Inner Harbour with Ron C. Moss (20 November 2022)
Are We There Yet? with Wilda Morris (20 November 2022)
I Left My Heart with Ferris Gilli (4 November 2022)
Still Santa Fe with Robin Palley and Dave Russo (4 November 2022)
Clicking Cameras with Ion Codrescu (1 October 2022)
Clipper with Deborah P Kolodji (29 September 2022)
Silent Totem with Sidney Bending (27 September 2022)
Bandelier with Critina Rascón, in Spanish and English (9 September 2022)
New-Mown Lawn with Brad Bennett (July 2022)
Even in Toronto with Naomi Beth Wakan (July 2022)
Totem Pole Mist with Alan S. Bridges and Brad Bennett (May 2022)
Of a Feather Alan S. Bridges and Brad Bennett (April 2022)
Full Disclosure with Susan Constable and Wilda Morris (April 2022)
Runes solo rengay (February 2022)
Gatherings with Liz Ann Winkler (February 2022)
Snowed In with Kristen Lindquist and Brad Bennett (February 2022)
No Place with Deborah P Kolodji (February 2022)
Third Sunday in May with Mary Stevens, Arlene Teck, Henry Kreuter, Carol Ann Palomba, and Maureen Lanagan Haggerty (January 2022)
Blurring the Moon with Emiko Miyashita (January 2022)
If you have any comments or questions about rengay or this website, or would like to schedule or attend a rengay workshop,
please contact Michael Dylan Welch. Blurred-light photos by the author.
Site copyright © 2021–2023 by Michael Dylan Welch. Copyright remains with each contributor to this site.