CRACKED MIRROR, Muttsu no sekai renku

(Apolo, Diana, Hermes and Venus writing MNS renku)



CRACKED MIRROR (Muttsu no sekai/MNS/ renku- Three worlds renku) is the first world multicultural, democratic and engaged renku. There is no classical sabaking (leading) of the MNS renku. All participants are equal, they discuss and make decision in consensual way. Each participant offers opening poem (hokku), usually with geographical / cultural references to the place and situation he/she comes from, also all participants write own closing poem (agaku) for finishing the poem (So in the case of three poets we have 3 hokku, and 3 agaku). In writing MNS renku we use concept of "key-words" instead of seasonal references. Linking principle stayed the same as in traditional approach: "link-and-shift". In writing Cracked Mirror MNS renku our intention was to have 12 rounds (36 stanzas), that means 3 hokku,30 development stanzas and 3 agaku. We stopped for the moment at the stanza 23. because of objective circumstances.


CRACKED MIRROR
(Muttsu no sekai renku/Three worlds renku)

Dimitar (Anakiev) from Slovenia/Serbia/Bulgaria
Kim (Goldberg) from Canada/US
Manu (Kant) from India


1.
Cracked mirror
in which I watch the face
of the Balkans
---Dimitar

2.
Outside Nanaimo's Food Bank
a ragman and sparrow share bread
--- Kim

3.
Chandigarh - the City Beautiful
No sign of workers here
and the sparrows have become extinct
---Manu

4.
Working class hurries, hurries, hurries
to catch the elevator
---Dimitar

5.
a graffiti artist
climbs a boxcar to leave freight
of words
---Kim

6.
Le Corbusier's slogan 'architecture or revolution'
the piss stains on the inner city walls
---Manu

7.
Revolutionary students
of today are waiting in the lines
of McDonald's restaurant
---Dimitar

8.
Drawing a line in the sand
a president fills far-off hospitals (1)
---Kim

9.
many patients these days
en route to heavens
do a sojourn in 5-star hospitals
---Manu

10.
narrow road to the deep north (2)
they arrived into a refugee center
---Dimitar

11.
ice caps melt
towns flood—our brave new world
of climate refugees(3)
---Kim

12.
our brave new world
struggling to keep the head above water
---Manu

13.
What is to be done? (4)
Fukushima radioactive water
leak an emergency.
---Dimitar

14.
emergency vehicles race by
to the fire at a clothing sweatshop
---Kim

15.
smart cities, smart India
but Mr Modi, how about including
smart Dalits in them (5),(6)
---Manu

16.
Nobody should beat you! (7)
Except police and army
---Dimitar

17.
Mourning doves coo
in trees outside the shelter
for battered women
---Kim

18.
latest fad on the Facebook
girls posing with their pads
---Manu

19.
Facebook groups
not the same as social classes:
activism or business?
---Dimitar

20.
Not guilty. Activists across Canada
protest verdict of all-white jury
---Kim

21.
of course, RSS is better than army(8)
but Mr Mohan Bhagwat, deploying Vanara Sena(9)
at India's borders will be far better
---Manu

22.
Out of salt for salting
the enemy lunch: Kosovo peony (10)
---Dimitar

(to be continued until 36 stanzas)


NOTES:

(1)http://http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-23/news/mn-1715_1_saudi-arabia
(2)Narrow Road To Deep North - a collection of haibun by Matsuo Basho
(3)Brave New World - a novel by Aldous Huxley
(4)What Is To Be Done? - a novel by Nikolay Chernyshevsky
(5)Narendra Modi – Indian politician
(6)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit
(7)Famous speech by Milošević, leading to the war in Yugoslavia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazimestan_speech
(8)RSS is a militant wing of the extreme Nationalist Party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rss-can-prepare-an-army-within-3-days-ready-to-fight-on-border-mohan-bhagwat/story-0CyzXKKgot5PxeF9wQPgyJ.html
(9)Vanara Sena is monkey Army which in the epic Ramayana assisted Lord Ram to fight against the demon King Ravana
(10)This poem calls into question the truth of the mythological statements about the Battle of Kosovo (1389) in which Christian's armies leaded by Serbian King were defeated by Ottomans and Islam opened the door of Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo
The first statement is that the Christians was so little in number that if they converted to salt they would not be able to salt the lunch of the enemy. The magnification wants to show Christian conscious sacrifice for the religion.(Actually forces were so so and the battle was totally uncertain until the end.). The second statement is that from the blood of dead Christians red peony grown up, the Kosovo peony, one of the symbols of Serbs.