Full Bloom Renga

April-May 2010

T he Full Bloom Renga was created as part of the Full Bloom Festival.
Full Bloom is a new festival celebrating our orchard heritage in
Spring and the wave of blossom as it travels up the country.

Renga is a 1000 year old form of collaborative poetry. It is a non-

narrative poem which aims to create a scattering of linked images
with different moods and tones. The Full Bloom renga flows through
the seasons within the overarching theme of orchards and their
biodiversity.

The first twelve verses were written on April 25 between 11am – 4pm
at the Full Bloom Festival in the old orchard at Cotehele, Cornwall. The
poets guiding this renga were Paul Conneally and John Hall. There was
a public reading at the end of the day when an eclectic group read the
poem.

The second twelve verses were written on-line in the period between
the two live events with different themes posted up daily. Over 500
contributions came from the UK and across the planet and a new verse
was added each day. The poets who selected the on-line verses were
Sheila Windsor, Martin Lucas and Alec Finlay.

The third twelve verses were created in the orchards at Acorn Bank,
Cumbria on 9 May, 11-4pm guided by Paul Conneally and Linda France.
This was followed by a public reading of the completed renga.

The three poems together create a 36 verse kasen renga – and equally
stand as individual 12 verse Junicho renga.
COTEHELE RENGA

beneath the trees roots stir

for fruit that is not yet there
sweet rain

welcomed by coats
summer hats and blossom

emerging from the heartwood

the music plays on
do the bugs hear it

checkout girl
asks cider boy for ID

silver paths
the year rests on
apples, a bottle, the moon

in mother orchard
the leaves are falling

caught on a branch
a ladder runs through
her silk tights

the forgetting of love

with a garden trowel

engage with earth

sounds of life
carry far from birth

Test Match Special

a grandson in the herb patch

leaning
against a bare trunk
ice drips down my neck

the head gardener

has an all-year tan

25 APRIL 2010
ONLINE RENGA

found one!
In the hollow
A bright blue egg

blossom drifting into dusk

the silent shadows

dancing
lacy silhouettes
across the study walls

the city farm pigs

knee deep in apple pulp

two pints of snakebite

pub fires burning old wood
in warm hearths

cutting the grub

from the flesh of a pear

hint of purple‐blue
in the leaves
last damson of the season

falling asleep after the dance

my horse carries me home

among daisies
and dandelions
a black and white feather

light drizzle
just enough to annoy the cat

peering in
at a dish of fresh milk
through the window

what would you rather

bee or a wasp

26 APRIL - 7 MAY 2010

ACORN BANK RENGA

pom-pom and frill

haberdashery
of petal and bough

fuzz of new moss

mottles the sandstone

his rite of passage

a freezer full
of mum’s fruit pies

merging into verge

a flattened stoat

nicotine and soil

stained fingers
pick out the pips

burn what remains

so it spits and squeaks

faces pop up
from behind groomed hedges
the real lakes beyond

look at the moon

it is a night for lovers

she sings the song

to be lost
in the forest

my chestnut-swill basket
hand-made in Asturias

grafting
her bleeding thumb
grips the lichen twig

breathing
the same clean air

9 MAY 2010
 COTEHELE
Paul Conneally, John Hall,
Camilla Nelson, Karen
Howse, John Benfield,
Victoria Slater, Lucy
Cordrey, Stella Breakwell,
Laura Hetherington

ONLINE
Jo, Cornwall
Anne-Marie, Cornwall
Miriam, Nottingham
Barbara Taylor, Australia
Alan Summers
John, Somerset
Sarah James, Worcs
Simon, Manchester

ACORN BANK
Paul Conneally, Linda
France, Clare Crossman,
Holly Clay, Wallace Heim,
Christo Wallers, Malcolm
Green, Heather Dovaston,
Miriam Keye, Anne-Marie
Culhane

The Full Bloom Festival is part of the National Trust/Natural England

Traditional Orchard Project. The Full Bloom Renga project was created
by Anne-Marie Culhane with Jo Salter. Full Bloom Renga score created
by Anne-Marie Culhane, Alec Finlay and Paul Conneally.

The project was supported by Trust New Art – a partnership between

the National Trust and the Arts Council England.