Rengay Through the Seasons #8 Summary

by Daniela Bullas (db), and Vaughn Seward (vs);
Rengay #8 (Oct 21-27) Summary:

At the Mirror

All 'round the scarecrow / a large flock of loud blackbirds — he wears new old clothes. /db
Just-built library courtyard — Mahatma Gandhi's bronze head. /vs
A whodunit book — disguising his appearance / with a judge’s wig. /db
His peg-leg missing — the Captain orders "no rum" / till someone 'fesses. /vs
Pinocchio's nose — the cricket / sings a modern, pop'lar tune. /db
Lightsaber duel: her dad as Darth Vader and / his mirror image. /vs

Each 3-line haiku in this Rengay is in the 5-7-5 syllable format, and each 2-line haiku is in the 7-7 syllable format.

We had two themes in mind when we developed this Rengay: "Human-related Fakeness" and the pattern of "Old/New" (note that the two 2-line verses represent the New).

Verse 4 mentions Pinocchio. This is from a novel called "The Adventures of Pinocchio" that was completed as a book for children in 1883. In the 1940's Disney version of Pinocchio, a cartoon cricket named Jiminy was appointed by the Blue Fairy to serve as the conscience for Pinocchio. He is also a comical and wise partner who accompanies Pinocchio on his adventures. The cricket sang the movie's theme song "When You Wish upon a Star" over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the film.

The last verse's "lightsaber" is a fictional weapon from the Star Wars movies. It is like a saber, but with the metal blade replaced by something resembling a solid bar or cylindrical beam of plasma about one meter long. "Dad" is cited for the Old/New theme not only because dad's are older than kids but usually it's kids that dress up and role play. Isn't Dad a little too old for that? A fun aspect of this verse is that Dad is playing out some childhood fantasy in the mirror (fighting himself), with the hint in the verse that his young daughter is watching.

The title "At the Mirror" was chosen is it reflects seeing yourself in the mirror as old/young and, of course, the image is fake. It also parallels the reflections in the rengay itself in that the pattern of the Old/New theme is reflective, i.e. old-new-old / old-new-old. As well, the pattern of haijin is mirrored: db-vs-db / vs-db-vs.

Please click here for link details and other notes:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcytHc47X3uA76xDPck3_Bw&gid=0

Click here for the previous rengay in the series.