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.

Celebrate Rengay’s 32nd Anniversary on 9 August 2024

30th Anniversary

Rengay Anthology

Rengay and Essays by Michael Dylan Welch

Two-Person Rengay

Three-Person Rengay

Six-Person Rengay

Solo Rengay

City Rengay

True Colour

About Rengay

Rengay Essays

Recent Additions (with dates added)

Rengay Website Review essay by John Thompson (23 November 2024)
Going Away solo rengay (3 November 2024)
That Time of Year with Jane Reed (3 November 2024)
Hunger solo rengay (6 August 2024)
Growing on Trees with Lanka Siriwardana (3 August 2024)
Playing Chicken with Tanya McDonald (3 August 2024)
Warming Up with Alan S. Bridges (22 May 2024)
Changes solo rengay (15 March 2024)
Nightlight [goth toddler] with Geneviève Wynand (27 February 2024)
Hymn with Caleb Mutua (27 February 2024)
Something Fishy with C. R. Manley and Tanya McDonald (26 February 2024)
Issa’s Dream with Billie Dee and Josh Wikoff (8 February 2024)
Alakazam with Sidney Bending and Margaret Rutley (31 January 2024)
Friday Night Out with Michelle Schaefer and Dianne Garcia (31 January 2024)
Both Sides Now with Marcyn Del Clements and Subhashini Jayatilake (31 January 2024)
Terminal Illness with Allyson Whipple (12 December 2023)
Cape Perpetua with Jim Rodriguez (28 November 2023)
In Their Eyes with Maryam Mermey and Jane Reed (28 November 2023)
Family Circle with Kala Ramesh (24 November 2023)
Between with Shelley Baker-Gard and Jacob Salzer (30 September 2023)
Now with Gary Hotham (30 September 2023)
Silver Lining with Gillena Cox and Radhika De Silva (30 September 2023)
Against the Glass with Margaret Rutley and Sidney Bending (2 September 2023)
Garden of Earthly Delights with Marci Ameluxen and Elijah Mu’ied (2 September 2023)
About the Poems by John Thompson (20 August 2023; introduction to Four Trails, Four Seasons: Pt. Reyes Rengay)
Yellowing Maple with Ion Codrescu (10 August 2023; with Romanian and French translations; first prize winner in the 2023 Haiku Society of America rengay contest)
An Autumn Tale with Sarah Welch (2 August 2023)
Catching the Sky with Brad Bennett and Alan S. Bridges (20 June 2023)
Born Free with Sherry Grant (19 June 2023)
Happy Ending with Kathabela Wilson and Sharon Yofan (19 June 2023)
The Towers That Be with Alan S. Bridges and Brad Bennett (19 June 2023)
A Day in D.C. with Bill Waters (19 June 2023)
Spooked with Jackie Chou and Richard Tice (19 June 2023)
Pushing Daisies with Wilda Morris (19 June 2023)
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)

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.