RENGA Meaning:
Renga is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry with alternating stanzas of haikus and shorter 2-line moras. Haiku and Mora are both forms of Japanese poem and are structured by numbers of syllables in each line. A Haiku is 3 lines, 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. A Mora is 2 lines, 7 syllables in each. It's a great introduction to writing because it has a structure to follow, and also is a lovely group writing experience for people who don't feel very confident with writing as it's a collective project.
EmpowerED Forum created the following RENGA at the Communications workshop in May 2023
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Thought eating disorder You imagined hollow cheeks Know a little more
See me, see you sigh One more weight on the system Yet you don’t know me
We don’t look a certain way Trying to fill an impossible mold
Waisted time, weighting list My wanted life slips away Every urgent day
I fall through the net Deteriorate, no help Too long, too long now
A system built to fail By those who just don’t know
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Perhaps I could talk Ask you my questions direct Let you be expert
You should be the door Slammed shut, uneducated Challenge your stigma
I can see you listening Then why don’t you hear me?
Trapped by such thinness In stasis, a hiatus Translucent creature are we
Perhaps I should have Spoken to the elephant But then… maybe not
Turned away for hurting Because I don’t let my pain show |
Iridescent shell How can your thinness be strong Guards my fearful soul
Watching the news Stigma ridden portrayal Pours out of the screen
When will they realise The damage they have done
Breakfast, dinner, tea Seems easy enough, does it? Try my head, and see.
Like we don’t matter Ache of waiting, a half life Not bad enough. Yet.
Each time we lose another soul
Mental illness has won. |