2024 San Francisco Rengay Contest

Interstate

Richard L. Matta, San Diego, California

Billie Dee, San Miguel, New Mexico

 

18-wheelers
shedding 10-ply skin
runaway truck ramp                  Richard

 

big chest, tiny waist
the chrome mudflap chick        Billie

 

watering hole
a singing trout
behind the bar                            Richard

 

biker funeral
his brother-in-law’s
borrowed suit                              Billie

 

hot Harley pipe. . .
the squid’s new ink                    Richard

 

tattoo removal
her last two husbands
finally gone                                  Billie

 

​

Second Place

Judges: Yvette Nicole Kolodjj, Sean Kolodji--comments

Grit and grime permeate this poem about living and dying in the fast lane, driving us into a memorable and vivid portrait that evokes Route 66 Americana. The fish-out-of-water discomfort of a biker donning an ill-fitted ‘borrowed suit’ is relatable. We watch the hot-headed squid (biker jargon for a specific type of reckless biker) impulsively get a new tattoo, new scar, or worse. The poem effectively transitions from tires shedding its skin to the undulating shapely silhouette of the ‘chrome mudflap chick,’ a symbol of the unattainable standards of feminine beauty. The poem ultimately ends with a woman shedding her tattoos and her ex-husbands. The stories of those that occupy this milieu are intriguing—the tone and theme of this poem really stood out from all the other contest entrants.

 

Rengay wins HPNC Award

The following rengay was composed by Michael Dylan Welch, Tanya McDonald, and Billie Dee on 10/18/2009 in Seabeck, Washington after the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway Weekend Retreat.  The three of us took an afternoon drive through the forest north of the conference grounds to Scenic Beach State Park, followed by supper at Barbie's Seabeck Bay Cafe. We edited the poem during our ferry ride back to Seattle. A wonderful day we are celebrating again with our Third-Place winning in the 2010 Haiku Poets of Northern California rengay contest. The poem will be published in HPNC's journal Mariposa, 2011. 

Swapping Shells

Michael Dylan Welch, Billie Dee, and Tanya McDonald

 

 

shell gathering—

our toes sinking

down to the wet                                                              Michael

        abandoned camper shell

        columbine in the shadows                                   Billie

sea glass—

she caresses

the shell of his ear                                                           Tanya

        the idle hooker

        reading Shelley                                                         Michael

by moonlight

a hermit crab

swapping shells                                                                Billie

        the band shell darkened

        he gives my hand a squeeze                               Tanya

 -----

What's a rengay? Read more here:  The Rengay Form

Rengay in Frogpond, winter 2009

The Waitress Sings

Billie Dee & Deborah P. Kolodji

outside the café
winter jacarandas
winter sky

the scarf Mother made me
last Christmas

tattered cookbook
a buttered thumbprint
on the biscuit page

autographs
old photographs framed
on the wall

bacon pops
in the black iron skillet

fresh crumbs
the waitress sings
as we drink coffee

Frogpond 32.1, 2009

Dedicated to my dear friend
Judy-the-Beauty Forman,
who owns and sings
at the Big Kitchen,
San Diego, California, USA.

Best comfort-food in town
(any town!) served by community
activist and State of California
Woman of the Year, 2005.