evensong 
crows squabble 
over the church 

	on her third sherry 
	cabbage still boiling 

autumn leaves 
a sensation 
of detachment 

first frost ... 
she no longer wears 
his sweater 

	the silence 
	of the crossword 

across the square 
a fading cadence 
of diminished chords 

Curator’s Notes:

1. The first, third, and fifth stanzas above are by Keith Evetts and the even-numbered, by Helene Guojah.

2. Garry Gay invented the rengay form in 1992 and defines it as “a collaborative six-verse linked thematic poem written by two or three poets alternating three-line and two-line haiku or haiku-like stanzas in a regular pattern or form ... each verse is really a stand-alone haiku in either three or two lines.”

From “Rengay: Another Way to Write Linked Verse” by Garry Gay at New Zealand Poetry Society (February 2021); link retrieved on 7 April 2023:
https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-poems-articles/archived-articles/rengay-another-way-to-write-linked-verse/

Helene Guojah

worked for many years with victims of domestic violence and homelessness. A keen cook, she now divides her time between private catering and renovating an old cottage in Cornwall. She began writing haiku in the first lockdown of 2020. Her work has been published in Prune Juice, Failed Haiku, Cold Moon Journal, and at The Haiku Foundation.

Keith Evetts

is a retired British diplomat who lives in the UK. His scientific papers are published in Nature and elsewhere; his long-form poetry in The Oxford Magazine and Linnet’s Wings; his cherita in The Cherita; and his haiku and related short forms in Blithe Spirit, Cattails, Cold Moon Journal, Failed Haiku, Heliosparrow, Mambu, Presence, Prune Juice, The Asahi Shimbun, Wales Haiku Journal, World Haiku Review, and at The Haiku Foundation. His work has been anthologized in the Red Moon Anthologies of haiku and haibun, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Touchstone Awards.

Evetts is listed among the European Top 100 Haiku Authors in 2021, and hosts the weekly haiku commentary feature at The Haiku Foundation. He’s married, with five children, a grey parrot, and a sense of humour.