IF familiar with the haiku, a threeline Japanese poem, most of us would probably struggle to define a renga, another Japanese verse form. Customarily it is the work of a group, each of whom contributes a succession of short verses, alternating two and three lines. Linda France explains: “This results in a 20-verse sequence, like beads on a string, each one in a small world of its own.”

Wallsend-born Linda, who now lives near Hadrian’s Wall, set herself the task of composing her own renga for each month of the year. Her January renga begins:

New year

old dust

new broom

next door’s bonfire

black smoke spiralling

In December we have:

Christmas Eve – silverfish

in the jigsaw box

everything dead

sealed in beads

of ice and clouds of fog

Interesting – and attractively decorated with pictures of some striking artwork – ceramic casts of flowers, leaves and branches, by Northumberland artist Sue Dunne.