Let's do Renku (2): Ready to Start

Time to start our collaborative poem!  This one will be a Kasen renga, with the starting season autumn.

Here is how it works:
The poem will alternate three-line 5/7/5 stanzas ("haiku") and two-line 7-7 stanzas, until we reach a total of 36 stanzas (18 three line stanzas, and 18 two-line).

Anybody is invited to contribute a stanza!  Just post it in the comments.  No anonymous contributions, though--this will be a signed poem.  You can contribute as many times as you want, but you can't write two stanzas in a row *.

We won't be strict about syllable count, though I will insist on  three lines alternating with two. 

Josh just wrote a post with some of the lore and the rules of renga, but you don't have to memorize the order of seasons: I will post a note which season is appropriate (I will be using the template of seasons according to Higginson, Ideal Order of the Seasons in a Kasen Renku).   Note that a reference to the season can be implied, it does not have to be explicit, and not every stanza has to have an reference to the season (many are no-season stanzas).

Since Ray McNiece is the winner of the most recent Cleveland Haiku shoot-out, he is officially the Haiku master of Cleveland, and so I have invited him to contribute the hokku (the first stanza).  As "host," I will contribute the second stanza (the "wakiku").  Josh Gage, the haiku guru, will contribute the third stanza (the "daisan").

Ready yet?  I'll post the first lines tomorrow.

After that, it's up to you!

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*actually, in a couple of specific places one poet can write two stanzas in a row.  I will tell you when we reach those stanzas.