Interlinked - A Blade Runner 2049 Renga
Dying for the right cause is the most human thing we can do
This is a renga sequence written for the film Blade Runner 2049 by Denis Villeneuve
Renga is a collaborative form of poetry, a game of linking verses through association and shifting into new themes. Each poet writes one verse at a time, alternating between three- and two-line verses. Each pair of verses create a tanka, and each pair of tanka share the center verse that links them. The game’s movement is spontaneous, and has no plot, so rules were modified to account for translating a film into poetry.
Two verses are written for each of the film’s 16 scenes. Each poet writes a verse-pair at a time, excluding the opening and closing verses. The opening verse was written by
, which responded to, creating a tanka, and finishing scene one. Benno then linked to himself into the beginning of scene two, creating another tanka. then linked to Benno to finish scene two, and then to himself into scene three. This pattern continues until Benno’s single verse concludes the sequence. Each time a new poet writes, the text changes from regular to italic.
Other creative innovations arose in light of the themes of the movie. “Ghost verses” occur throughout and are often represented by the holographic character Joi. These verses have a more abstract quality, a dreamlike aura. The “heart link” is the pair of verses that occur at the center of the game and coincide with the halfway point of the movie, which was written by Rasmus. These verses are inspired by kokoro (meaning heart) and aim to achieve an emotional quality that strikes the heart of the film.
The result, we hope, is not only a model of the themes of the film, but an embodiment of those themes—the essence of the feeling of what it means to have a soul, of destiny and meaning.
Interlinked
by Bodhi, Benno & Rasmus Rosenkrantz
endless dust floating in the eyes of the hunter a miracle turns a soldier farmer and prey cigarette smoke blows through the body of a lover's shadow gauzy lips meet without touching as rain falls buried secrets reemerge from the grave of past regrets crystal memories in a cold void without a gift the perfect angel enters heaven the barren womb of a slave cut searching for Eden who keeps a dead tree keeps something alive under the rain resurrected recollections fermenting in the earth lost boys chase artificial dreams in a collective vision a ghost whispers “it’s okay to dream” her figure becomes pale fire in the rain fire hails and limbs, earth, as an eye blinks sky high in a scrapyard a child's fake memory becomes real fragments of fear consume a spotless conscience tears are shed in the search of lost imagination snowflakes falling slowly dissolve into synthetic skin a floating woman wears a floating woman in cold white light a girl's only real when she can die in eternal sunset bees make honey among titans' ruins abandoned halls of kings contain a forgotten melody a lover’s ghost leaves a stain of hope for humanity becoming a stranger means saving a soul giving one's life to a miraculous storm gives it meaning the fake memory of an artist worth dying to make real an angel made again lacking eyes remembered those who gave a daughter a lonesome spirit greets one who’s forgotten his face waves sway at the feet of linked destinies colliding in blood-black nothingness a tall white fountain blooms a dream fulfilled disappears like snow falling into snow freezing in the stairway the gaze of endless miracles
Thanks for reading!
*Cover art and all media used in this post was taken from Blade Runner 2049 from 2017 by Denis Villeneuve. Production companies: Alcon Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Scott Free Productions, Bud Yorkin Productions, Torridon, Films, 16:14 Entertainment.
I love the original Blade Runner. This tells me I HAVE TO watch 2049! Thank you, boys!
Poetry modelled after peak sci-fi cinema? Count me in! The narration set to Wallace's theme gave me chills.