Is this the way the universe works? (555 Verses / 77 Verses)

This is a performative book containing performative tanrenga poems to be read out loud. A tanrenga poem looks like a tanka, a five lined Japanese poetry form but it isn’t. It’s a conversation between a three line haiku like poem and a two line poem written by another writer in response, in this case British artist-curator Gavin Wade and poet Paul Conneally. 77 Verses (Is this the way the universe works?) is a collection of such conversations written in and of and out of the woods in Drenthe. (555 Verses) is a collection of such conversations written in and out of Twitter from 2017–2023. 555 Verses: of plants from Triangle Garden, Birmingham.The plants are outstanding examples of adaptation strategies in response to changes in environmental conditions including many cacti and succulents and bananas. 77 Verses: of plants and rocks from the wood in Bronneger (NL).These include pines and oaks and hunabeds (prehistoric megalithic funerary monuments). Try reading each verse out lou