A tan-renga collaboration by Amelia Fielden and Michael Dylan Welch. Written 18 July 2011 on the ferry from Sidney, British Columbia to Anacortes, Washington. First published in Red Lights 8:2, June 2012, page 36. Also published in Amelia Fielden’s Conversations in Tanka, Port Adelaide, Australia: Ginninderra Press, 2014, page 113. See “Four Tan-Renga Sets” for additional tan-renga in this series.

fed and changed

still that harsh crying—

what can she want?                                                                        Amelia

            the suckling shape

            in her tiny mouth                                                                 Michael

when I grow up

I’ll be a journalist

for sure                                                                                              Amelia

            my prom date tells me

            I was her second choice                                                     Michael

one touch

and that china squirrel

smashes on the tiles                                                                        Amelia

            forgetting

            our anniversary                                                                    Michael

a daughter’s house

or a nursing home . . .

and the dog?                                                                                     Amelia

            clipping the advert

            for dignified cremation                                                       Michael