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 33. Also published in Amelia Fielden’s Conversations in Tanka, Port Adelaide, Australia: Ginninderra Press, 2014, page 110. See “Four Tan-Renga Sets” for additional tan-renga in this series.

twin cherry trees

flowered branches entwined

like an old myth                                                                                Amelia

            the Norwegian exchange student

            winks at me                                                                           Michael

backpacking

in shorts and sandals,

nose sunburnt                                                                                   Amelia

            finally, by the campfire,

            your best bear growl                                                            Michael

day after day

raking leaves into piles

no time for poetry                                                                            Amelia

            oh, to be Han Shan

            on a drizzly morning                                                             Michael

pewter lake

reflecting pewter sky—

one black swan                                                                                  Amelia

            a fractal frost

            on the locomotive window                                                 Michael