Tulips Flame by
Michael Dylan Welch, Amelia Fielden, Marg Sutton, Naomi Beth Wakan, and Zulis
Yalte.
First published in the Journal of Renga & Renku
#2, February 2012, page 203. This shisan renku was written in the poetry yurt
on Gabriola Island, British Columbia on Sunday, 17 July 2011. I served as sabaki,
or renku leader.
Gabriola grass
still damp with rain—
clouded summer moon Michael
mists
clear
to
a hot orange dawn Amelia
making marmalade
my father in the kitchen
for his annual ritual Naomi
tea
kettle whistles
empty
cups Marg
children at the bus stop
all in new clothes
a size too large Naomi
bruised
leaves swirl and eddy
crows
chorus their caws Zulis
filling the bath
she adds fragrant salts,
hums an old tune Amelia
Tagore’s
jasmine flowers
moaning
to the sky Zulis
he slides her hand
into his jacket pocket—
first flakes of snow Amelia
into
the dark
the
last ferry Marg
gathering lilacs
the neighbour’s bushes
overhang our yard Naomi
tulips
flame
from
long-buried bulbs Amelia
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