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