A rengay by Sarah Welch and Michael Dylan Welch

Winner of third place in the 2018 San Francisco International Rengay Competition sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. First published in Mariposa #41, Autumn/Winter 2019, page 28. Originally written on Thanksgiving Day, 26 November 2015, in Sammamish, Washington, when Sarah was nine years old. See also “A Winter’s Tale.”

wind and waves—
the warm yellow sand
shifts beneath my toes                                                 Sarah

        high cirrus
        clouding the tidepool                                           Michael

scuttling crab—
seashells rattle
with the sea                                                                 Sarah

reddening sun—
her castle
not yet taken                                                                Michael

        crisp, salty air
        flowing through my hair                                      Sarah

all that’s left
of our footprints
wind and waves                                                          Michael

Commentary by the Rengay Contest Judge

“I love the way this rengay occurs in the same spot—the beach in summer. It starts with ‘wind and waves,’ ends with ‘wind and waves,’ and provides snapshots of what is happening on this beach in between. I could imagine being on my favorite beach and experiencing this with my own eyes.” —Deborah P Kolodji