Stages 1

A tan-renga collaboration by Michael Dylan Welch and Amelia Fielden. Written 18 July 2011 on the ferry from Sidney, British Columbia to Anacortes, Washington. First published in Red Lights 8:2, June 2012, page 35. Also published in Amelia Fielden’s Conversations in Tanka, Port Adelaide, Australia: Ginninderra Press, 2014, page 112. See “Four Tan-Renga Sets” for additional tan-renga in this series.

empty crib—

new baby clothes

neatly folded Michael

some days definitely

longer than others Amelia

long after dark

dad still finds

the dent in his car Michael

more lawn mowing,

less pocket-money Amelia

no, I tell myself,

it’s not really

a grey hair Michael

sunlight flickering

through the mirror Amelia

forgetting where I put them

the pills to help me

improve my memory Michael

never too old to dream

I sign up for the choir Amelia