Through the Year 1

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