Through the Year 2

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 34. Also published in Amelia Fielden’s Conversations in Tanka, Port Adelaide, Australia: Ginninderra Press, 2014, page 111. See “Four Tan-Renga Sets” for additional tan-renga in this series.

departure day—

a snapdragon falls

to the old kitchen table— Michael

all the other vases

packed in bubble wrap Amelia

the spinnaker

red and full

her lips Michael

the scent and taste

of sea-salt Amelia

fading light—

a seedpod rattles

in the baby’s hand Michael +

clutching at straws

I repeat his words to myself Amelia

starting to melt

my daughter’s snow angel

inside mine Michael

last year’s ski suit

a tad too tight Amelia