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