Roman Holiday

Mint at the wall base –
all that's left
of Legions dreams

     the cat stretches
     in the middle of the path

patting a butterball
across
the afternoon sky

     moss blurs green
     angles of walls

bare fields
patterns of facts –
trigonometry

     spiders shelter
     trees begin to blaze

set the kindling
your way –
lets eat

     hot soup in bowls –
     grandma talks and talks

a blaring sound
in the distance –
the morgue gets another

     from her to him
     just a glance

buckets of laughter
echo
from the latrines

     bacon and sausage
     tea bags and legs

this ones tagged
FINAL DEMAND
for this quarter

     a shiver –
     all accounts are empty

paper and ribbon
tangle
in the pine

     no kite ever unscram-
     bled its own lines

spare change chinks
in the bottle –
who will I holiday with this year?

     waking is easier
     In the earlier dawns

the blossom on that tree
been there for ages –
where am I?

     we walk further
     gather nettles and sorrel.

a nijuuin renga in Summer
Housesteads, September 7, 2003
from Sea to Sea: Renga Along Hadrian’s Wall

Participants
Gerry Loose, Master poet
Alec Finlay, Host poet
Miles Thurlow
Steve Chettle
Morven Gregor
Sadie Pape
Louise Wellington
Margaret Hall
Irene Leake
Ezekiel Williams
Ruth Sheldon
Pauline Plummer

Verse Attributions
1-GL; 2-AF; 3-comp.; 4-comp.
5-AF; 6-RS; 7-IL; 8-comp.; 9-EW; 10-GL; 11-AF
12-EW; 13-IL; 14-LW; 15-RS; 16-AF
17-PP; 18-LW; 19-MT; 20-GL

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