Nettles and old docks
with liver spots –
inky brambles

seedy teeth
cobwebs muss my lips

Screech owl
cuts through
night’s comfort

barely awake
but the sun says make, make, make

Chapelcross at full blast –
the black melting road and wood
the light’s broken into

chalked silhouettes
a flick of the line

tamped
the best Havana
scented air rolls out

rum, lime and mint –
faded mojito bars

remember the hay barn?
I pulled the gold straws
from your hair

in that pause
she becomes another

glimpse of blue
her quick eyes –
the river runs backwards

a pair of herons
angled dance

look
what the waterfall’s
done to the moon

jabbing at the crazed glaze
the stamp surfaces

where is it from?
the magi follow
a black smudged star

on the wall
a Berber guards snow

marked on the OS
every bridge
every pylon

at Aballava’s an orchard
sheltered by ash

Judas ears
and ramsons sushi –
the perfect picnic

tupperware lids
not quite fitting.

from sea to sea
renga along Hadrian’s Wall (2003-04)
a nijuuin renga in Autumn
Kirkandrews on Eden, September 8, 2004

Participants
Alec Finlay (master)
Jacob Polley (host)
Beth Rowson (co-ordinator)
Margaret Boumphrey
Steve Chettle
Morven Gregor
Alan Hodgson
Stella Hodgson
Sara Lurati
Irene Leake

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