The Tour Boat’s Wake

by Michael Dylan Welch and Billie Dee

Honourable mention in the Haiku Poets of Northern California’s 2022 rengay contest. First published in Mariposa #49, Autumn–Winter 2023, page 33. Originally written from May to July 2020, by email.

San Diego Zoo—

a slow line

for the pandas Michael

a row of make-out cars

at Sunset Cliffs Billie

the Coronado Bridge

curving over sailboats . . .

the tour boat’s wake Michael

sun glint on bay chop . . .

we paddle our kayaks past

the USS Midway Billie

low-riders on parade

in Old Town Michael

orchid show—

the Spreckels Organ

shakes Balboa Park Billie