Changing the Guard

by Michael Dylan Welch, Bill Pauly, Charles Trumbull, LeRoy Gorman, Guy Simser, and DeVar Dahl

First published in Haiku Canada Review 3:3, October 2009, page 28. Written in front of the Houses of Parliament in Ottawa, Ontario, on 7 August 2009, during the Haiku North America conference. See about 30 to 40 pictures I took of the changing of the guard, including several of the fallen soldier mentioned in this rengay’s last verse, with one photo shown at the end here. You can also see several pictures of us reading this rengay on the conference boat cruise.

the clock tower’s shadow

now and then across the square . . .

summer clouds Michael

we step over time

and each other’s shadows Bill

group picture

the photographer’s face

deep in shade Charles

reaching high noon

protest placards lose their shadows LeRoy

Changing the Guard

Parliament Hill sky

my shadow shrinking Guy

the fallen soldier

lies on her shadow DeVar