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First published in True Colour (Redmond, Washington: City of Redmond, 2014) and in the “Japanese Forms” issue of Rattle (#47, Spring 2015), which editor Tim Green has said is the best-selling issue they’ve ever published. Also the featured poem, with an audio recording, on the Rattle website on 23 June 2015. See also the commentary on this rengay at the end, published in 2026.
true colours—
the abstract painting
overpriced
an off-colour joke
from the psychiatrist
colouring
outside the lines
the kindergarten teacher
the realtor
talking too much
about local colour
hardly colourblind
the district attorney
technicolour sunset—
the photographer loads
another memory card
Contributor note:
“Why am I drawn to haiku and related Japanese poetry? Because I’ve always found short forms of poetry to be the most appealing, and haiku is the queen of short poetry. I write because I can’t help but share my passion for haiku (together with longer poetry). This is a chief motive behind my establishment of National Haiku Writing Month. Unfortunately, haiku is widely misunderstood and mistaught, so another reason I continue to write haiku, and write about it, is to help correct these misunderstandings.”
“True Colours” was quoted and commented on in Frogpond 49:1, Winter 2026, page 120, in an essay titled “Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Power of Color in Haiku,” by Joan C. Fingon and Lee Hudspeth. Here’s the commentary:
Color Itself as the Subject of a Poem
Color Itself as the Subject of a Poem
Michael Dylan Welch’s rengay “True Colours” explores the various meanings in which the concept of color can be incorporated into a poem. In verse one, the double meaning of the expression “true colours” contrasts between an abstract painting’s use of color and the monetization of a creative work. In verse two, the colloquialism “off-colour” appears, meaning socially inappropriate, adding to the light humor. The poem’s various roles and perspectives (the psychiatrist, teacher, realtor, district attorney, and photographer) demonstrate differences in the meanings of the word “color” in the English language.
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