A Summer’s Tale

by Sarah Welch and Michael Dylan Welch

Winner of third place in the 2018 San Francisco International Rengay Competition sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California. First published in Mariposa #41, Autumn/Winter 2019, page 28. Originally written on Thanksgiving Day, 26 November 2015, in Sammamish, Washington, when Sarah was nine years old. See also “An Autumn Tale” and “A Winter’s Tale.”

wind and waves—

the warm yellow sand

shifts beneath my toes Sarah

high cirrus

clouding the tidepool Michael

scuttling crab—

seashells rattle

with the sea Sarah

reddening sun—

her castle

not yet taken Michael

crisp, salty air

flowing through my hair Sarah

all that’s left

of our footprints

wind and waves Michael

Commentary by the Rengay Contest Judge

“I love the way this rengay occurs in the same spot—the beach in summer. It starts with ‘wind and waves,’ ends with ‘wind and waves,’ and provides snapshots of what is happening on this beach in between. I could imagine being on my favorite beach and experiencing this with my own eyes.” —Deborah P Kolodji