SUMMER HATS

Summer hats
kittiwakes rise then settle
on the Tyne bridge

__she cools her hands
__round a glass of iced water

neighbours complain
to anyone who'll listen
a radio mast

__up on the roof
__Laura Nyro Live

a mouse's shattered body
delineated
by the moon

__lovers share a Marlboro
__on a pile of red leaves

no longer rivals
sisters in disguise
enjoy trick-or-treat

__the magician crawls over
__his gob-smacked audience

news of mob rule
fast food and olives
in Old Baghdad

__circus life survives
__on horse muscle and grit

indoors or out
skating is fun
in the right company

__we paste down silver foil
__for a winter moon effect

the hole in Daddy's arm
where all the money goes
but he loves it so

__another three hours
__on the parking meter

steamy windows
a new line in the poem
I never wrote her

__she reads them Treasure Island
__gripped by the story

on the teacher's desk
goldfish swim round and round
a mountain

__again the snow remembers
__how to melt

way down the dale
an old cherry orchard
starts to blush

__shyly Grandma reveals
__her new spring outfit.

a nijuuin renga in Summer
BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
28 June, 2003

Participants

Paul Conneally (master)
Alec Finlay (host)
Ian Gonzarow
Ruth Sheldon
Elizabeth Barry
Laurie Purvis
Caroline Fenwick
Eileen Ridley
Ian Horn
Adam Fish