Twenga 12 1 May – 8 August 2024

#twenga is an annual (or in times of need) renga of 100 Verses on Twitter

Sabaki/Host Poet – Paul Conneally Sabaki/Host Poet – Gavin Wade

Anum Jamal @anumajamal Paul Conneally @LittleOnion Gavin Wade @gavin_wade_ Paula Turner @random_fate Alison Raybould @jamray Tina Francis @tinafrancis15 Patrick Goodall @artpickdarkpot Hilde de Bruijn @tantwenga2024 Cathy Wade @cathy_wade Ruth Claxton @ruthclaxton

#1 finally May Day all the tender plants get put outside

#2 the dawn chorus and morris dancers

#3 a squadron of bees bumbling through the pear blossom

#4 the Irish farmer says "the rain's inside our heads"

#5 dreaming at the kitchen table before company comes

#6 married and buried on midwinter's day

#7 talking to Dulcie about her blood pressure the sun hits the window

#8 a helium balloon high in a Slimcea world

#9 shovelling soil her beach ready body gets a new kind of workout

#10 flamingo dazzle patterns flock Lake Bogoria

#11 teaching class about the power of water he cuts through stone

#12 the Sherpa becomes a bridge

#13 in the drawer I find an old mixtape gifted to my love

#14 still singing though we're 6-1 down

#15 the crossword compiler stops raking leaves and stares into space

#16 between mouse and moon the owl's shadow

#17 no one notices the bruises when it’s apple pie

#18 walking the long way to the grocery store

#19 kept awake the whole night through by cats in love

#20 endless tulip fields rush past my train

#21 Destiny, Death and Dream have no right to interfere with mortals

#22 ULEZ scrappings save lives in Ukraine

#23 the prime minister calls an election in a wet suit

#24 buy one get one free

#25 enroute to playtime Aisha wonders how big is the universe?

#26 the clack of wood on willow at the council nets

#27 frost ghosting the covered stairway in Sighişoara

#28 my cold feet pressed against his warmth

#29 Noor's stepmom cooks up their favourite birthday bouillabaisse

#30 living in Brum born by the sea

#31 our shelters bombed again burning people alive

#32 Karachiites wait for water and gas

#33 the speaker of the house ignores Diane Abbott forty six times

#34 after the party we go skinny dipping

#35 remembering cicadas and moonlit pines my son et lumiére

#36 his repellent aquascutum suit

#37 Auntie Joan tells me I am and will always be her favourite nephew

#38 we make a heart with two red cable ties

#39 every so often the Aston Expressway is three lanes in and out

#40 migrant workers grow tasteless Dutch tomatoes

#41 Yorkshire pudding and gravy for starters to save on meat

#42 frozen blue fingers craving some warmth

#43 the trio wins first prize for the snow sculpture of Lord Vishnu

#44 Picasso steals stolen Iberian masks

#45 I avert my eyes as the shrouded body rushes through the Medina

#46 he makes songs of voicemail messages

#47 a passing siren demonstrates the Doppler effect

#48 I think you'll find it's Crick, Watson and Franklin

#49 a Chinese lantern from the Fort for my Dad

#50 these days they fuck less but it lasts longer

#51 some folk know the price of everything and the value of nowt

#52 the man with the gnarled hands sells only eggs

#53 as one a stadium of swifties against the patriarchy

#54 Chang'e brings back bits of rock from the moon

#55 white truffle hunters take out their dogs for the first catch of the year

#56 the carp notices a change in temperature

#57 her family plan a proxy walk in the Langdales

#58 a heart carved into the bark of an oak tree

#59 the afterlife of dead people's phone numbers you can't delete

#60 next door's bluebells bully the grape hyacinths

#61 pissed as a fart he wobbles off stage at the Spring Fling

#62 I open the windows to let out the dust

#63 concertina wire forcing us down the Philadelphi Corridor

#64 one stent two stent three stent more

#65 chasing the devils out into the cold silvery moonlight

#66 it's easy to see the footprints of my prey

#67 a shape of Texas ingrained from frenetic calculus dreams

#68 TikTok teaches Ishmail how to draw a killer shark

#69 Hudertwasser calls his uneven floors symphonies for our feet

#70 an older oboist tells me to breathe

#71 as if to mock them she removes their carnation and eats it in one

#72 writing up a hot mountain with holes in it

#73 the lava lamp takes her straight back to when they were first married

#74 we are changing the way the earth moves

#75 my son tells me that he's going to be a tractor driver

#76 speaking Welsh in Patagonia

#77 some mornings I switch off the radio before the news repeats

#78 the lark brings the owl endless cups of tea

#79 an asbestos tile falls from the roof into everyone's fears

#80 Colossendeis megalonyx spawn

#81 Ostara we take of our clothes and dance in the woods

#82 the crab hides away until her new shell hardens

#83 Ben Ali, Gaddafi Mubarak and Saleh all fall

#84 high school friends teach her how to protest peacefully

#85 new videos released tasered, stamped and kicked in the head

#86 it don't begin until the pumpkin spice says so

#87 we chuck the last slats of Grandad's shed onto the bonfire

#88 rabbits seeking warmth in a side pocket

#89 I find confetti in my wedding suit from nineteen eighty one

#90 the first coconut palm grows from Tuna's head

#91 to be honest I eat snowballs the whole year round

#92 people whose hearts are pierced by ice

#93 tinted windows the red balloon empties into the driver's lungs

#94 that grey plaggy bag is really a heron

#95 crack slab dandelion forgotten urban pocket parks

#96 the lapwing makes a beautiful tumble

#97 unsettled by the threat of racist riots

#98 breathing out black mould into the sea air

#99 she tells me she comes from a long line of lighthouse keepers

#100 the doors open for the students' return