Between Clean Sheets

Between Clean Sheets

Twenga #8 

31 December 2017 – 3 March 2018

Alison Raybould @jamray 
James Kennedy @jameskcentral 
Cathy Wade @cathy_wade 
Emma Bolland @emmazbolland 
Mathew Parkin @mathewparkin 
Paul Conneally @LittleOnion  
Yvette Gresle @yvettegresle  
Gavin Wade @eprjcts 
Patrick Goodall @artpickdarkpot 
Sid Sidowski @sidowski 
Tina Francis @tinafrancis15 
Brenda Hickin @brenda_hickin 

#twenga is an annual renga of 100 Verses on Twitter

www.eastsideprojects.org  

Sabaki – Gavin Wade  Host Poet – Paul Conneally. 

#1 
first footing 
a hot drink and a mince pie 
to see in the year

#2 
a circle of plant pots 
haloed by thawing snow

#3  
days off and on  
till the moon falls in line  
with the calendar

#4 
cold down pressure 
back from daylight saving

#5  
in crystal peaks   
Tom whispers a familiar joke  
in his husband’s ear

#6  
delicate raku pots 
pulled from the embers

#7 
the swirl and swoop 
of late evening bats 
over Lake Wannsee

#8 
high tea taken 
on the low veranda

#9 
before the bridge 
at Stratford be sure 
to remove your stove pipe

#10 
grinding to the skatepark 
on Chelmsley Wood

#11   
a line of patients   
on stretchers and wheelchairs   
outside A&E

#12 
roles reverse as she rescues 
her mam’s dropped stitches

#13 
crying on the stairs 
she sits with me and says 
let's have five minutes

#14 
absorbed in each other 
we form a looping meniscus

#15 
buds come back  
you don’t expect it  
but they do

#16 
trip you up in blue bell 
patches of sunlight

#17 
Alexander holds up 
the weirdest looking kite 
Mabel has ever seen

#18 
eternal footprints 
in pristine moon dust 

#19 
faces lit 
by bottle rockets 
and Catherine wheels

#20 
the Empress dreams  
of an October revolution

#21 
for years they talk 
this and that  
until one moves up

#22 
in the dog days dogs 
nodding in the dust haze 

#23 
Abu Wad’s roses 
bloom in the rubble  
of Aleppo

#24 
x stitch more radical  
than socialist worker

#25 
without reserve 
bravely we fight against 
all backwardness

#26 
the compass in the heel 
of his first lace ups

#27 
a song rings out 
from deep in the hawthorns 
a fallen blossom

#28 
the meteorologists 
plan a spring wedding

#29 
his daughter asks 
where the bunny comes 
in the Easter story

#30 
dwarfed by the  
ovum’s corona

#31  
her busy thumbs  
emoticon love  
on the Waterloo train

#32 
a car park corner 
one shoe left behind

#33 
hurling insults 
at the presidential 
press conference

#34 
kayaking solo 
fighting the raging current

#35 
a hedgehog 
ready for hibernation 
walks the back border

#36 
ochre moons 
pressed into clay 

#37 
bitter fruit 
stains the gin magenta  
curls my tongue

#38 
his wild drag  
stuffed in a rucksack

#39 
the whole family 
piled on the sofa 
in post lunch rapture

#40 
her foodbank donation 
weighs heavily on her

#41 
lamentations  
are also songs 
voices lost

#42 
will action be taken  
in the wake of Grenfell

#43  
maybe we can trust  
the blockchain  
as it kicks into gear

#44 
we search in vain 
for a public toilet

#45 
repeatedly  
slashing the canvas 
Lucio vents his spleen 

#46 
feasting parasites  
outside and in

#47 
archipelagos  
off the coast 
of Mozambique

#48 
bandits in the hills 
not far from Guernica

#49 
writhing on the floor 
howling and desperate 
for quick fix cat sex

#50 
take me to the Limit 
one last time 

#51 
Tina’s love letter 
breaks the rules 
in writing class

#52 
at Sunday School 
a non-believer daydreams

#53 
our skeletons show  
a symmetry  
so often denied

#54 
moons cluster 
around your neck

#55 
after torrential rain 
wandering stars 
pause on pavements

#56 
head torch trails 
my Autumn morning runs

#57  w
here goats fear to tread   
vertigo strikes above   
the inviting Greek surf

#58 
paterfamilias 
lost lines folding over

#59 
between clean sheets 
we two boys together 
clinging

#60 
soft catkins  
are hawthorn too soon

#61 
even the old 
feel the sap rising 
with the day length

#62 
greens in a pan  
with ash and ember and fat

#63 
a suitcase of lemons 
a parting sharpness 
smoke in our trail

#64  
that face you pull  
that says I'm sorry 

#65 
drunk on moon rays 
dysphoric octopuses  
dream of the city

#66 
conkers cascade 
onto infertile tarmac

#67 
in the puddle 
a skein of geese 
is heading south

#68 
alliance not defiance 
painted on a banner

#69 
the staff meeting 
about the upcoming 
women’s strike

#70 
sweat and dust map 
the pitcher’s forehead

#71 
eyes back and forth 
nose up and down 
breathing sweet box

#72 
Lucy’s lungs relax 
after the initial chill

#73 
Zephyrus leaves Thrace 
to warm Hyacinth  
by the West wind

#74 
cast off figureheads  
on museum walls

#75 
she sends me  
a pair of long socks 
and tells me to visit

#76 
your travel 
is covert colonialism

#77   
sharing a Fluitje  
in traffic watching   
the sirens pass

#78 
the sex museum 
is closed for repairs 

#79 
our love, not archived 
as acts and artefacts 
but fluid, live

#80 
nice people  
look the other way 

#81 
carillion calls 
for help for help 
the wolves the sheep

#82 
standing in the snow 
singing bloody hymns

#83 
steam rising  
in the vestry a kettle  
to defrost the font

#84 
text me 
when you get home

#85  
pages of passion  
he speaks with the rhythm  
of Wolverhampton

#86 
graffiti blooms 
hunting pike down the cut 

#87 
en passant 
chess and chorizo 
in the olive tree’s shade

#88 
public private partnerships 
asset stripping schools 

#89 
doodling furiously 
super heroes appear 
during chemistry

#90 
silver strands  
caught in a hairbrush

#91 
half-remembered  
a bowl of persimmons  
by the window

#92 
moonrise, Puerto Rico 
1995

#93  
the rice planters sing  
of earth wind and fire  
the birth of art 

#94 
they search for a code 
to unlock the response

#95 
a four colour 
cherry blossom tattoo 
to cover his name

#96 
young hummingbirds 
hone their skills

#97 
angling the jib 
to mark the equinox 
Tony parks the crane

#98 
rough sleepers waiting  
for something to change

#99 
everyone knows 
there's nothing better than 
clean fresh underwear

#100 
lemon, cucumber, tonic 
and evergreen pleats